Oh, America, land of the free and home of the double standard. A lot of people feel that comedienne Kathy Griffin crossed the line with her photo shoot in which she holds a decapitated, bloodied replica of Donald Trump’s head in her hand. She has lost endorsement deals. She has lost dignity (her apology was desperate) and just overall, the woman has lost. She even said recently, “I don’t think I will have a career after this. I’m going to be honest, (Trump) broke me.” While the image was shocking, the kind of stand she took against Trump’s administration, depicting a dead number 45, is not anything new. White supremacists, and people who disliked (and still do) President Obama, endlessly proclaimed their hatred of the man by images that are far more disturbing. Did she really cross the line or was she just exercising her right to voice how she feels about Trump’s leadership in an artistic way?
I am indifferent about the situation. It was done to Obama, and now it’s being done to Trump. But if I’m being honest here, in all fairness, Barack Obama AND his family endured a lot more disgusting hatred than Trump ever will. And all Obama was trying to do is help this country. Trump has shown time and time again that he is unqualified, unbothered, unprepared and unwilling to lead, or in his case, rule, fairly. He has pissed a lot of people off and continues to do so. But the moment someone “crosses the line” and hurts his feelings, he cries, rants, and complains about it on Twitter. Why? Well, we all know that it his privilege. Did I even really need to say it?
Entities from CNN to brands that Griffin partnered with have dropped her. They have expressed their outrage at the photo and have acted in ways that they believe will cause the least amount of damage. You know how these things go. When the shit hits the fan, it’s time to put as much distance as possible between the brand and the controversy.
This is not the last time an image like this of Donald Trump will circulate the blogosphere. As he continues to put our national security in danger, our health in danger, our finances in danger and pretty much everything we hold near and dear to our hearts in danger, people will become angrier. For Griffin, she probably thought this would be a good way to gain a few moments of relevancy, but for others who are feeling the sting of Trump era policies, laws and appointees, the image of a decapitated Trump is the manifestation of real emotion. Period.
This kind of dissension is a direct reaction to the way Donald Trump has conducted himself not just as president of the United States, but also as a human being. Trump continues to get away with acting any way he wants, under any guise his people spin and we, the ones most affected by his incompetence, are forced to deal with it. The truth of the matter is Trump has no one to blame for this kind of free speech but himself. But his privilege, once again, blinds him to the reality that the cause of such graphic protesting of who is he is a direct reaction to who he is. That’s all it is in my eyes anyway – protesting. I don’t believe it was a threat on his life and those who do should calm down. The man spends more money on security in a day than people make in a year. He’s safe.
As for Kathy Griffin, I wish she had firmly stood by what she did. If you are going to “go there” you’ve got to be ready for the backlash, and she just wasn’t. I would never expect her to though because, I mean, it’s Kathy Griffin. I am not a fan of hers, and I don’t recall her ever being funny by any stretch of the imagination. She has an undertone of desperation in everything that she does, including this stint. Nothing, however, has ever backfired on her as much as this. And if Trump has his way, nothing ever will because her career will be over.
Trump’s double standard is classic elitism. He and his wife are upset that their young son saw the image and thought it was, indeed, the head of his father. That’s unfortunate. No child should see his or her parent in that light because it is very upsetting. But beyond that aspect of the situation, the Trumps get not sympathy from me. Because little Baron may have had to deal with the image of his father’s severed head for a moment but millions upon millions of Americans face the reality of losing life-saving healthcare that will negatively impact their lives going forward. And for some of them, because of that fact, death isn’t a photograph with Kathy Griffin in it. It is a certainty.
Donald Trump can’t keep doing shit and expecting people to not have strong feelings about the ill-informed and self- serving decisions he makes. I know he’s not used to it, but there is something called responsibility. Just as Americans who voted for the “nasty woman” have to adjust to Trump’s choices, he has to realize that if he continues his current approach of leading the USA, he’s going to have to get used to the kind of reaction that’s not so nice. Of course, that’s putting it lightly.
We are a country at war with our leader, and in the heat of the battle, there will always be causalities.