When we think about the strangeness of these times, a classic Charlie Daniels Band song comes to mind. It’s called “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” and it’s been on my mind since I heard that U.S. Senator John Fetterman would be the first major Democrat to go to Mar-a-Lago to “communicate” with President-elect Donald Trump before the inauguration.
When Fetterman, now Pennsylvania’s senior senator, was asked why he was the only Democratic senator willing to go to Mar-a-Lago, given its symbolic importance, he joked that he planned to demand that Trump make him the “Pope of Greenland.”
It’s a clever statement, but probably few of the people who worked demanding to get Fetterman elected as a bulwark against the policies Trump has promised to unleash on the country are laughing.
Smart statements are often followed by stereotypical rationalizations, so Fetterman was armed with plenty of those, too, when reporters confronted him with the news of a prominent Democrat participating in what has become a signature form of Trumpian humiliation theater.
Fetterman’s reasons for doing what no other Democratic politician would do came down to this: “I am the senator for all Pennsylvanians, not just Democrats. Why shouldn’t I meet the next president of the United States on his turf and on his terms to find ways to work with him on behalf of all Pennsylvanians? It’s my job.
https://x.com/SenFettermanPA/status/1877463863144190023
It’s the same valid excuse that every cowardly tech billionaire, obsequious Republican cop and frightened media person uses to book flights to Palm Beach to “communicate” with a man they considered an opportunistic buffoon 10 years ago and an opportunist buffoon just four years ago. subversive.
But even politicians as impressive as Fetterman are prone to hubris, claiming they can bend reality just as much as the politician they consider the alpha dog of the moment. Surely they, and only they, will prove to be an exception to the usual rule of kneeling, kissing the ring and exposing their belly for the entertainment of the police who called them.
There’s always some needy loser who plans to beat the devil at his own game. It usually doesn’t end well.
Decades before Trump emerged on the political scene, this Faustian archetype was given a country bluegrass heroic twist in the 1979 film “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”
“You probably didn’t know this, but I’m a violinist too. / And if you dare, I’ll make a bet with you. / You play the violin quite well now, boy / but give the devil his due / I’ve set a violin of gold against your soul / ‘Cause I think I’m better than you. / The boy said, “My name is Johnny and maybe it’s a sin / but I’ll take your bet and you’ll regret it / I’m the best that ever existed.”
At the end of Charlie Daniels’ song, Johnny plays the violin demanding, which not only saves his soul, but gives him the golden violin that has eluded so many others who thought they could match the wits – and raw skill – of someone who expected allegiance yet before he “opened his case.”
“The devil bowed his head, for he knew he was beaten / And laid the golden violin on the ground at Johnny’s feet.”
“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” had a cheerful ending in Southern Rock’s story because back then, the Devil followed a set of rules that everyone recognized and accepted from the beginning. There was a shared sense of what winning and losing looked like. This is no longer the case.
Let’s brisk forward a few decades to John Fetterman going to Mar-a-Lago. He’s not a fool. He knows what happened to MSNBC talk show hosts Mika Brezinski and Joe Scarborough when they came down to pay their respects to Trump, virtually before all the votes were counted. He knows them continue to be ridiculed because their mission was also to “open communication”.
How did it affect them?
Meanwhile, Fetterman watches as tech billionaires (Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Cook), politicians and homegrown minor oligarchs engage in ritual Trump worship over sandwiches and Diet Cokes at Mar-a-Lago every time he turns on Fox News.
Even the Village People have stopped disliking and resenting Trump for playing their music during the campaign. They agreed headlining one of the opening shows, so expect plenty of rounds of “Macho Man” in DC next week.
But isn’t it vulgar to point out these hypocrisies to Barack Obama? he smiled with Trump at Jimmy Carter’s funeral? Just days before the election, Obama called his successor a fascist. Yes, but as usual, Michelle Obama kept it real by refusing to take part in such a degrading photo shoot and stayed in Hawaii. She skips the inauguration too.
John Fetterman must see himself as the heroic Johnny from a Charlie Daniels song. He just knew that he would honestly take the devil’s golden violin from him. The only thing at stake was his reputation among heartbroken fans back home who might see brutal realpolitik as backstabbing.
Fetterman declined to share his perspective on his weekend meeting with Trump. The photos were not released after the meeting, but Trump gave an interview shortly after meeting the Democrat once accused heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine abuse during the U.S. Senate race in which Fetterman defeated Dr. Mehmet Oz.
“It was a completely fascinating meeting,” Trump said. “He is a fascinating man and his wife [Gisele] it’s beautiful. They were both on their toes and I couldn’t be more impressed.”
This is high praise from a twice-indicted, convicted felon, WHoh maybe he would now face prison time if he did not regain the presidency in the wildest presidential race in history. Trump offered no details about his meeting with the Fettermans, other than flattery.
“He’s a common-sense person. He is neither a liberal nor a conservative. He’s just a common-sense person, which is handsome,” Trump said, asking many questions.
For his part, Fetterman has yet to comment on the encounter, but it’s secure to assume that if he performed at Johnny’s level in a Charlie Daniels song, he’d be announcing from the rooftops that he’d beaten that venerable devil for a golden fiddle.
Who knows? Maybe he was promised the papal throne in Greenland and doesn’t want to blow it up.
Whether the trip to Mar-a-Lago can charitably be described as “opening communication” with President-elect Trump or “kissing the ring,” everyone agrees that it is, at best, a see-through attempt to assure America’s most vindictive man politics that the past, whatever it is and no matter how bitter it once was, is dead.
