Trump! The Pathetic Opera

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The news, in brief …

• Trump says he “would love” to run for unconstitutional third term

  Trump ruled out a vice presidential candidacy because the idea is "too cute." Read more.

• Ground zero in the conservative quest for more patriotic and Christian public schools

  Oklahoma experimented with patriotic curricula and private school choice long before Trump's agenda. Read more.

• “It was perfect”: Trump won’t say why he received MRI at Walter Reed

  Since taking office, questions and rumors about the president's health have abounded. Read more.

• CNN head told reporters to ease up on East Wing demolition stories after Trump meeting: report

  The network's CEO reportedly told staff that viewers weren't interested in stories about the East Wing. Read more.

• Elon Musk’s moon mission divides MAGA loyalties

  Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy might become a casualty in Trump’s new space race. Read more.

The big story …

He went to Burning Man chasing a dream — it ended in mystery

Two months after artist Vadim Kruglov’s death on the playa, his loved ones are still searching for answers. Read more.

Everybody, testify …

My wife is about as big a lover of fall as you’ll find on the “no, thanks” side of the PSL divide. Hailing from West Virginia, a state that is nearly 80% forest, she came to expect a chill in the air and an explosion of color on the ground in the lead-up to Halloween.

Having moved to New Orleans, where the typical fall weather is best described as “bearable,” she seeks out any autumnal activity she can to appease her internal clock. She has a bead on all the cramped French Quarter bars that light their fireplaces inadvisably early and serve hot toddies only slightly warmer than the air temperature. She’s taken to curating an October-long marathon of spooky movies and television shows, determined to feel a shiver in her spine one way or the other. But since she’s also a medical-grade scaredy-cat, the well of acceptable movies starts to run dry as the holiday draws near.

That’s how we ended up streaming “Repo! The Genetic Opera” over the weekend. We both loved this 2008 horror-musical in our teenage years – the sounds of its repeating DVD menu are burned into my brain – but we hadn’t returned to it since high school. Time has not been kind, it turns out. Set in a dystopian future where plastic surgery has advanced to include designer organs bought on financial terms that include possible repossession by legal assassins, the movie carries more than a whiff of Spencer’s Gifts. Nearly every character wears an unnecessary amount of leather straps. The whole thing is shot in a blown-out, high-contrast look that recalls MySpace profiles and nu-metal album covers. Paris Hilton is stunt-cast as a spoiled heiress. It’s not great.

The only part of the film that didn’t feel like a relic from Hot Topic’s golden age was the villainous Largo family, which has ridden the government’s failure to handle and recover from a pandemic to impossible wealth and power, and in remarkably familiar ways. Terminally ill patriarch Rotti Largo would make an obvious stand-in for Donald Trump, looking upon his two failsons (and Hilton) and despairing. But a more interesting Trump analogue can be found in second-son Pavi Largo.

Heir to the corporation behind the bespoke organs and body parts at the heart of “Repo!”, Pavi forgoes the transplants and grafts of his siblings in favor of a mask of flayed skin over his own face. Despite his grotesque appearance, he maintains that he is a Casanova with no known equal. Loyal followers praise the emperor’s new face in hopes that some of his wealth and power will trickle down their way. Most of them get knifed by Pavi’s homicidal brother Luigi for their trouble. Apropos of nothing, here’s Laura Ingraham fawning over the “unstoppable” stamina of our 79-year-old, obese president:

Trump went to Walter Reed earlier this month for his second “annual” checkup. We know he underwent an MRI, but he has declined to tell us why. Photos of his bruised hands and swollen ankles have circulated regularly since he returned to the Oval Office. Yet we’re meant to believe he’s the picture of health, because he tells us so. The Trump administration hasn’t legalized murder (at least not yet), so we can speak up without fear of the bloody consequences that befall the extras of “Repo!” Like a flayed skin mask dangling off a horror movie monster’s face, however, we can see that our president has been spread too thin. No surgically-enhanced eyes necessary.

What do you think? Is Trump’s repeat visit to Walter Reed a cause for concern? What would it take for conservative media to admit the president is unwell? Tap the speech bubble icon to let us know in the comments.

Before you go …

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