DesSantis Depicted with Nazi Symbol & Fires 40% of Campaign Staff, Yellowstone Creator's New Show (Wrongfully) Trashed, Americana Favorite Jason Isbell Attacks...Himself?! (The Five for 07/28/23)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
LOTS of Culture & Commentary to cover today—so let’s dive in.
[one]
Before we dive into this one…the image in question involves the Nazi Black Sun over his head, in a literal Hitlerian look.
DeSantis has fired the staffer, along with nearly half his campaign staff.
It’s no longer news that Ron DeSantis’ campaign is in free-fall. He just let go 40% of his staff. He’s trailing Donald Trump by more than 33 points, according to FiveThirtyEight’s aggregation of polling. And most recently, his campaign fired an aide named Nate Hochman, who was responsible for sharing a clip online featuring Nazi imagery.
Interestingly, the reason critics of DeSantis’ campaign are floating as a potential explanation for these firings is that the campaign as a whole has become “too online.” And in one sense, that’s accurate; you’d have to be fluent in 4chan memes to fully appreciate the content that emerges from the DeSantis campaign.
Think about it this way: Somehow, despite the inordinate amount of time I spend on the internet, I’ve managed to do so without co-opting Nazi imagery. The idea that the DeSantis campaign is a victim of some nebulous effect of being “too online” is nothing more than a desperate effort to evade responsibility. Because too online or not, people have agency. They are responsible for the content they produce, irrespective of how many hours they do or don’t spend online. Ron DeSantis and his campaign aren’t “too online”; they’re too fascist.
I don’t think most people have any idea what “facist” actually means. Let’s check dictionary.com for this one:
a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
So…MSNBC writing that op-ed proves fascism isn’t happening…because the piece is still online and the author’s head isn’t on a pike near a the Florida capital building, as a warning to other journalists.
At this point, it certainly feels like the DeSantis campaign has reached the point of no return. He’s still in 2nd overall in most polls (although Vivek Ramaswami is climbing), but because DeSantis just can’t seem to win over new support.
His Twitter Spaces to announce the campaign was largely ignored. He’s shunned media interviews with any outlet that could ask him even a remotely difficult question…and now his own campaign painted him as a Nazi.
[two]
The controversy over Jason Aldean’s new single “Try That in a Small Town” (see last week’s coverage in The Five) spilled into an unusual arena…with two artists arguing over whether it’s “real art” to record a song someone else wrote.
Alt-Country/Americana artist Jason Isbell jumped in and called out Aldean for not writing his own songs.
Owen released a lengthy response via Twitter:
I’ve spent my entire career trying to promote positivity. At my shows, off the stage, wherever I am. I don’t like division or hate. That’s why I responded to the previous tweet. Being crass, I replied bc I was offended by @JasonIsbell insinuation that “if you don’t write your own songs, you’re less than or not a real artist..”
I’ve had a record deal for almost 20 years. I feel deep down that I am a good writer. I’ve written a lot of songs, and recorded many of them. I’m just a fan of songs. I don’t need to write everything in order to prove to myself or anyone that I’m a “real artist”..
If it wasn’t for incredible songwriters, I know for a fact I wouldn’t have had the career I have had. I’m forever grateful for the many songwriters that have thought I was worthy enough to record their song. Their idea. I bet George Jones was grateful for Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman for a song called “He Stopped Loving Her Today”…
To be honest, I didn’t even know who Jake Owen was, but he has 2 million Twitter followers, so I’m guessing he has a string of radio hits over those two decades.
Owen is correct—if we can’t consider anyone a “real artist” who doesn’t write 100% of their own material, we have to throw out Elvis, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross…and most of country and pop music in general.
Songwriter Ross Golan put it this way in an interview with Vice:
No one's furious with Meryl Streep for not writing her Oscar-winning screenplay. Some singers are not meant to be writers, they're just amazing storytellers; they're interpreters. That is amazing. We need them. We would have nothing without them.
Isbell can certainly be viewed as a hypocrite here, as he has netted millions of dollars in royalties from mainstream country acts Zac Brown and Morgan Wallen recording his songs (aka songs they didn’t write), and co-signed their efforts:
As is often the case, two things can be true at the same time—Isbell can be a complete jackass online and in real life (an HBO doc captured him engaging in abusive behavior towards his wife during his battle with alcoholism, and Isbell’s wife also engaged in racist behavior towards a fellow performer, which he remained silent on) and also be one of the best songwriters of a generation).
I’ll admit to being completely starstruck when I ran into Isbell at a concert in Nashville circa 2011, when he was a (mostly) unknown artist. Jason and his wife Amanda invited me to sit on the outdoor deck of the bar and have a drink. I was more nervous around this than when I interviewed Gerard Butler or Barak Obama.
I’m thankful Isbell got sober, but his chosen “higher power” in Alcoholics Anonymous is apparently his own self-righteousness. That’s not to say that I don’t cherish Isbell’s records—his latest is a stone cold classic.
But if I saw him on the street in Nashville, I’d probably just keep walking.
And no one really believes only artists who write their own material should be taken seriously—not even Jason Isbell, as he recorded an album of covers in 2021.
Still, you should absolutely listen to Jason’s latest album, Weathervanes. As I wrote last week, a person can have bad opinions and make very good art.
[three]
Hollywood really hates Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan. I’ve been a mega-fan since Taylor penned some of my favorite episodes of the motorcycle drama Sons of Anarchy, but despite the fact that Yellowstone is the biggest TV phenomenon since Game of Thrones, the modern Western is routinely shut out of awards shows and is largely ignored for press of any kind.
Now, Sheridan’s latest show, Special Ops: Lioness, is being labeled as “war propaganda” by Variety.
This is the same magazine that’s fallen all over itself to promote Ukraine…and has taken a very pro-war stance vs. negotiating with Russia to end the conflict and bloodshed.
Sheridan is constantly labeled as “right wing” by the corporate press, despite the fact that the writer has never uttered a public political statement, and seems content to live on a ranch in Texas and write great TV and movies (Hell or High Water, Wind River).
Sheridan is also depicting an era of the War on Terror that was carried out by…the Obama Administration.
Ignore the negative press here…Lioness is one of the best Sheridan shows in an already impressive string of hits…that’s well worth checking out if you enjoy anything else the Yellowstone creator has penned.
[four]
Much of the left wing of the corporate press has tried to dismiss pedophilia as a “right wing conspiracy” (uhh, go google “Jeffrey Epstein,” you dolts), but the fringe right is now engaging in promoting adult/minor relationships.
H. Pearl Davis, aka “Just Pearly Things” on YouTube claims to be a relationship expert because she had “a lot siblings and a lot of roommates in college.” (uhhh..wut).
This never married young adult wants to tell your about marriage, and also wants you to know that…men prefer minors to adults?
Seriously, what the hell?
Davis is closely aligned, ideologically, with Andrew Tate, a massive online influencer currently facing trial for human trafficking (although he has not been found guilty), a mid-30’s man who seems to nod to relationships with barely-legal women…TBD on if abusing any minors comes up in the trial.
So, it’s official. Factions of both the left and right want to make adult/child relations legal and normal.
In completely unrelated news…here’s a pic of a woodchipper.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup:
Judy Greer (13 Going on 30, Arrested Development) is more known for her comedic chops…but dang it, if she can’t spark my interest in a sci-fi project.
Aporia asks the question of what one woman would sacrifice to go back and save her late husband from a drunk driver…and if the effects on the future would be too detrimental for her greatest desire to come true.
Catch it in theaters August 11th.
In my humble opinion, Harlen Coben is one of the finest mystery novelists publishing today, so I’m already in on Shelter, a murder/mystery centered around a high school student unraveling his father’s death while trying to save an innocent girl.
Trust me…this one is worth a shot. Season 1 streaming on Prime Video 08/18.
NEW MUSIC
Apple Music | YouTube Music
Alt country legend Sturgill Simpson covered Southern Gospel band The Gatlin Brothers for an HBO show called The Righteous Gemstones (I dunno much about it) under the moniker Brother Marshall and The Choir of Fire.
Ladies and Gentleman…new Tyler Childers.
Until the next one,
-sth