The only advantage the Blue Team has in terms of messaging is that we control the arts: comedy, music, theatre.
We don’t control press coverage. But political satire and jokes on late night are more influential in terms of defining the image of any public figure.
We don’t control the network news shows. But a good piece of music can touch the hearts and minds of millions. That’s why Rcons are always misappropriating our music and trying to glom on to the positive associations of classic tunes.
Conservatives are unaware of the effect Hamilton has had on the country. It is a perfect storm: blending the rebellion of youth culture with patriotism and respect for what one determined and brilliant individual can do.
I leave it up to you to decide whether that last sentence is about Alexander Hamilton or Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Conservatives can’t boycott Hamilton and can’t hurt Hamilton. The Hamilton phenomenon is bigger than they are and frankly will outlast them. It will still be running on Broadway long after the current president-elect leaves office. Even if Rs were able to do something bizarre to shut down the show prematurely, hundreds of thousands of people carry the score in our memories. The influence of Hamilton cannot be stopped.
More people know that Pence was booed at Hamilton last night than know about the horrendous anti-woman and anti-gay laws he signed in Indiana. More people know about what happened to Pence at the theatre than know about R plans to gut Social Security, overturn Roe v Wade, round up immigrants, suppress civil rights and voting rights, slash Medicare, dismantle Obamacare, and any number of other policies he plans to institute once he takes over “domestic and foreign policy” as VP.
Politicians like Pence must not expect to go out in public and be received warmly by the same people they casually disrespect and pass laws against. They must learn to expect lectures, signs, and other forms of protest. Brandon Victor Dixon did the right thing at the curtain call last night. So did the people who booed Pence on the sidewalk and booed him as he took his seat inside the Richard Rodgers. So did the people who mercilessly mocked him on Twitter: the hashtag #NameAPenceMusical was trending all night long.
The Harry Potter books are beautifully subversive in the same way as Hamilton is: slipping in meta-messages that reinforce liberal values while still being entertaining for people who are not aware of (or do not accept) the meta-messages.
The conservative Christians who hate Harry Potter claim they are opposed to the themes of witchcraft and sorcery. They claim they dislike Dumbledore being gay. But that is as thin a cover as the idea that they voted for the Republican presidential candidate because of economic insecurity.
They are opposed to Harry Potter, whether they even know it or not, because the series illustrates
- disrespect for unjust authority
- the ability of one exceptional individual to effect change with only a handful of allies
- daring to offer resistance to the most powerful person in the world, in the face of overwhelming odds
Hamilton makes many of the same points.
Earlier today I was flipping through channels and stopped on the “boggart” scene from Prisoner of Azkaban.
In it J.K. Rowling teaches that the best defense against the thing you are most frightened of is to ridicule it and laugh at it.
We lost a tough election. Some truly vile people are about to put their hands on the levers of government in Washington. In January they’ll have the White House and both houses of Congress. Soon after that, a majority on the Supreme Court. For a while they will hold all the cards. How can we show our displeasure in a way that will matter to them and be satisfying for us?
Being compared to the devil, or Darth Vader or Dick Cheney or even Voldemort doesn’t bother them. They take that in stride. They even wear it as a badge of honor. Being feared turns them on. It’s a power marker for them.
But they do NOT like being ridiculed. There is no defense against ridicule. And they are not good at turning ridicule back on us. When they try to use comedy against us, when they try punching down, it fails miserably. They are very good at being nasty and smug and cruel, but that is not the same thing as funny.
So let’s find some reason every day to point and laugh at the president-elect.
We can make fun of his hair, his tiny hands, his elementary school vocabulary, his Twitter toddler tantrums, and his ignorance about the basics of government and diplomacy. We will mock him with memes and gifs and inventive hashtag humor. He knows nothing about the presidency and fancies himself a ceremonial figure like an emperor or a king. But they say the fool and the jester are the only ones who can speak truth to the king.
So we will use comedy and satire and music and theater and embarrassment and ridicule and speak the truth about him and Pence and his staff appointments and everyone in his political circle of influence.
We can also refuse to use the name he is so proud of slapping on buildings.
Drumpf will not like that.