How will the Trump trilogy end?

 

I’ve watched a lot of good movies. And by that, I mean American elections. Yes, they are that entertaining – so much so that many real movies have been made about them. Primary Colors is a parody of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign; W. is a comedic look at the rise of George W. Bush; and Disney’s 2022 remake of Pinocchio is all about the Donald Trump presidency (or at least takes inspiration?) 

I have no idea what the 2024 election’s movie will be called, but thankfully, it’s no longer Grumpy Old Men. We all know how that movie would have ended. Thanks to Joe Biden’s less-than-stellar debate performance, at least one old man (not the grumpy one, mind you) is no longer in the picture. 

This makes for a much richer plotline: The first Black woman running for president against, I would argue, a misogynistic and racist white dude. Now if I were directing things, we would have had not one, but two women running for the presidency. Nikki Haley would have won the Republican ticket, culminating in a Harris-Haley showdown. That would be Oscar-worthy cinema – a race like none other, to become America’s Wonder Woman! (I know, that's lame... bear with me as I muddle through my movie references.) 

Imagine with me for a moment: Two competent female candidates, where there’s no risk of losing the race due to gender. A woman president would be guaranteed! Because, as we know, whether Democrat or Republican, female candidates face an uphill battle that requires them to smile... a lot.  

A prevailing public sentiment, particularly in the U.S., suggests women are best in “supporting roles” like first lady or vice president. We’re more comfortable making movies about women who do significant work in the background like in Hidden Figures, where three black women play a pivotal role in NASA’s early space program. This is all good. But do women get lead roles when a giant asteroid is heading for earth? I don’t think so. When facing Armageddon, that’s a white guy’s job.  

Simply being a white male sends a message of confidence and success, whether you’re a bumbling idiot (not naming any names) or not. If Haley were up against Harris, there would be no chance of a Trump presidency. I could have relaxed and not thought about US politics for at least another four years! That’s when Trump could make his fourth run for president, or as it might be called on the big screen: Groundhog Day Redux: MAGA Never Dies. 

While Trump makes us want to laugh (at him), our current movie is still quite ominous. Current polling suggests this election will be a suspenseful thriller. Just like in The Sixth Sense, where the audience is kept in the dark for most of the movie, we may shockingly find out that... Trump sees dead people. I mean, given the weird stuff he talks about lately, it wouldn’t surprise me. 

Trump thrives at making the unbelievable believable. He once suggested that injecting oneself with bleach could fight the coronavirus. Even worse, he convinced a third of Americans that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He accused his own Republican vice president, Mike Pence, of betrayal for not overturning the election’s results! This is insanity. If he wins, or even if he doesn’t, it could be... Apocalypse Now. 

My hope is that it ends nothing like that dark Vietnam War film. Call me idealistic, but I prefer stories of hope. I’m longing for a classic Star Wars finale where good triumphs over evil. But we can never be sure. For all we know, this may be the second film of a three-part trilogy like in The Empire Strikes Back, where the Death Star (Trump Tower?) somehow gets rebuilt even stronger.  

Based on past history, we should never fall for the headlines touting Trump’s demise. I watched that 2016 film with horror. And, like about half of Americans, this time I desperately want a different ending.