State Of The Union - The Musical! "The Producers" Edition

Welcome to the Dividist's annual coverage of the Presidential Address to Congress - aka State of the Union - The Musical!

In 2007, as a blogging toddler, the Dividist despaired at finding a unique approach to writing about the SOTU when so many other bloggers would be traversing the same ground. The answer came from Bob Woodward. In an on-line Washington Post forum the Dividist asked whether the SOTU had any real relevance. Woodward responded by saying it was "mostly theater." Genius. That was the answer. What better way to frame the SOTU social media reactions than within the lyrics of a Broadway show tune?

The game is to start with a Broadway song then find blog posts, news stories, tweets, essays and commentary that can be vaguely referenced in the song and link them to the lyrics. It keeps the Dividist awake and blogging throughout the speech without distracting too much from the mandatory drinking games.

The program so far...

2007 - "Comedy Tonight" 

2008 - "Georgy Girl Boy". 

2009 - "Razzle Dazzle" from "Chicago" 

2010 - "The Wizard of Oz" 

2011 - Intermission 

2012 - "Do you hear the people sing?" from Les Miserables" 

2013 - "I don't know how to love him" from "President Obama Superstar" 

2014 - "How to Succeed as President Without Really Trying" 

2015 - "Let It Go" from "Frozen"  

2016 - "Bye Bye Barry" 

2017 - Skipped - I couldn't deal with it.

And now, for 2018, after 11 years of singing and dancing our way through the State of the Union, and with our 3rd President at the podium, we find the easiest musical selection ever - "The Producers."

Michael Wolff spells it out in his book "Fire and Fury":

"The Trump campaign had, perhaps less than inadvertently, replicated the scheme from Mel Brooks’s The Producers. In that classic, Brooks’s larcenous and dopey heroes, Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, set out to sell more than 100 percent of the ownership stakes in the Broadway show they are producing. Since they will be found out only if the show is a hit, everything about the show is premised on its being a flop. Accordingly, they create a show so outlandish that it actually succeeds, thus dooming our heroes." 

"Almost everybody on the Trump team, in fact, came with the kind of messy conflicts bound to bite a president once he was in office. Michael Flynn, the retired general who served as Trump’s opening act at campaign rallies, had been told by his friends that it had not been a good idea to take $45,000 from the Russians for a speech. “Well, it would only be a problem if we won,” ­Flynn assured them."

The comparison was not original. Back in 2016, when no one believed he would ever be President, Mathew Broderick and Nathan Lane reprise their roles for a skit on Jimmy Kimmel:

And now, President Donald Trump's first real State of the Union (that thing last year didn't count).

I was tempted to use "The King of Broadway", but there's only one appropriate musical selection from The Producers for this edition.  Godwin's Law notwithstanding, it has to be "Springtime for Hitler."  Look, I don't think Trump is Hitler and I don't think Republicans are Nazis. It was satire for Mel Brooks and it's satire for me. But I do think Donald Trump is Franz Liebkind, a sad, delusional playwright that somehow scores a hit. Besides, I rewrote the lyrics. So, no problem.

We'll post the lyrics now, update with links to live-bloggers, pundits, twitteratti, analysts and reporters before, during and after the speech. It'll be over when we get tired of the speech or too drunk to type.

The Dividist welcomes any and all suggested links, in comments or twitter, for any and all lines anywhere in the lyrics, from any who accidentally stumble across this post, at any time.

To help get into the spirit. Music up... Raise the Curtain...

"Springtime for Donald and America"

America was having trouble, what a sad, sad story
Needed a new leader to restore its former glory
Where, Oh where was he? Where could that man be?
We looked around and then we found
The man for you and me
And now it's..

Springtime for Donald and America
USA is happy and gay
We're marching to a faster pace
Look out, there goes the tax base

Springtime for Donald and America
Winter for China and France
Springtime for Donald and America
Come on, Alt-Righters, let's dance

I was born in Wisconsin, and that is why they call me Ryan
Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join Republican Party

Springtime for Donald and America
Green Cards are hot cards today
The Russians are Allies again
Border walls are rising again

Springtime for Donald and America
NetJets are flying once more

Springtime for Donald and America
Means that soon we'll be going
We've got to be going
You know we'll be going to WAR!