Trump haters good, Trump lovers bad? If only life were that simple. But I know basically decent people who still support President Donald Trump (no, I don’t get it either), and awful people who hate him. And sometimes those on either side have more in common than they care to admit.
Which brings us to Michael Moore.
The filmmaker’s Traverse City Film Festival was recently sued by Boston Light & Sound Inc., which claims Moore’s company not only owes the supplier $159,055, but has been smearing BL&S instead of paying its debt.
Moore apparently called BL&S trying to collect the debt “a personal vendetta.” Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin told The Daily Beast, “I don’t call it a personal vendetta when I get stiffed for money that I’m owed and that I’ve done the work required to do . . . And Michael Moore is a man who’s always stood up for the little guy, right?”
Apparently until the little guy wants to get paid for services rendered. Hmm, who does this sound like?
USA Today Network reported during the 2016 campaign that Trump was involved in hundreds of lawsuits with American small-business owners and individuals claiming Trump’s companies refused to pay them for their work. Trump replied that these plumbers, waiters, painters, real estate agents and dishwashers did “inferior” jobs — yet he often offered to rehire them if they’d drop their claims.
It’s no secret that Trump and Moore can’t stand each other. “I think we have someone in the White House who has no respect for the rule of law,” Moore recently told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, “and who dislikes democracy by an incredible degree.”
They both, however, think the president is a genius. While Trump refers to himself as a “very stable genius,” Moore calls him an “evil genius.”
Besides allegedly stiffing suppliers, do Trump and Moore have anything else in common? Both achieved fame through the entertainment industry, have huge egos, and despite their supposed love for the little guy, both have been called out as abusive bosses.
Is there a life lesson here? How about beware of overstuffed, wealthy, self-styled “working-class heroes” in baseball caps?
Playwright Mike Vogel blogs at newyorkgritty.net.
