Unity and Joy
By Brent E. Zepke, Esq.
It’s All About “Unity and Joy”
About to begin another week of the never-ending-but-almost-over 2021 to 2024 Presidential Election Season, I sipped my first cup of coffee and reflected on the new Kamala Harris-led Democrat Party theme of Unity and Joy.
Here are some postings on Yahoo News and Facebook.
Yahoo News
Maggie Haberman (HuffPost) wrote “President Obama made a swipe at Trump over his ‘weird obsession with crowd sizes’ before making a suggestive move with his hands. We heard it repeatedly from the Obamas, from the vice president, from others that, you know, he is a rich guy who cares about his rich friends.”
Imagine Barack Obama, whose estimated net worth of $70 million+ includes estates in D.C., Hawaii, and Martha’s Vineyard, criticizing someone else for being a “rich guy.”
When Mr. Obama says, “making a suggestive move with his hands,” does that indicate his fixation with that particular body part?
Rozina Sabur (The Telegraph) wrote that Trump retaliated to barbs of the Obamas after Mrs. Obama accused Trump of “ugly, misogynistic, racist lies.”
Mrs. Obama seems to have forgotten her words of “When they go low, we go high.”
Are these comments by the Obamas their idea of unity and joy?
Reporters
If President Trump or Melania Trump had said such things about President Obama, would reporters describe them as swipes or barbs?
Of course, asking that question will remain a hypothetical as neither Trump uses the language displayed by the Obamas.
Was this version of unity and joy limited to the Trump family?
JD Vance
Randy Rainbow wrote that JD Vance, is a “certifiable weirdo” in his new parody song “Donald likes his VEEPs well-hung.”
It appears that Democrats’ fixation with that particular body part is not limited to Trump.
Andi Orbiz (The Wrap) wrote, “We are back with never-Trumper turned Trump ass-licker, misogynistic, best-selling-author-slash-worst-selling VP pick ever, certifiable weirdo and catless child person, JD Vance.”
Unity and joy?
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Owen Lavine (Daily Beast) wrote, “West Wing Star gets personal in Cheryl Hines takedown,” cited Actor Bardley Whitford’s tweet “Hey Cheryl Hines, way to stay silent while your lunatic husband throws his support behind the adjudicated rapist who brags about stripping women of their fundamental rights.”
It appears that not even the wife of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is immune after he announced his support for Trump, despite his being the son of Robert F. Kennedy, and the nephew of the Democratic President John F. Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy.
Kayne West
Heather Digby (Salon) decided to incorporate her dislike of Kayne West into her anti-Trump piece by writing “Someone once asked me who I thought would be the Democratic equivalent of Donald Trump would be. My answer: Kanye West. He’s world famous, extremely wealthy, narcissistic, unstable, politically ambitious, lacks self-awareness, and is manifestly unfit.”
Can you feel the Unity! The Joy!?
Campaigns
Rex Happke (USA Today) wrote, “The Democrats stopped fearing the pundits who were holding [Joe] Biden to an entirely different standard as a candidate, effectively normalizing Trump and glossing over his serial dishonesty, age and rampant incoherence.”
Serial dishonesty may be applicable to a president whose untruths were so frequent that his supporters called them gaffes, as well as Age and rampant incoherence, but it is not President Trump.
Give a cheer for Unity and Joy!
Debates
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling (The New Republic) quoted Trump saying “Will panelist Donna Brazile give the questions to the Marxists Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamala’s best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise?
Since it is public knowledge that Donna Brazile admitted having given the questions to Hillary before the debate, and Kamala’s best friend Dana Walden was just made the senior executive whose portfolio includes ABC News, it appears that Ms. Houghtaling was being disingenuous in her questions.
Facebook Cartoons
A woman in bed saying to a character looking like Trump peeking in her window, “Just go away.”
The caption “Democrats United moving forward” under a cartoon of a small duck looking like Donald holding hands with a crude drawing that is supposed to be Melania Trump.
A sketch of a giant “WE” with Harris on top looking down at Trump.
The caption “We aren’t going backwards,” of a cartoon of a Harris character climbing a ladder with the Statute of Liberty saying to Trump “Go away.”
You feeling all United and Joyful yet?
Me neither.
Absent
Conspicuous by its absence on Yahoo news or Facebook, was any mention of the programs of the Trump presidency, or any specifics on how to solve: the porous border situation; inflation, crime.
Conclusion
Mark Twain’s quote that “There are laws to protect the freedom of the press’s speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press,” raises the question about the Harris-Walz campaign:
Unity and Joy for whom?
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Politic is a nasty business requiring thick skin and lots of money. It’s understandable why too many Americans hate politics, choose to avoid participation and their civic duty. To go public as an activist or politician at any level puts a target on your back, especially in single party controlled, retaliatory CA. It takes courage. Retirees are needed as ACTIVES on the front line outside of our comfort zones. The ‘Bubble Life’ is wonderful, but the future depends on our willingness to be called names. Simply consider the source; then stay focused on policy issues that matter.
Thank you, Brent, for another terrific column. As my Methodist granny used to say when things were rotten “Oh joy.” My ex's Jewish mom used to say “Oy veh.” They were saying the same thing.
Joy. It's interesting that in later life, Friedrich Schiller was down on his “Ode to Joy” poem calling it “detached from reality.” Interesting, too, that it's Beethoven's melody from his 9th Symphony that was adopted by the EU, not Schiller's poem. Was that because the poem is unabashedly religious in its last stanza, whereas with the music you can try to pretend it's not about God. Accent on “try.”
Be embraced, all ye millions!
With a kiss for all the world!
Brothers, beyond the stars
Surely dwells a loving Father.
Do you kneel before Him, oh millions?
Do you feel the Creator's presence?
Seek Him beyond the stars!
He must dwell beyond the stars.
The Ode to Joy is not about joy independent of the Creator. It is not about humans being able to dictate joy. It's about the fact that joy is only possible through surrender to the Higher Power. Joy does not belong in the Communist dictionary.
Shortly after Trump was elected my husband and I were at a dinner party. Everyone at the table was upset about Trump. Everyone was upset about Brexit. Except me and my hubby. But we had refrained from wearing our MAGA hats and we kept sombre faces. A lovely elderly woman stood up, took out her harmonica and played “Ode to Joy.” The other people at the table brushed away tears.
I wanted to start a conversation about Beethoven. I wanted to talk about a couple of things. About how Beethoven was prone to changing his mind - for example, at first he hero worshipped Napoleon, then hated him. Would Beethoven have approved of the EU using his aria? I've played (badly, I'm a lousy pianist) through and studied a lot of his music, especially the late works, which sublimely call upon both JS Bach and romanticism. I also read a great deal about him as a person. He didn't like group think. He was one perverse guy. And I doubt he'd have liked these people bemoaning the EU. I think Beethoven would have liked the EU at first, but would have felt betrayed as it became more interested in its own power as an organization than in saving Europe from tyranny.
But there's something else I wanted to say. Beethoven's “Ode to Joy” is one of the most beloved melodies ever written. Yet Beethoven was not an easy melody writer like Mozart or Handel. As Igor Stravinsky said, he struggled with writing melodies. And that's what makes the “Ode to Joy” so moving. The melody starts and stops. And then it soars. It's a heroic melodic journey to achieve joy. And when it breaks out, it is God who Beethoven is channeling, and suddenly the struggle is over and Beethoven allows us to feel the presence of the divine.
I kept myself from starting a fight and said none of those things. But what is meant by “joy” in Beethoven's music is that struggle to be in the presence of the divine. And the Communist Democrats who have renounced the divine will never own that word.