YOU AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT A HOUND DOG
On July 2, 1956, Elvis Presley recorded “Hound Dog,” a song which had been a number one R&B hit for Big Mama Thornton in 1953, and a minor hit for Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys, a Las Vegas lounge act, in 1955. Some people (who must not have heard any of those records) have claimed cultural appropriation, asserting that Elvis copied Big Mama’s version note for note. That’s nonsense, as even a cursory comparison of the two (or three) versions proves. And besides, the song was written by two Jewish teenagers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
Elvis knew his version would be a hit, and the day before he actually recorded the song, he sang it on the Steve Allen Show. Allen thought it would be funny to have Elvis sing the song to an actual hound dog, so he recruited a (probably sedated) basset hound to share the stage with the hottest recording artist on the planet. Elvis wasn’t amused, but he was a good sport, and did as he was asked. But I digress.
I was reminded of “Hound Dog” by Donald Trump – you knew I’d get around to him sooner or later, right? – and his attempt to insult Omarosa Manigault Newman by calling her “that dog.” Apparently, Trump hates dogs. I have nothing against cats, horses, and other domestic companion animals, but I’m definitely a dog person, so screw Trump for his cynophobia as well as for everything else.
Trump called Omarosa a dog because she said he used the N-word. Seriously, is it hard to believe that Donald Trump is a racist? Look at his policy initiatives. Read his tweets. It’s obvious that the man doesn’t like people of color, especially if their color happens to be Black.
But the mainstream press always resists drawing logical conclusions about Republicans. They demand a smoking gun. Omarosa may be able to supply it. In addition to laying down a barrage of vituperation, Trump also attempted to defend himself against her charge. But instead of simply denying that he used the N-word, he settled for claiming that there was no EVIDENCE that he used the word (at least not on his TV show).
His actual tweet was “@MarkBurnettTV called to say that there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa.”
Burnett was the show’s producer. Trump wants us to believe that as a favor to his buddy in the White House, Mark Burnett sat down and reviewed every minute of every outtake from all 192 episodes and then phoned Trump with an all-clear. Maybe. Or maybe Trump made the call up. So far, Burnett himself has been conspicuously silent, which seems odd under the circumstances.
Or maybe there are “NO TAPES” because some potentially incriminating outtakes from the Apprentice have been destroyed. Or maybe Omarosa did some secret taping on her own when the Apprentice cameras weren’t rolling. Or maybe she taped the N-word in a conversation unrelated to the TV show.
Or maybe Omarosa is lying. We can’t rule that out, because she’s a con artist just like her former boss. She flattered him, so he gave her a do-nothing White House job that paid $179,700/year. Taxpayer money, of course.
Meanwhile, there’s an interesting secondary debate going on about what would happen if a genuine recording of Trump using the N-word actually surfaced.
The first theory is that nothing would change. It would simply confirm what we already know about Trump, in the same way that each new revelation of one of his extra-marital affairs becomes less surprising. Of course he’s an adulterer. What else is new?
The second theory is that it would make the Deplorables even more deplorable. They’d feel empowered by Trump’s example and start using the N-word openly. Once that particular taboo is broken, public discourse on race would revert to 1950s levels.
Theories one and two are not mutually exclusive.
The third theory is offered by a few optimistic souls who believe that proof of Trump’s use of the N-word would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. They argue that some non-trivial percentage of Republicans – maybe 10% on the high side – have had it with Trump’s incompetence, and would use evidence of his racism to break ranks.
Much as I’d love it to be true, theory three just doesn’t ring true. Trump’s vices are already visible to everyone with open eyes. Republicans know who Trump is, and he’s helping reveal who they are. As Weekly Standard writer Jonathan V. Last points out, the grab-‘em-by-the-pussy Access Hollywood tape “didn’t break Donald Trump. It broke the Republican party’s willingness to insist that character matters.”
If there turns out to be an N-word tape, rank and file Republicans will either shrug (theory one) or cheer (theory two). As for congressional Republicans and other party professionals, as long as placating the Base remains the GOP’s top priority, they’ll settle for issuing muted statements of disappointment and concern, and the next Trump distraction arrives quickly. The bottom line is, we can’t rely on Republicans to do the right thing. We need to replace as many of them as possible with Democrats.
Still, there’s been at least one silver lining in the Omarosa affair, at least for me personally. Now that I know Trump hates dogs, I get to count walking my dogs twice a day as protest marches against Donald Trump. Venceremos!