Universal postpones anti-Trump The Hunt
But the paean to sporting-murders for political 'wrongthink' not forever gone. And its bigotry has real-world champions.                

Source: NowTheEndBegins.com 

Traditionally, in America, men were equally free to voice ideas without apprehension of assaults. That openness was understood to be a strength, something important in democracy's interest.

Today, though, we see Antifa rioting; nationwide assaults on MAGA hat-wearers; Maxine Waters' exhortation to physical confrontation; Big Tech censorship of conservative perspectives;  and Reps Ilhan Omar's and Ayanna Pressley's refusals to condemn attacks on ICE and desecrations of America's flag.

It was recently reported flyers that advocated Trump supporters be interned in death camps were posted in Long Island.

Universal has now postponed release of The Hunt, which depicted blue-collar "deplorables" being hunted and murdered by private-jet-flying 'I'm With Her' sorts.

I haven't seen it, in its entirety; just a trailer the studio issued. (Assumably, that clip presented the film as Universal wished the public to regard it.)

I won't be commenting on pacing, subplots, or lighting. But I can speak to its basic messages.

1932's The Most Dangerous Game may have been somewhat inspirational. But The Hunt, reportedly first titled Red State vs. Blue State, was/is Hollywood's rancid endorsement of political violence.

"Did you see what our ratfucker-in-chief just did?" one character asks.

"'At least The Hunt's coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables," another answers.

Beset by critical storms, Universal insisted that their movie had all along been a satire. Not having seen the film, I can't categorically reject that.

But the PR band-aid seems as implausible as Marianne Williamson putting her Birkenstocks up on the Resolute Desk. And it reminds of the many public figures who, contriving to deflect anger over outrageous utterances, declare they were 'just joking.'

The Hunt will eventually be released. And the satire justification will again be broadcast. But examination of its producer's record hardly inspires trust. 

Producer Jason Blum's hostility toward President Trump and conservative Americans has enjoyed representation in his previous works. His 2018 film The First Purge, for instance.  

"The marketing for The First Purge...trolls Trump, and the story doesn't shy away from how much the current administration has shaped the prequel, in which the NRA-backed third party New Founding Fathers of America (aka as the NFFA) rules the White House in a dystopian alternate reality," wrote USA Today.

(The poster's MAGA hat-appropriation was, laughed writer / executive producer James DeMonaco, "a nice goose on Donald.")

Previous Blumhouse TV efforts included a Showtime miniseries critical of late Fox News boss Roger Ailes. The effort was based on Vanity Fair correspondent Gabriel Sherman's hostile 2014 book The Loudest Voice In the Room.

Sherman adapted his book for the screenplay. And he was later reported to be developing a scornful Trump movie. 

"We also acquired a book called Devil's Bargain, by Joshua Green, which is another sort of political piece," said Jeremy Gold, Blumhouse TV co-president, in a Feb. 2019 Lunacy Productions interview. That book focused on President Trump and Steve Bannon's "storming" of the White House.

All that makes it likely The Hunt's filmmakers' hearts were soundly in it. No joke.

It is theoretically possible for avowed despisers of Pres. Trump and the grassroots, regular-Americans MAGA movement to produce a politically centered movie not reflective of their sentiment. But it's as unlikely as doddering Joe Biden giving an entire speech without saying something stupid.

Controversy is free advertising. When The Hunt does appear on nationwide screens, cash registers will sing.


"Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate! They like to call themselves 'Elite,' but they are not Elite. In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the Elite. The movie coming out is made in order... to inflame and cause chaos. They create their own violence, and then try to blame others. They are the true Racists, and are very bad for our country!"
- Pres. Trump Aug. 9 tweet.

"We pay for everything. So, this country belongs to us," said one The Hunt elitist, as others who would soon murder Trump-backing deplorables sipped pricey libations in a luxuriously appointed boardroom and private jet.

As soon as I heard that, I recalled these words:

"I won the places that represent two-thirds of America's gross domestic product...I won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward."
Hillary Clinton, at Mumai's 2018 India Today Conclave

And:

"The Blue parts of America are having a big prosperity party while that big sea of red feels like their invitation got lost in the mail. And they still use the mail. They turn on the TV, and all the shows take place in a few hip cities. There are no Real Housewives of Toledo, or CSI: Lubbock. There are no red carpets in Wyoming and no one ever asks you 'What are you wearing?' because the answer is always Target.

"There are two Americas...We have Chef Wolfgang Puck and they have Chef Boyardee. Our roofs have solar panels, theirs have last year's Christmas lights. We've got legal bud, they've got Bud. We have anal bleaching, they have Congressman Steve King. The flyover states have become the passed-over states. That's why Red State voters are so pissed off. They don't hate us, they want to be us."
- Bill Maher, in a Feb. broadcast of HBO's Real Time

Class bigotry and snooty disdain for working people in the Heartland are flatly incongruous with Jefferson's "all men are created equal" declaration.

You don't need an overflowing bank account to be as American as the next guy, even if he is a preening celebrity. The farmer, the local business owner, and all the regular folks of small-town America are now and always have been just as American as the high-hats on Manor Hill.

The worth of citizens is measured by what's in their hearts, not their wallets. You can have every costly mark of material distinction. But without loyalty to our nation and its founding principles, you're nothing compared to the neighborhood cop with genuine patriotism in his veins.

The anti-democratic fancy is that a person's valuable to a nation, and entitlement to influence its course, depends on their financial contribution. And it's not new: Some in America's birth time believed only propertied men should vote. 

And the divide between powdered aristocrats and commoners is a built-in feature of monarchical lands.

There's not a great distance between pompous Democrats today lecturing on supposed Blue State supremacy/Red State inferiority and the poisonous, possibly looming declaration that patriotic, average citizens are only three-fifths human.

Then The Hunt will be on, for real.


Note: Lest that last seem an unwarranted observation, consider 'unpersoning' phenomena already existent. These include international banking, credit card, and online financial institutions denying service for ideological reasons; Big Tech silencings and demonitizations; retail businesses refusing service to perceived Trump supporters; organized doxxing of persons; violent home protests; efforts to provoke job loss and economic hardship; property destruction; and street assaults.

No mass physical conflict would be necessary in a new civil war, as Rush Limbaugh recently noted. Those of influence in the financial sector, and employers, could simply make it impossible for tens of millions to participate economically. 

To survive, to feed their families and keep roofs over their heads, patriotic citizens would need to hide their faith. War over.