Hollywood often takes out its ire at Republican presidents by depicting their deaths in drama, The 2006 movie “Death of a President” imagined that assassination of then-President George W. Bush and the subsequent great terror inflicted on the land by President Dick Cheney. A comedy about the end of the world, “The last man on earth,” takes that one step further and imagines the deaths of several GOP chief executives in a row.
The flashback scene has a rich white woman played by Kristen Wig, best known for being in the disastrous flop all-girl version of “Ghostbusters,” as she watches in quick succession the state funerals of Presidents Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Rex Tillerson, Steve Mnuchin, Jeff Sessions, and Betsy DeVos as the worldwide plague takes them one by one.
The main joke was that not only did the cabinet die in the line of succession but that civilization held it together long enough to allow the real first female president, Betsy DeVos, a proper sendoff. One suspects that by the time Ben Carson becomes president the cities are in flames and bodies are stacked up in the streets around abandoned hospitals. The military would either have dissolved by then or is too busy fighting looters to escort the presidential casket.
One question: What happened to the actual sitting president? Did Trump at least get a real state funeral after the plague sent him off?
The obvious question is, why don’t Democrats ever get this treatment? In the alternate reality where Hillary Clinton won, would “The Last Man On Earth” depict a series of Democrats being carried to their eternal rest?
The answer is that from the perspective of those who make movies and TV shows there is no fun in that. The death of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would be an unspeakable tragedy. Besides, why risk being called racist or sexist for depicting such things?
On the other hand, imagining the death of a Republican is fun, from the perspective of the entertainment industry. The only wonderment is that “The Last Man on Earth” drew back from showing Trump’s actual death from the plague. In certain blue states that scene would be a stand-up and cheer moment.
