Barbra Streisand, 76, is releasing a new album, and if you’ve been living under a rock or on a distant planet and you haven’t heard her paroxysms of rage against President Trump the last two years, she wants to record them for posterity.
The Guardian conducted an obsequious interview with Streisand that revolved around her album, titled “Walls,” and it was full of the same bitter denunciations of Trump that have characterized Streisand as she slowly drifts into insignificance.
Streisand began by explaining how sophisticated her approach to slamming Trump was in the album, saying, “You have to write lyrics that can be more than just a protest. They have to appeal to a universal audience. Even when I wrote Don’t Lie to Me, at first I thought, well, I could make you think it’s like a love affair, a marriage breaking up. It’s a universal thought: don’t lie to me.”
Streisand, who is infamous for treating the people around her horribly or like hired help, continued, “I can’t bear the man. He’s a man with no manners! He doesn’t see his own flaws; he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. You know? He has no humility.” She added that Trump is “good at marketing. He knows how to sell; he’s a conman. That’s what he’s good at. But he doesn’t think he needs anyone’s help, he thinks he can go it alone. The big guy.”
Streisand, who hails from the Left, which has historically been hostile to the military and the police, segued to accusing Trump of “assaulting our institution,” fulminating, “This is a dangerous time in this nation, this republic: a man who is corrupt and indecent and is assaulting our institutions. It’s really, really frightening. And I just pray that people who are compassionate and respect the truth will come out and vote.”
But she wants dialogue with those who disagree, it seems:
I’m saying more than just vote. Vote for Democrats! Vote for what they want their country to look like and feel like and be like. And treat each other with kindness and respect – I have friends who are Republicans and we have dinner and agree to disagree … About two weeks ago, I had a call from Senator Bob Dole and he wanted to tell me how much he enjoyed my music and it was just so sweet of him, he’s 95 years old. And we talked about Trump! I don’t want to put words into his mouth, but we talked about when people are fair and open-minded, they can walk across the aisle. That’s what life should be about, where people communicate and agree to disagree with kindness and respect. And we’re losing all of that. I wish we had a gracious president who had compassion, someone who doesn’t have to insult his opponents or make fun of people with disabilities, or can take criticism without lashing out.
Streisand has a short memory. Wasn’t it her beloved Barack Obama who made references to “teabaggers” and constantly insinuated that the police in America were plagued by endemic racism?
More pontificating: “Facts matter. Words have meaning. This man defies that. He says climate change is a hoax. Let’s release more coal and carbon into the air and have more megafires and hurricanes. I mean he’s so stupid! He’s so ill-informed. Liar is not enough of a word. There must be a bigger word for someone who lies about everything.”
And she’s revving up the insults: “'[Trump] is like Humpty Dumpty, a fat egg, sitting on a wall, and one day he’s going to fall off the wall. And crack.’ It is impossible to convey quite how much disdain she packs into the words ‘fat egg,’ but it is so heartfelt we both burst out laughing.”
Which Republicans does she like? “The country is more important to me at this point than whether my album sells. I’m sure Don’t Lie to Me turns off a lot of people who are Republicans or rightwingers. But there are some good Republicans! I was friendly with John McCain. I’m friendly with Colin Powell.”
The album ends with Streisand sighing. She commented, “That final sigh. When I first did it, people went: ‘What? We’ll cut that out.’ I said: ‘No, no, no, no, no. That tells the story. That tells how I’m deflated.’ I didn’t plan on doing it, but when it came out of me, wow.”