Even escapist entertainment is being infected by Trump - New York Post

There is no escaping Donald Trump.

First, we wake up and read his twilight tweetstorm. We watch the morning news to discover his latest firing. Later, we arrive at the office and debate the appropriateness of his wife’s footwear. In the evening, we eat dinner and disown our argumentative cousin for having the wrong opinion of his proposed wall. We go to bed, and we do it all over again. American life has become an unbearably draining “Groundhog Day” of Trump.

Thank goodness then for those few precious hours at home after work, when we can unwind with a trashy TV show; where sexy characters exist outside our heated, omnipresent national spat; where Don is blessedly off the table.

FAKE NEWS!

Unfortunately for our tightly wound populace, The Donald has oil-spilled his way into our leisure time, too. Because of the leftist sanctimony of the entertainment industry, the president is now a mainstay of our diversions, from the flightiest sitcoms to the most glittering Broadway shows. Our oases of escapism are now just more arenas to talk Trump.

On Tuesday, the new season of Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story” began on FX. You know the show: The one where Jessica Lange sang “Life on Mars” as a German proprietor of a freak show and Academy Award winner Kathy Bates played a severed head.

Despite the fact that “American Horror Story” is one of the silliest, most proudly irrelevant properties on television, Election Night 2016 is the inciting incident of this new installment, called “Cult.” All of the usual monsters and gore are unleashed after the stress of Trump’s win takes its toll on the characters. Really.

“I just keep reliving it over and over and it’s triggered all the old phobias,” Sarah Paulson’s character Ally says of her mental state since Nov. 9, 2016. “This is just like what happened to me in college after 9/11 when I couldn’t leave my apartment.”

While artists certainly have a right to be topical and address important issues of the day, nobody has ever looked to “American Horror Story” to help understand the world. Audiences look to “American Horror Story” to put Lady Gaga in a blood orgy, not to explain our national condition.

Meanwhile on Broadway, an entire block of 44th Street is devoted to protesting. In July, Michael Moore strode into town with “The Terms of My Surrender,” a one-man show at the Belasco Theatre in which the documentarian-turned-left-wing-folk-hero dictates how one person (namely him) can make a big difference (namely ousting Trump). If only, the audience ponders, Moore could dictate how we can get tickets to “Hello, Dolly!” instead.

What producers, actors and writers don’t seem to understand about their target is that Trump … feeds off of all mentions like the blood-eating plant in ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’

Just a few steps away, at the Hudson Theatre, is a production of George Orwell’s “1984,” about a totalitarian government that violently suppresses contrarian thinking. After running sporadically in England for several years, the play was conspicuously announced for New York on Feb. 22, one month after Trump took the oath of office. “Interest in the title has spiked in recent weeks,” a press release said. Nobody seems to care that a story about citizens being constantly monitored and closely controlled bears little resemblance to an administration that can’t even prevent its own information leaks.

And coming this fall is a new play starring Uma Thurman called “The Parisian Woman.” However, don’t expect the wild spirit of “Pulp Fiction.” The drama will change weekly depending on what Trump tweets.

Harmless sitcoms? They’ve been infected, too.

Take “Will & Grace.” For eight years, fans of the show came to expect a half-hour of no-strings-attached laughs, propped up by boisterous characters who, even when they do terrible things, are still pretty damn likable. But when the comedy’s four main actors reunited for a new scene last September, preachiness prevailed. It was — shudder — an election PSA.

Will (played by Eric McCormack) begins the scene saying, “This just sucks. Can you believe this is the world we live in?”

“No, it’s criminal,” replies Debra Messing’s Grace. “How is it possible Donald Trump is a nominee for president of the United States?”

The show was later renewed by NBC for a new season, after nine years being off the air. Lest you think politics was just making a brief spiritual cameo, the trailer for the upcoming episodes reveals exactly the opposite.

<span class="embed-youtube">[embedded content]</span>

“Karen, what are you listening to?” asks Grace of her dancing friend. Karen, played by Megan Mullally, answers, “Fox News!”

If we can’t handle the TV heat, maybe we should all get into the kitchen and bake our stress away.

But — oh no! — Donald is lurking in the fridge, too. A nauseatingly earnest new cookbook, due out Oct. 3, promises to help you fight back against the president with a frying pan.

“Feed the Resistance: Recipes + Ideas for Getting Involved” (Chronicle Books) by New York-based author Julia Turshen insists that “when people search for ways to resist injustice and express support for civil rights, environmental protections and more, they begin by gathering around the table to talk and plan.” Apparently Turshen’s recipe for bread pudding will really fire up your planning neurons.

Mystifyingly, what producers, actors and writers don’t seem to understand about their target is that Trump — angry or not — feeds off of all mentions like the blood-eating plant in “Little Shop of Horrors.” This guy lives for attention. Thus, the more the heroes of Hollywood mock him, the bigger and more menacing he will get. Their audiences, on the other hand, will just get smaller.