OPINION:
As Jan. 20 approaches, the bullies are at the gate. Hollywood, liberals and the political establishment are panicking because they have no idea what to expect when Donald Trump officially becomes the president of the United States.
What Hollywood does know is that anyone in their industry who does not conform to the standard Trump Derangement Syndrome will be bullied until they submit.
Just ask singer and actress Jennifer Holliday. Within 24 hours of the inaugural committee announcing that she would be performing at an event, Ms. Holliday abruptly cancelled. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter to ostensibly explain herself to her industry, the first question they posed was, “What was the reasoning behind accepting an offer to perform at the official Trump celebration concert?” As though she was caught cozying up to Cambodian genocidal maniac Pol Pot.
She answered, “My initial thinking is, that I have sung for presidents in the past, and it was presented to me as a welcome concert for the people. That’s what I focused on, the “for the people” part. I’m thinking, “This will be great, I’ll have an opportunity to represent and have my voice be healing and unifying out on the Mall at the Lincoln Memorial.” So that’s really what I was thinking, and, regretfully, I did not take into account what that symbolized to other people.”
She’s being diplomatic. Ms. Holliday found out that other people, including those who would likely control whether she works again, aren’t the loving, tolerant cuddly group of friends decrying the dangers of bullying — they are the bullies themselves.
When asked by the Hollywood Reporter about the type of “feedback” she was receiving after the announcement that she would perform at the inaugural, Ms. Holliday described an obscene attack that understandably predicated her retreat: “I’ve spent all day yesterday and all last night reading all the terrible things that people were saying about me. And even being called by my own black people a ‘n—r,’ a “house n—r,” “Uncle Tom,” people suggesting I should kill myself, a “traitor,” all kinds of things. It was very frightening and very alarming and overwhelming, as well, to see those kinds of things about you. …”
This is a woman who has an excellent reputation and is well-liked. She isn’t a diva. She doesn’t do things to shock or to get herself in the news. She’s a decent person who made the mistake of presuming that the normal world still prevails for the liberal establishment. It doesn’t.
If you think this sort of venom is reserved for those who dare to accept an invitation to perform for the inaugural, you would be mistaken. Nicole Kidman, an excellent actress and also a woman who tends to not go out of her way to become news, made a very normal comment to BBC television host Victoria Derbyshire that Mr. Trump “is now elected and we, as a country, need to support whoever is the president. That is what the country is based on. And however that happened, it happened, and let’s go.”
Little did she know the skies would open, dogs and cats would begin sleeping together, and the world as we know it would threaten to end. At least that’s what we can presume as a few days later USA Today dutifully assured us in a blazing headline, “Nicole Kidman: Comments about Trump support weren’t endorsement.” How nice. The Wrap blog announced she was “clarifying” her comments about Mr. Trump after “backlash” on social media.
While promoting her new film “Lion,” Access Hollywood asked her about her comments, “I was trying to stress that I believe in democracy and the American Constitution, and it was that simple,” Her frustration was clear and when pressed she said, “I’m out of it now, that’s what I said and it’s that simple.”
There are a couple of lessons in all of this. First, don’t believe that all of Hollywood, or even all liberals, hate Mr. Trump and are deranged. No one is free in that industry to truly speak his or her mind, even on something as basic as a plea to unite. The coverage of the Holliday and Kidman situations are also meant to be messages to everyone else in the industry that they had better conform.
The civil war we’re experiencing is not limited to the political parties and Washington, D.C., it’s throughout a culture within which a select few have cultivated an “us vs. them” mentality in order to benefit from government largesse and the power and influence that it provides.
The failure of Hillary Clinton to take the White House threatens the film and television industry, especially. Health care wasn’t the only thing the Democrats wanted to nationalize: newspapers, television and the film industry have been looking forward to a European-type system where government funds television and film, allowing our supposed betters to be free from having to appeal to the hoi polloi at all.
Hollywood should have learned when their videos imploring us to vote for Hillary didn’t work, that Americans were putting their families before movie stars, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and even — gasp — Meryl Streep.
In other words, we don’t care that they won’t be at the inauguration, the important thing is Donald Trump, and We the People, will be.
• Tammy Bruce, author and Fox News contributor, is a radio talk show host.
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