Dem
51
GOP
49
There's a pretty good argument to be made that the worst hit song ever recorded is "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!," by Napoleon XIV. What the million-plus people who bought that single in 1966 were thinking, we do not know, but it was the #3 song in the U.S. and the #2 song in Canada for a week. Maybe it was the LSD. Or some tainted poutine. If you don't know the song, you might want to avoid clicking on that link, because it could get stuck in your head and cause you to go insane. Which would actually be kind of apropos, because going insane is what happens to the singer of the song... after his dog runs away.
Anyhow, Napoleon XIV died a few weeks ago. It would seem that, as a result, the universe decided that meant it is time for an even worse hit song to displace "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" And so, the world has now been blessed (cursed?) with what became, over the weekend, the #1 song on iTunes, namely "Justice for All" by the J6 Prison Choir, with special guest Donald J. Trump.
If you are a real glutton for punishment, and you haven't already been reduced to a quivering, wasted piece of jelly by Napoleon XIV, you can listen to "Justice for All" here. The J6 Prison Choir, as you might guess from their name, is made up of men who were imprisoned for their role in the 1/6 insurrection. The track involves them singing the National Anthem, interspersed with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. And then, at the end, the "Choir" chants "USA! USA! USA!" Do you understand how much dedication to this site it takes for us to listen to this awful, awful "music"?
That said, our purpose here isn't merely to dump on this track. It's to point out that newly announced Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson also has a low opinion of the song. In his case, that's not a musical judgment, it's a judgment about the message. Appearing on News Nation, Hutchinson accused Trump of undermining the American system of justice and said "I don't think we should elevate Jan. 6. It was a serious challenge to our democracy. It was a blight against the United States, against the world." The former governor of Arkansas also slammed the current governor of Florida, remarking that Ron DeSantis' potshots at Alvin Bragg (smearing the DA as a tool of George Soros and a "menace to society") were "appealing to the worst instincts of America, versus trying to sort through a difficult time in our country." Hutchinson also said that, as a former prosecutor himself, he would have brought a case against Trump in Manhattan, based on what is currently publicly known.
We do not know if there is actually a "sane Republican" lane in 2024. But if there is, the person in it cannot be a former Trump toady (sorry, Chris Christie!), and they really have to lean into the notion of a post-Trumper Republican Party. This business of trying to have it both ways, as someone like Mike Pence is trying to do, won't cut it. And that is why we will be watching Hutchinson with much more interest that any of the Trump-lite pretenders to the throne, with the exception of DeSantis. (Z)