I am partial to westerns. I think it came up from the rural life in Alabama, and Sunday afternoons when the local channel would occasionally feature a 1930s western film, and the story....the landscape....the characters....blended into an epic moment.
My favorite of all time is Shane. For those who don't remember the Alan Ladd movie.....Shane was a highly skilled gunfighter, who had some kind of past that they just refused to tell you about. Every dramatic moment of the movie....just wants to hint that he's more than capable of taking the worst of the worst. But they avoid telling that storyline.
Shane enters this remote valley in the middle of nowhere in the Wyoming Territory, and rides into a fairly big mess where a local poor rancher and his wife are being intimidated. There's a 'war' going on, and the evil cattle rancher from down on the other side of the valley has established himself as kingpin. He's hired some terrible folks, with all kinds of skills, and their intent is to control the valley, and drive everyone out.
Here, Shane arrives. He looks over the landscape, and the passion of these folks. He's pretty much the only solution that can fix the problem. There is a continual build-up from the first moment of the movie, until the end. Shane has taken on the bad guys and won, although he's a bit wounded. But you just pause to think....Shane has something left in him....that he could take on more of the fight if necessary. Then he rides off into the sunset.
For some reason, I compare the Trump saga against Shane.
Folks were mostly pushed off into the corner, with fake gunfighters standing around and trying to hype up their skills. They wore white hats....they rodes various horses with speed....they seemed to pack a pistol. But this evil rancher operation....they had the real hired 'thugs'....folks with Harvard degrees, talking chatter boxes who could appear on CNN at a moment's notice, and all the PR business ever desired.
Shane/Trump rode over the mountainside, and just hinted he'd take on the situation.
Shane/Trump wasn't like the Bushes (I, II or Jeb). Shane/Trump wasn't like Romney, or the twenty-odd GOP guys of the past two decades.
Shane/Trump had spent decades in NY City. He'd stood and been pushed around by the best in the business, and learned how to push back. Shane/Trump knew fake journalists....ate lunches with them....spending hours learning their craft. Shane/Trump stepped into the shadows of the wrestling world and learned theatrical skills. Shane/Trump knew that for every attack....you had to go push back in a fairly dramatic way and make the other guy suffer.
Shane/Trump's weapon? It wasn't made or delivered until 2006. That's the humorous part of this story. Once the folks at Twitter activated their package....they gave Shane/Trump what he needed. He didn't need reporters or journalists in the middle of his speeches or messages. He would put the theme or message direct to the voters themselves....there in their valley, where they sat and were waiting for the gunslinger to handle things.
Hour after hour, Shane/Trump worked. The fake female gunslinger who had the 6-line resume? She got finished off in November of 2016. The suave and sophisticated gunslinger for MSNBC, with the fake damsel journalist at his side? Their moment came and went. The 43rd district gal who was supposed to have skill but marginal IQ? It just never went anywhere. The fake Indian? Folks just laughed....the act just didn't work. The mysterious stranger who kept suggesting he'd have something to take down Shane/Trump? Well, he hasn't achieved much yet. The graceful and charming gunslinger who had eight years of valley-duty and people thought he could do something? Well, he doesn't seem willing to walk back into the valley. The foreign guy with all the cash to buy up journalists and arrange pitfalls? He'd never dealt with someone like Shane/Trump. The fake good-guy with the Arizona drawl? He got himself pushed off where most don't see him as a good-guy any longer. All these folks wandering around with a 'thousand pieces of light' sticking out of their head? No one pays them much attention any more. The German fraulein who felt she could just outwit him with intellectualism and counter him on trade-deals in a corner? Well, she got nowhere. The fake Canadian intellectual guy? He's mostly still in a daze over at the end of town.
At some point in Shane (the movie), Shane has to meet up with the Jack Palance character (Jack Wilson). Palance, I always thought....gave his best performance ever as the 'bad' Jack Wilson. There is this short dialog between the two:
Shane : So you're Jack Wilson.
Jack Wilson : What's that mean to you, Shane?
Shane : I've heard about you.
Jack Wilson : What have you heard, Shane?
Shane : I've heard that you're a low-down Yankee liar.
Jack Wilson : Prove it.
Shane has no limiting factor on confronting some fake guy, and even saying to their face....they might be some low-down Yankee liar. Shane/Trump will use descriptions on folks almost daily, and it's reached a point of entertainment with some folks.
There is a sunset to this Shane/Trump 'movie', but you are living in the midst something unusual, and you ought to take a moment each day and marvel at the dialog, the landscape, and the cast of characters....even the 'poor ranch' folks. You will likely never get a repeat of this in your life.
