Al Franken is the Jester. He had a political career but it came to a crashing halt. “Off with his head,” says the angry King when the Jester’s jokes fall flat. Franken’s head came off due to a photo. A picture is worth 1,000 words, after all.
Leeann
Tweeden held a photo of Franken making believe he was grabbing her breasts
while she slept in a Kevlar vest and wearing a helmet. Not really a sexy photo.
Franken looks directly at the camera lens, hamming it up like a true jester. The
two participated together in a skit as part of a 2006 USO gig—a worthy effort
for which Franken has paid dearly.
Tweeden
held on to the photo for 11 years. It serves as supporting material for her
claims against Franken. She maintains Al Franken attempted to kiss her in skit
rehearsals and that she soundly rejected those advances. Franken remembers it a
different way.
A few
weeks elapsed, more Franken stories emerged revealing his penchant for grabbing
women’s asses during photo shoots. What is it with Franken and photos? The
camera seems to bring out the worst in the guy. This is truly nerdy behavior.
And Franken himself provided a map to recognizing his nerdiness.
Remember
Stuart Smalley, the fey character invented by Franken in 1991 for Saturday Night Live (SNL)? Smalley’s
most famous affirmation… “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggone it,
people like me”… reveals deep feelings of inadequacy. Comedy is all about
truth. Franken revealed his own deep personal insecurities.
Maybe Al Franken really is Stuart Smalley. Smalley… the name itself implies a lack of potency. Smallness is exactly the wrong personality to survive a tidal wave of criticism. His own Democratic party created a tipping point. Must have hurt Franken deeply when fellow Democratic senators—particularly Kirsten Gillibrand of New York—called for his resignation. Al Franken, the duly elected Senator from Minnesota, resigned soon after.
Meanwhile,
King Donald Trump handled a Gillibrand attack a very different way. Gillibrand
suggested Trump should resign the presidency for sexual harassment stories
surrounding him for years. King Donald followed his ethos, when you get hit,
hit back harder at your opponent and show no mercy.
Trump
tweeted:
“Lightweight Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Charles E. Schumer and someone who would
come to my office 'begging' for campaign contributions not so long ago (and
would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump,” the
president wrote. “Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!”
Trump’s tweet
questions Gillibrand’s fitness for office-- calling her a lightweight. Trump
depicts Gillibrand soliciting money from Trump for her political campaigns. He
demeans her further suggesting she “would do anything” for the money.
Trump implies
Gillibrand would have considered offering sexual favors in exchange for money.
He goes right to sexuality but turns the tables with Gillibrand as a possible
exploiter and trafficker in sexual favors. Ah, the genius of the Tweeter in
Chief. His great skills are:
1) branding the Trump name
2) branding
others with insulting nicknames
3) seeking
out conflict
Whereas most of us seek peace in
our relationships, Trump relishes conflict. Trump, the contrarian and TV
producer, knows that every story needs conflict. The classic Hollywood story
pits two adversaries against each other. The arrow of rising conflict between
adversaries always points upward.
Trump
gets his enemies back on their heels. He keeps himself prominent in the
story—never backs off and never acknowledges defeat.
Compare
Trump’s aggression to Al Franken’s passivity in response to the accusations
level against him. Franken seems guilty of being a nerd. Not just a nerd… but a
nerd extraordinaire. He lacked game when it came to women. Franken’s victims
did not offer horror stories about him. His sins seemed more like the antics of
a middle schooler kid ill-equipped to handle a conversation with a girl or
woman.
The
Jester was just not suited to do battle. Jester’s prefer peace, striving to
tell the truth about a situation as a way to defuse the discomfort.
As
Marshall McLuhan said many times, humor is about societal grievance. The
comedian finds the areas where society is most vulnerable, like race relations,
and scratches that itch. Comedians are essentially peace-makers. Al Franken’s
peaceful path, the Stuart Smalley jokes and ironic humor, did not work for
keeping his job.
The
Jester left with his head cut-off. The angry King still stands waving his sword
at any rival. Kirsten Gillibrand had the temerity to challenge the king. He
came back hard and viciously. Trump brings everything back to Trump—and keeps
the cosmos in order with himself as the Sun, the center of gravitational force.
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