{"id":4651,"date":"2026-02-05T04:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=4651"},"modified":"2026-02-05T04:50:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:50:02","slug":"he-is-beyond-satire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2026\/02\/he-is-beyond-satire\/","title":{"rendered":"He is beyond satire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olga Neuwirth has composed an opera, \u201cMonster\u2019s Paradise\u201d, with a libretto written by her and Elfriede Jelinek. You can see in the photo above, what it\u2019s about. It is premiering at the Hamburg Opera, before going to Zurich and Vienna, and on their website there\u2019s a two-minute video that gives a sense of what to expect<\/a>. The creators say it is inspired by the Grand Guignol, and the 1896 play by Alfred Jarry, \u201cUbu Roi.\u201d But any production must stand on its own, and here the mistake is thinking you can make political satire featuring Donald Trump. Though I\u2019m not quite sure he is the actual target here\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Associated Press reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chorus members dressed as zombies and roamed the foyers before the opera and during the intermission, along with Disney-styled princesses and dancing hot dogs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Why though? Trump has certain tastes in women, but Disney-styled princesses are not it. Famously, he loves McDonald\u2019s, but that\u2019s nothing to do with hot dogs. [Canadian content digression: Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was annoyed with Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa and on camera called him un \u201cmangeur de hot-dogs\u201d [sub-digression: my dad said that at Montreal Expos games the vendors in the aisles would offer \u201cchien-chaud\u201d – this needs further research]].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The President-King entered in a gilded Oval Office with a Coca-Cola filled refrigerator.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You can see the fridge in the picture above. This is a double-fault. One: famously, he only drinks Diet – they\u2019ve stocked with the wrong drink. Two: famously (again!) IRL he has a button on his desk that summons a valet who brings him a can of Diet when he is thirsty – it\u2019s a gag he likes to show guests to the Oval Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vampi and Bampi, a pair of pun-prone vampires sung by Sarah Defrise and Kristina Stanek, are avatars of the authors during five scenes that unfold over 2 hours, 45 minutes\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Good God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Mickey and Tuckey, the President-King\u2019s adjutants sung by countertenors Andrew Watts and Eric Jurenas, were patterned after Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Trump has his \u201cAdjutants\u201d, to be sure, but that\u2019s not how I would frame these two men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The President-King boasts of winning \u201cOhoho\u201d and \u201cTuxus,\u201d and his lead in \u201cPennsilfania\u201d isn\u2019t even close. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlotte Rampling, in several projected videos, portrays a character called The Goddess who defends nature and civilization.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Well, she didn\u2019t save us from this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t work – it can\u2019t work. He is just not a person who lends himself to satire. Alec Baldwin could get a few laughs on Saturday Night Live because he did short skits and is a gifted comedian and knew how to keep the temperature low, but that is maybe the one partial success. Trump-as-baby has nowhere to go, and 2 hours and 45 minutes is a long time to go nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wearing Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy masks, the vampires attack The President-King with sledgehammers and saws, which have no impact.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Again, why? For the same reason there are Cokes and Disney princesses and hot dogs – the opera is about the vulgarity and stupidity of Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if that\u2019s what you really want to talk about, if you think you have something to say about the US, maybe find a different angle? Over 77 million people voted for him in 2024, and they weren\u2019t all hot-dog eaters, and they live on almost every street in the country, and there have to be interesting ways to try to capture how one or another of them came to believe that things in this country were so dire as to need someone like Trump as president. You could make it dramatic, you could make some comedy, you could do lots of things (personally, I would pay real money to watch a one-act two-hander of Mike Pence getting dressed to go to Trump\u2019s second inauguration while his wife Karen insists on staying home).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Trump in a diaper is old and boring and lazy, and has never been funny, and has never been profound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross posted at https:\/\/michaelrushton.substack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olga Neuwirth has composed an opera, \u201cMonster\u2019s Paradise\u201d, with a libretto written by her and Elfriede Jelinek. You can see in the photo above, what it\u2019s about. It is premiering at the Hamburg Opera, before going to Zurich and Vienna, and on their website there\u2019s a two-minute video that gives a sense of what to expect. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-1.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-1d1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2320,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2018\/03\/dream-academy\/","url_meta":{"origin":4651,"position":0},"title":"Dream academy","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"What happened to the genre of academic satire? In the Chronicle Review, Andrew Kay has some ideas; I'd like to offer a different take. Disclaimer: I'm no literary critic. But (a) I am an academic, and (b) I've read all of the novels he cites, suggesting that yes, I'm something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"how I envy him","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lucky-jim.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1330,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/06\/opera-and-arts-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":4651,"position":1},"title":"Opera and arts education","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Audiences for live performance of opera are aging and declining. What ought to be done about that? General Manager of New York's Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb, in an interview with the BBC (on which I posted, on a different topic, yesterday) has this to say: \"The box office has not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"much to learn","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/NYCschool.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3074,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/09\/should-opera-companies-just-slash-their-ticket-prices\/","url_meta":{"origin":4651,"position":2},"title":"Should opera companies just slash their ticket prices? Updated with responses to comments","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0Philadelphia Inquirer\u00a0reports that Opera Philadelphia is radically cutting their prices (the article is paywalled, but you get 6 months of the\u00a0Inquirer\u00a0for a buck, which is not a very high wall): In the first 48 hours after unveiling its new \u201cpick your price\u201d ticket program Tuesday morning, Opera Philadelphia sold 5,876\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1613,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/10\/culture-and-urban-growth-we-still-dont-know-much\/","url_meta":{"origin":4651,"position":3},"title":"Culture and urban growth: we still don’t know much","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"October 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A few years ago I came across a paper by Oliver Falck, Michael Fritsch and Stephan Heblich, 'The Phantom of the Opera: Cultural Amenities, Human Capital, and Regional Economic Growth' that used a rather unique data set to try to get around the knotty problem of finding whether cultural amenities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"a safer photo choice...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/beer-garden.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1043,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/pricing-to-fill-the-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":4651,"position":4},"title":"Pricing to fill the house","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"ArtsJournal links to this piece from Britain's Guardian on pricing at the Met (see here for an earlier post of mine on the subject). Tom Service writes: They filled just 79% of the seats in that huge, red-velvet covered house, and made only 69% of their projected box-office revenue. For\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/pricing-to-fill-the-house\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"not fun","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Man-Sitting-Alone-In-Empt-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1018,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/01\/pricing-at-the-met\/","url_meta":{"origin":4651,"position":5},"title":"Pricing at the Met","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"January 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times report on statements from the Metropolitan Opera regarding recent changes in prices and box office revenues. The WSJ reports, under the headline \"Met Opera Suffers Budget Shortfall From Pricing Backlash\": \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Metropolitan Opera's $311 million budget fell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"not just a theory, it's the law","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/demand.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4653,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4651\/revisions\/4653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}