He was busy concocting another White House crush on the South Lawn with another bizarre Evita turn on the balcony for Saturday, and on Monday, he’s scheduled to travel to Florida for what he called “a very BIG RALLY!” — Maureen Dowd, Oct. 10, The New York Times
It was the balcony, of course, it had to be the balcony. President Donald J. Trump came back to the White House from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, climbed the steps of the Truman Balcony, unmasked his face and generated a thousand “Evita” memes. Makes perfect sense. He and Eva Peron were both diseased bottle blonds conducting love-hate relationships with the public. And ,as Dowd pointed out in a link in the quote above, “Evita” is his favorite musical. What a surprise.
So now we have “Covita.” The Lincoln Project — Republicans against Trump, including Kellyanne Conway’s husband, George — has created a truly theatrical moment, full-throated with a dash of “Miss Saigon” (complete with helicopter — Marine One landing on the lawn). Here’s a different White House balcony view backed by Madonna’s recording.
This version earns high marks for lyrics and Covid coughs and gasps.
“Saturday Night Live” had anticipated the “Evita” connection when Trump actually visited Argentina at the height of the Robert Mueller probe in 2018.
But the parody of the moment belongs to James Corden, host of “The Late, Late Show” and his “Maybe I’m Immune,” sung to Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed.” What’s really amazing about this is that Corden isn’t trying to be funny. He plays it totally straight, singing and playing the piano beautifully, giving a brooding performance that in an odd way suggests the president’s inner thoughts..
If Trump had inner thoughts.