Casablanca is one of those movies many still have not sat completely through but tell themselves one day they will because its reputation deserves no less. I’m sure more than a sliver who nod their heads at the assertion Bogart’s greatest is one of the best of all time have yet to block off the full near two hours required to take in every magical line, every indelible scene. Anybody who has made that effort will be glad to preach it is worth every minute; the film is just that good.
Of course, the classic has so many great moments that it is left to individual viewers to pick their own favorite, but for my money numero uno comes when Nazi nemesis Colonel Strasser and his minions, lubricated on Vichy champagne, break into a version of Karl Wilhelm’s “Die Wacht am Rhein.” As the fascists increase their volume while most of Rick’s Cafe’s other patrons look on with awkward disdain, French Resistance hero Victor Lazlo acts without hesitation. Lazlo calls on the establishment’s house orchestra to raise their instruments and perform Le Marseillaise, which with a nod of assent from their boss, Rick (Bogie), they agree to do. In no time the entire bar is on their feet effortlessly drowning out the Nazis with emotion all digest as nothing less than a personal declaration of patriotism worth dying for. Strasser and his flunkies quickly comprehend continuing their reverie is futile and take a seat, conceding a clear victory to the partisan crowd and Lazlo, who they cheer with appreciation for his consummate bravery and leadership. It simply doesn’t get any better!
The most important building block Fox/AM put in place for its Frankenstein’s monster to amplify is a base of followers convinced they are all contrarians, courageous salmon swimming upriver against the prevailing currents of mainstream presumptions. The debate stage during the 2016 GOP presidential primary included vapid hucksters like Paul and Cruz, lightweight ideologues like Santorum and Rubio, soulless opportunists like Graham and Christie, and even a couple of capable politicians in Jeb Bush and John Kasich. But only Trump possessed the shameless malevolence essential to capture the torrent of white grievance Sean Hannity regulars marinated in throughout the Obama era. Us against them, and we all know who they are.
Millions of bigoted nasties were primed and wholly disinterested in striving for morning in America; they demanded darkness at noon. From the start of his campaign, Trump was glad to give it to them; and it’s been all he has offered since. Yet and still, the illusion of individuality goes hand in hand with the wretched core’s enthusiasm for collectively conforming around the absurdities Trump constantly demands they accept.
Peruse any Trumpist thread and one notes time and again, over and over using near identical language, his zealots caustically projecting that their opponents are sheep, incapable of discerning the malfeasance of “the swamp” their docility helped to create. Indeed, it’s common for MAGA faithful to embarrass themselves within pitiable irony and foist Hitler comparisons on Trump critics, equating mask mandates with authoritarian subservience, assault weapon bans with end of days dystopia.
Such misguided righteousness merely reinforces that ceaseless Fox/AM ramblings, along with hundreds of the President’s rallies, have been wildly successful at convincing nihilist throngs they agree about everything because each of them recognizes truth, rather than the mass of them gobbling up as-needed fiction the chaotic whims of their unhinged champion produces willy nilly. The delusional balm of courageous individuality Fox/AM long ago beguiled its viewer base they possessed, fulfilled the most essential prerequisite that any demagogue, even a poor man’s Elmer Gantry like Trump, could then exploit to fashion a wretched core of immovable support, a concrete floor no amount of incompetence, graft or criminal shamelessness could jackhammer.
Now, as more than 3000 died from Covid just yesterday, and roughly 200,000 new cases per day threaten to overwhelm the American healthcare system, ruinous MAGA civic absurdity is in full stride throughout rural counties, as the chickens of Trump’s senseless refusal to promote anything other than senseless refusal come home to roost. In Campbell County, Virginia this week tensions were high as the Board of Supervisors violated an emergency state mandate that limits gatherings to 25 people or less. Almost a hundred people jammed into the board’s chamber on the outskirts of Lynchburg. One supervisor scoffed at the restriction, declaring they were “conducting the people’s business.” Apparently, being required to wear a mask in public settings and being denied a cold one at the local bar after 10:00 p.m. is a clarion call assault on essential liberty that requires “patriots” to “stand up and not bow down, as one of many public commenters shouted.
What to do when a Democratic Governor – who happens to also be an MD – issues such a seismic attack on individual rights for no better reason than to save lives during a deadly pandemic?! Nullification, of course! Declare the county a “First Amendment Sanctuary!” Most all in attendance were white men, many self-described militia members in camo garb. Everything was about them, their individual right to choose to do the least possible because, after all, they “should have their choice to come out and assume that risk.” Only lib tyrants bring collective community concerns into the equation.
While Virginia Governor Ralph Northman responded to the board’s inane sedition by reminding all that “we’re not the enemy… The enemy is the virus…,” few who attended the supervisor’s meeting felt similarly. How ugly were they? How bottomless is this hole of civic depravity? After a lengthy procession of would be Patrick Henrys gave their own very similar spin on the same tired “don’t tread on me” theme, 79-year old James Cerillo stepped up to the mic and removed his mask to speak. He said his wife didn’t want him to come “to this superspreader activity.” Cerillo told the crowd how scared he and his wife were of the virus. Citing data on the over quarter million US Covid deaths, he sadly noted the country “is losing this battle.” How did the courageous patriots respond to such an honest display of vulnerability by a neighbor at high risk to suffer Covid’s worst? “Put on your mask,” somebody jeered at him as the audience laughed. “Your time is up,” a supervisor scolded. “If I hold this Constitution up, is that going to get you from getting the virus,” Cerillo asked as he relied on his cane to leave the room. Indeed. WWRBD?… What Would Rick Blaine Do? BC