Oh.My.Gawd.
If Donald Trump is the mythical friend of the working man, Roseanne Barr is some kind of a mythical faux feminist, what she called in 1990 “a sort of postfeminist mud pie in the eye to the Super Mom Syndrome.” In both cases, Trump and Barr, utter ignorance is characterized as virtue and cocky vulgarity rules the day. Barr’s show is being rebooted, but with one key difference for 2018: Barr, on the show as in real life, is a Trump supporter. The Atlantic:
This week, Roseanne returns to television, 30 years after its October 18, 1988, debut on ABC. Controversy has already surrounded the new season following the announcement that the title character will be, like the outspoken star Roseanne Barr herself, a Donald Trump supporter. Fans of the original questioned the reboot’s decision to get so overtly political, but Barr defended her decision to create “a realistic portrait of the American people.” Likewise, the show’s executive producer, Bruce Helford, has promised that the series will depict “something that doesn’t really exist on TV anymore, which is an honest family.”
Roseanne had become the most popular show in America by its second season, but its star was quickly turning into one of the country’s most controversial women. In 1990, Barr’s infamous rendition of the national anthem, complete with crotch-grabbing and spitting, even prompted President George H. W. Bush to call her performance “disgraceful.” Barr’s off-screen antics put her in the crosshairs of the conservative press. A 1990 article in the National Review called her “the Hulk Hogan of feminism,” accusing her of perpetuating “a form of vulgar reverse sexism.”
Now here’s where it gets nuts. Barr has no idea who Trump really is or what he stands for. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with the New York Times:
Considering that Trump opposes many of the principles that you and Roseanne Conner have stood for, how can you support him?
No, he doesn’t, I don’t think he does. I don’t think so at all. I think he voices them quite well.
I’m thinking of abortion rights, same-sex marriage rights, labor protections —
He doesn’t oppose same-sex marriage.
He doesn’t favor it. He has not come out in favor of it.
He does. Yes, he does. He has said it several times, you know, that he’s not homophobic at all.
What about labor union protections and blue collar workers, and
What do you mean, the — oh, let’s not get into this.
[A representative for Ms. Barr interjected: “You don’t have to get into it. We can move on.”]
Like the typical Trump supporter, Barr has no idea where Trump really stands on any issue, she just has a vague impression that he’s a great guy. Shock value and know-nothing are the watchwords of the day now, with Trump in the Oval Office and Barr back on the tube. This is a major step towards normalizing Trump. The culture war just escalated.