Just a few days after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States in 2017, the customary glamorous Golden Globe Awards ceremony for film and television took place in Hollywood.
The prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award (named after the American filmmaker and actor, known for his more than 70 films and considered the founder of cinema in America) was presented to the exceptional actress Meryl Streep, honouring her “for a career filled with compelling performances.”
As she took to the podium for her acceptance speech, she first mentioned (since the ceremony is organised annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) the countless examples of great actors from other countries who, with much effort, stood out and shone in America, “a country that once embraced foreigners, and now wants to expel them.”
From that point on, her speech turned to Donald Trump, becoming a historical moment that unfortunately remains tragically relevant today:
“There were many, many, many powerful performances that did exactly that: breathtaking, compassionate work. But there was one performances this year that stunned me; it sank its hooks in my heart, not because it was good. There was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job—it made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth..
It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter—someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back…
It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie; it was real life.
(Note: Trump indeed mimicked the spasmodic movements that many people with disabilities controlling their bodies have. It was a disgraceful sight).
And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modelled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, filters down into everybody’s life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”
Unfortunately, about 8 years later, this man has not only failed to change his bad behaviour, but we already see signs that it has worsened, becoming more uncouth.
Yet, many support him. He is popular among a large portion of the population. Are all these people extreme, like the one they want to vote for?
I don’t know. And I won’t do an electoral brain scan here. I just stick to the steady and repeated view that there is another America that we may not know and certainly don’t understand.
It’s the America of the Midwest states, struggling to make ends meet, coming from lower social classes, constantly feeling (and/or being certain) that the wealth they rightfully, they believe, deserve is ending up in the hands of foreign immigrants, mainly from Mexico.
Trump exploits to the fullest the anxiety of ordinary people. He promises to make America great again. Not by opening opportunities for ordinary people, but with fiery promises that “he will fix everything.” He is criminally prosecuted for tax evasion and for covering up an attempt to overthrow the Constitution when his hooligans stormed the Capitol to take power into their own hands.
Meryl Streep’s urging “never make the mistake of underestimating him” is very much applicable. A person who mocks a disabled individual is a lethal danger!
