There is nothing I love more than when someone consumes a piece of media and completely misses the point. In case you cannot sense it, that is sarcasm. And Donald Trump and JD Vance seeing Les Misérables is up there…
The musical and the Victor Hugo novel take place during the June Rebellion, an uprising also known as the “Student Revolution” that was in response to King Louis-Philippe. Louis-Philippe was known for his “indifference” to society at large and what they needed from a ruler. It is almost as if…sending Trump to see Les Misérables is kind of trying to make a point to Trump.
Now the question is: Did Trump or Vance understand what the musical represents? Given how Trump reacted on the carpet to his favorite news network, Fox News, told him that “16 cities across the U.S” had started to protest ICE, I don’t think Les Misérables is for the Trump administration.
To be fair, before Vance and Trump even saw the show, Vance made a really bad joke that made no sense at all. He posted about going to the Kennedy Center and tried to make a joke about Sweeney Todd and I don’t see how that would correlate or how his wife, Usha Vance, would find it “hysterical.”
All of this just reminded me that it is hilarious to me that the MAGA side of things continues to consume media that is calling them out and they completely miss the point. Did Trump and Vance hear “Do You Hear the People Sing?” and think that it correlated with January 6th? Honestly, probably. But in reality, it is the same thing that happens with MAGA and Star Wars: This play is literally about you!
Media literacy is dead with the MAGA party
There are plenty of musicals that if Trump or Vance went to see them, I’d be annoyed they were seeing art they wouldn’t understand but I’d ultimately not care. But to go and see Les Misérables is quite comical. Especially at a time when there are protests happening in at least 16 major cities, fighting back against Trump’s stance on immigration.
What is happening in Los Angeles has spread. There are protests in New York, Austin, San Antonio, and more, all refusing to allow Trump and ICE into our cities to take away our neighbors. For Trump and Vance to go and see a musical that shows how far people are willing to go to fight back against oppressors, how they’re willing to die for what they believe in and protecting each other, really is like something out of a bad satire.
It is how I feel when someone says that they love the Rebellion in Star Wars and yet support Donald Trump. Do you just not see the similarities between the Empire and what is happening in the United States right now or what?
Media literacy aside, I do love that Trump and Vance were not welcomed to this performance and many were angry within the theater. That’s what I love about my musical theatre community: We stick together and don’t take kindly to people like Trump and Vance who are constantly attacking others.
Anyway, Les Misérables is a beautiful musical and it saddens me that these two went to see it and most definitely learned absolutely nothing.
(featured image: Shannon Finney/Getty Images)
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