Posted on 04/29/2018 2:13:42 PM PDT by ethom
On Saturday night, one Washington crowd tried to give President Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, while another Washington crowd stood up against some of the most offensive "jokes" a "comedian" has ever uttered. When Michelle Wolf spoke at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, her monologue descended into an x-rated tirade most infamous for attacks on White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Wolf's attacks on Sanders proved disgusting from about every angle, but only those familiar with the Hulu series "The Handmaid's Tale" — or the Margaret Atwood novel on which it is based — could understand the worst aspect of this tirade.
The "comedian" described Sarah Huckabee Sanders as "Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women," and this wasn't even the most offensive thing she said. Wolf started her attacks against Sanders with an "inside joke."
"I love you as Aunt Lydia on 'The Handmaid's Tale,'" Wolf said.
With this quip, Wolf played on the tired leftist motif that President Donald Trump's regime mimics the dystopian setting of "The Handmaid's Tale." In the novel and TV show, the United States has been coopted by a movement known as "Gilead," which removes all autonomy from women. The regime removes women's property, fires them from their jobs, and forces them into a stratified society based extremely loosely on one specific Bible passage.
Since the calamity that gave birth to "Gilead" made most women infertile, the big government solution is to assign fertile women the position of "handmaids," silent servants who are systematically raped in order to bear children.
Last year, anti-Trump activists seized on "The Handmaid's Tale" as a political cudgel, suggesting that the slightest limitation on abortion would equate to a regime of systematized rape of women.
In May, Hillary Clinton warned that if the United States government defunded Planned Parenthood, "The Handmaid's Tale" would not be far behind. Abortion activists in Ohio, Texas, and Missouri have all dressed up like handmaids to protest pro-life legislation. When the Republicans came out with a bill to repeal and replace parts of Obamacare, SJWs on Twitter compared it to "The Handmaid's Tale." To make matters worse, the cast and crew of the series declared that they had "joined the resistance" against Trump, suggesting that they also think Trump is implementing this dystopian future.
The premise of "The Handmaid's Tale," and the suggestion that Trump or anyone associated with him would ever countenance such a hateful submission of women, is bad enough, but Wolf arguably compared Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the worst character in the novel and show.
No, Hillary Clinton Fans, Evangelicals Are Not Secretly Planning a 'Handmaid's Tale' Future Aunt Lydia, played excellently by Ann Dowd, is not just part of the oppressive regime — she is the enforcer. She patrols the quarters of the "handmaids" to ensure silence, she assigns handmaids to watch one another, and she leads the handmaids to carry out brutal punishments to anyone who steps out of line. In one chilling scene, she orders the other handmaids to stone one of their sisters to death.
Comparing Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Aunt Lydia is arguably worse than calling her an "Uncle Tom," even though that phrase is much more offensive to black people. Perhaps knowing just how harsh this was, Michelle Wolf immediately moved on — to attack Vice President Mike Pence.
Of "The Handmaid's Tale," this "comedian" said, "Mike Pence, if you haven't seen it, you would love it!"
In another short phrase, Michelle Wolf echoed the disgusting suggestion that evangelical Christians — and Pence in particular — are fundamentally oppressive. LGBT activists harbor a special hatred for the vice president, throwing a "queer dance party" at his house on the eve of the inauguration and throwing a "pride parade" mocking him explicitly in Pence's hometown. Margaret Atwood, the novel's author, said that Pence was the "model" of her forced-birth dystopia.
Such suggestions are absurd, because "Gilead" is based on a Bible passage often cited by Christians as a cautionary tale against polygamy. In Genesis 30, Jacob's wives Leah and Rachel, anxious for children, tell their handmaids to have sex with Jacob, claiming the resultant children for their own.
The Bible serves multiple functions. While Christians believe it is the inspired Word of God, the book (it is actually more a library) records many stories meant more as cautionary tales than moral suggestions. The story of the dueling wives, besides being history, is most likely recorded to suggest the fundamental social problems with polygamy. The general theme of the Bible — from Genesis to Jesus' words in the gospels — suggests that human beings were designed for marriage between one man and one woman.
No evangelical would advocate for "The Handmaid's Tale," and the left's susceptibility to this offensive comparison suggests that far too many liberals have no idea what Christians really believe, and simply stigmatize them as oppressive and hateful with no basis (like the Southern Poverty Law Center frequently does).
Wolf said that she didn't want President Trump impeached, because Pence would become president. She attacked Pence as "the kind of guy that brushes his teeth and then drinks Orange juice and thinks MMM!"
Compounding this weird ad hominem attack, the "comedian" went on to advocate for abortion. She noted that Pence "is also very anti-choice. He thinks abortion is murder, which first of all, don’t knock it till you try it. And when you do try it, really knock it. You know, you’ve got to get that baby out of there."
Michelle Wolf delivered offensive line after offensive line, verging into the anatomical correctness of "pussy hats," insinuations that House Speaker Paul Ryan got too much snipped off at his circumcision, and multiple masturbation and orgasm jokes. While she was occasionally correct, her disgusting diatribe even put off many members of the liberal media.
Peter Baker, an MSNBC analyst and chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, put it well: "Unfortunately, I don't think we advanced the cause of journalism tonight."
Peter Baker ✔ @peterbakernyt Unfortunately, I don't think we advanced the cause of journalism tonight.
In a better world, the liberal media attacking Michelle Wolf for her attacks would mark the high point of anti-Trump hysteria. Even left-wing journalists saw these attacks as a bridge too far, but Wolf is likely to become a hero in many "progressive" circles nonetheless. Do not expect the "Handmaid's Tale" attacks on Trump, Pence, or Sarah Huckabee Sanders to end any time soon.
Past time to end the antiquated concept of WH Correspondents. The room they occupy could be put to productive use and if the WH has something to put out, they can all a reporter.
As usual, the communists hypothetically accuse the Christians and conservatives of what they and their allies actually do:
The real Handmaid’s Tale is playing in every Shariah-dominant nation on Earth.
(P.S. I am weary of the misuse of the term, Evangelical. Every authentic Christian is in some sense Evangelical.)
Fair enough. And good work on the phone calls. You inspired me to cancel my Netflix subscription. I left a note telling them I will return when Michelle Wolf is off of Netflix.
Go Trump!
Peter Baker, an MSNBC analyst and chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, put it well: "Unfortunately, I don't think we advanced the cause of journalism tonight."
Why ruin your perfect records? Thanks ethom.
Yes. It’s about a dystopian version of America where the “far right” has taken control of the government. The country faces a fertility crisis, and the handmaids are women who are forced into sexual servitude to provide a baby for elite, barren couples. It was based on a best selling novel by Margaret Atwood. For some reason, leftists think this is what Mike Pence and other conservatives want for our country.
Remember when FReepers led by Kristin used to boycott the WHCD?
What was it?
Linky no worky.
Amen!
It’s a liberal dinner celebrating liberal journalists. The best solution is for our team to NEVER attend - just stop going to the dinner. Do something else that night.
By “the cause of journalism” they mean the cause of impeaching Trump and getting a majority in the House plus enough fellow travellers in the Senate.
Who wrote her material? My guess is the White House Correspondents Association. That’s why she had to read it; it wasn’t her material.
Michelle Wolf aka Julius Streicher.
I read Handmaid’s Tale. I saw Nazis in their leadership and policies, not Conservatives.
Crunchy curls and sagging face
Yikes...
Someone needs to tell this homely broad that, when you have a face that looks like the southbound end of a northbound mule, you shouldn’t be making jokes about the way someone else looks.
And her screeching, shrewish, whining voice doesn’t help enhance her all that much either.
“...when you have a face that looks like the southbound end of a northbound mule...”
Like this: https://youtu.be/8n6cyt1ijsg
When this creature said it was “32”, I nearly choked. I’ve seen 75-year old women with less sagginess and epic crowsfeet under their eyeballs. Talk about being hit with the fuglystick.
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