Tuesday, February 04, 2020

State Of The Union - The Musical!
"Wicked" Witch Hunt 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."

Bobb Woodward on SOTU
Genius. That was the answer. What better way to frame SOTU social media reactions than within the lyrics of a Broadway show tune?

The game is to start with a Broadway song and 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.
          2018 - "Springtime For Donald and America" from "The Producers" 

          2019 - Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi in "Shall we Dance"

And now, for 2020, our 14th year of singing and dancing our way through the State of the Union, we find ourselves in the midst of President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate (officially not yet voted but unofficially a done deal), and the night after the opening volley in the 2020 Presidential campaign with the Iowa Caucus Clusterfuck (official voting is over but unofficially no one knows WTF actually happened).  We feel the only possible musical entry for the national witch hunt and the Republican coven leader Donald Trump still at large, is the the Broadway play "Wicked."

Tonight's featured song from Wicked is "March of the Witch Hunter."  Yeah, the song is crap as far as Broadway musicals go, and I can't find any decent video links, but really - is there any more appropriate tune for this State of the Union? I think not.

We'll post the lyrics now, update with links to live-bloggerspunditstwitterattianalysts 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 line 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...


March of the Witch Hunters
With Apologies to Christopher Fitzgerald



UPDATE: 02/05/2020

There isn't much more to say about this particular theatrical performance except that the opening and closing moments were far more meaningful that speech itself. President Trump snubbed Speaker Pelosi's handshake at the beginning of the speech and Speaker Pelosi ripped the President's speech when it was over.

Trump and Pelosi Exchange Snubs at the State of the Union Address
"For President Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday night, the State of the Union was hostile. The mutual snubbing began the moment Mr. Trump walked into the House chamber and continued until he finished speaking, when Ms. Pelosi stood, an expression of vague disgust on her face, and tore up her printed copy of his speech — in full view of the television cameras, while Mr. Trump had his back turned. The interaction between Mr. Trump and Ms. Pelosi, who had led the drive to impeach him, was one of the most anticipated moments of the president’s appearance at the Capitol the night before the Senate is expected to acquit him in his impeachment trial. The two had not seen each other since October, when Ms. Pelosi abruptly left a White House meeting after lecturing a scowling Mr. Trump."
Coequal means coequal:



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