McKay turned away from political projects until The Big Short. But now hes back, and hes betting a $60 million budget that Americans are desperate to see Christian Bale put on 45 pounds and play Cheney as a Machiavellian devil hell-bent on sending American troops into battle for no good reason. The cast is massive and includes Sam Rockwell as W., Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld, and Tyler Perry as Colin Powell. According to McKay, Cheney was far more powerful than W.
This, of course, is untrue. But the punch line is this one: I would choose Trump over Bush and Cheney. Why? Because, according to McKay, Donald Trump has no belief system. So I would take the hyenas, the random wild animals running through the White House over Cheney any day of the week.
This is how you got Trump.
Thats an overused phrase to the point of parody, of course. But why not parody the parodists? Heres the reality; the same Left that despises President Trump despised George W. Bush long before him. For the most part, the talk about Trump disgracing the office, the talk about Trumps toxic personality, the talk about Trumps divisiveness all of it is just a cover for the fact that those on the cultural left despise those who arent on the political left. They see them as idiots and rubes (W.), or as evil manipulators (Cheney). For them, Trump isnt an outlier hes merely the latest iteration of the dastardly conservative movement that launched with Nixon, extended through Reagan, grew to Bush, and now culminates in Trump. At least McKay is honest enough to admit that simple fact. Trump, for the Left, isnt a departure from conservatism. Hes just another variation on a theme: All conservatives are evil.
Which is why, of course, Trump is the president right now. Leftist contempt for conservatives seeps through Hollywood and drips off our television and movie screens. And conservatives responded in 2016 to that contempt by nominating a man who wouldnt take an insult, who wouldnt respect the office of the presidency enough to forgo a cultural fight. Those on the right elected Trump more to fight those like McKay than to fight those like Nancy Pelosi. Thats why they revel in Trumps tweets (see Schitt, Adam) and his willingness to slam anyone who knocks him (see Admiral McRaven). Trump doesnt take, for lack of a better word, schitt. And conservatives have been taking it for far too long.