Washington, DC—Activists from the elder activist group Third Act-DMV, are not letting up on their pressure to parody Trump, Vance, and Hegseth, for their misguided and illegal war on Iran. They created and played a movie short outside Union Market, in a trendy section of Northeast DC. It was a jab at U.S. policy and diplomatic disasters in South America, the Caribbean Ocean, and the Middle East.
The movie was set to the song in Victor Hugo’s play Les Misérables, ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ with Trump, Vance, and Hegseth playing equal roles as villains. The slideshow depicts their ambitions to destroy the world with their missiles, drones, and bombs, but with a twist.
Alien spacecraft appear over the cartoonish three, who by now have been thoroughly discredited in their most recent war in Iran. The aliens sweep them up with a space laser device and whizz them off into deep space. One can almost hear Marjorie Taylor Green laughing in the background but unfortunately she doesn’t make an appearance in the movie. Maybe Third Act-DMV is planning a sequel?
The short slideshow movie ends with the caption, “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise—RESIST.” It leaves one with hope that the madness and chaos of Trump and company won’t last.
There’s a short guest appearance by Viktor Orban, Hungary’s ousted nationalist president who suffered a stinging landslide defeat this past Sunday, even though Vice President Vance made a special stop in Budapest to drum up support for the unpopular nationalist.
The stopover was the first leg in his trip to Pakistan, for marathon negotiations with Iran to end the war. Not unexpectedly, the Vance team negotiations with Iran collapsed.
A few days later on Tuesday, Vance was humiliated as the key speaker by low crowd turnout at a free attendance Turning Points USA rally in Georgia, an event which was so sparely attended most of the 8000 empty seats mockingly stared back at him. It seems that everywhere Vance goes he gets a fair share of hecklers and protesters.
Things are not faring well for Trump either. Statements he has posted on his social media site about the war with Iran drew scrutiny against him from many quarters, questioned his fitness to lead, and urged the 25th Amendment be invoked by principles to remove him.
On Easter Sunday, the President of the United States posted this message: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Two days later, he posted. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” It appeared under his handle last Tuesday, April 7, in reference to the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The post was a threat to annihilate the entire population of 92 million if the government of Iran did not open the strait by 8 pm that night.
Annihilating a population in one night could only be done with nuclear weapons and even though the threat was not likely to have been carried out, Trump could have ordered it as he does have both the authority and the power to initiate the nuclear action. The fact that this threat was so clear and sent in anger was more than enough to question if he had any remaining rational reason. Some may recall Hillary Clinton warning that electing Trump president meant giving him the nuclear codes. Well, she told it so.
Most recently Trump posted and later—during a press conference—he admitted he had posted it, a caricature of himself similar in likeness to Jesus Christ. He claimed it was a doctor administering aid to an ill patient. Even evangelicals criticized the meme he posted.
Then there’s Pete Hegseth. He has quoted biblical passages during press conferences and during prayer meetings at the Pentagon since the U.S. began its attack in Iran War.
He has referenced conservative Christian values at multiple press conferences about the execution of the Iran war. He said “the mullahs are desperate and scrambling,” casting the war as if it is a religious conquest in an age old crusader mentality. He published a book titled “American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free” which calls for an “American crusade” against enemies of freedom, including leftists and Islam. The book emphasizes a polarized view of American politics and advocates for a strong nationalist agenda.
During a press conference at the Pentagon, Hegseth said, “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. He is my loving God, and my fortress. My stronghold and my deliverer, my shield in whom I take refuge.” He said this after returning from Delaware where deceased service members were being returned from Kuwait.
In a prayer meeting at the Pentagon, the entirety of his prayer which was published in Military Times, he said, in part, “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” He prayed this.
For the Secretary of Defense to frame war in religious terms during wartime operations is unheard of. The chief spokesman of this major government department traditionally manages its operations in a secular climate since there are service members of many different faiths.
Pope Leo XIV seemingly responded to Trump and Hegseth with a rebuke although he did not mention them by name, “God does not bless any conflict.” The exchange of words between Trump and the Pope escalated, in response to Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilians, exposing an unprecedented divide between the Vatican and the U.S. Pope Leo responded to Trump’s statement calling it “truly unacceptable.”
Seemingly towards Hegseth, Pope Leo said, “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”
Can things for Trump, Vance, and Hegseth, the experts at centering themselves as the black holes of media attention, possibly get any worse? Maybe. They surely have not gotten any better in the 14 months since Trump took office.
They are pretty effective in what they say for getting attention. But as to delivering the goods in their promises, that still eludes them. Despite having legions of sycophants around, telling them how well they are doing, they must by now be sensing for themselves they’ve lost much of their credibility. Why else would they be saying and posting increasingly unhinged and incoherent media?
The European Union via NATO flat out refused to help them in their Iran War. Evangelicals are turning on them over Trump’s self-depiction as the Christ Savior. Even Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, and Alex Jones are turning against them. They’ve lost the most righteous of the righteous conservative pundits. That’s pretty hard to do even for ultra conservatives.
Where do we go from here and is there yet no bottom? As in the song “Do You Hear The People Sing?” from Les Misérables, a people’s prayer and spiritual call to action, “even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” So as the Third Act-DMV movie says, keep resisting. There are a lot more of us than them.
