Trump Derangement Syndrome Grips Hollywood Writers

The entertainment press found it very important to report that Hollywood thinks President Donald Trump is an authoritarian. This is still somehow considered “news.” Over 2,300 members of the Writers Guild felt compelled to speak out in an open letter because they believe in their “role in a healthy democracy.”

In 2024, democracy was healthy and Hollywood’s candidate lost. “Writers Guild of America West PAC [political action committee] Endorses Kamala Harris for President,” they announced. So sad. They can’t get over it.

When the Left’s feverishly spinning propaganda machines don’t work, “now, we face an unprecedented, authoritarian assault.” The Democrats are about as popular right now as measles, so democracy is somehow endangered.

“We are members of the Writers Guild of America who speak with one voice to decry the dangerous and escalating attacks on the First Amendment, independent media, and the free press,” the letter read in part. “He has retaliated against publications reporting factually on the White House and threatened broadcasters’ licenses. He regularly calls for the cancellation of news and entertainment television shows that criticize him in late-night and, most recently, ‘The View.’”

They complained, “We don’t have a king, we have a president. And the president doesn’t get to pick what’s on television, in movie theaters, on stage, on our bookshelves, or in the news.”

Of course not. The kings and queens of Hollywood insist they get to pick what people see, and the “healthy democracy” librarians get to dictate what’s on the public bookshelves. The leftists think “democracy” is healthiest when they are in charge of all “mainstream” messaging.

When it comes to Trump, Hollywood rushed to make hostile movies—for the Cineplex and for TV—asserting the rudest things, like Trump raped his first wife (“The Apprentice” movie). Nobody made a Hunter Biden movie, despite all the wild crack-and-hookers narratives, not to mention Hunter sleeping with his brother’s widow and getting her on drugs.

The fundamental fallacy of these “attacks on the First Amendment” arguments is that the First Amendment includes the freedom to attack the “free press”—like asserting liberals lie when they call themselves the “independent media.” They’re partisan operatives.

Trump suing news organizations and spurring settlements isn’t authoritarian. This is where you undermine the silly claim of these scriptwriters that leftist “news” outlets are being attacked for “reporting factually.” They don’t lead with facts. They lead with their angry opinions and often unproven accusations.

News outlets are sometimes sued because they say things that are untrue, like George Stephanopoulos claiming Trump was found “liable for rape” in the utterly unsubstantiated E. Jean Carroll case. Trump sued “60 Minutes” for deceptive editing, which they clearly do on a regular basis. But calling them out for that? You hate the First Amendment, they say.

Another fallacy is that the Left is a beacon for free expression. They’ve made it quite plain that they can’t stand an opposing view. It must be categorized as “misinformation” and shut down. For example, say something “anti-transgender” and you’re banned.

Spike Lee & Co. never issued angry statements about anti-woke comedy routines getting banned on Instagram—because they’re at the center of wokeness. The Writers Guild West issued statements lashing out against the “racist” murder of George Floyd and “institutional white supremacy” as well as the need for more sensitive script treatments of blacks and “Indigenous people.”

Hollywood writ large is an airless, double-reinforced leftist bubble. It can’t engage with the outside world that sees them as hopelessly snobby and patronizing scolds. They dash off an “open letter” and they aren’t open to rebuke. That would be too much free speech.

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