Surprise! ‘Michael Moore in Trumpland’ Makes the Case for Hillary, Won’t Sway a Single Voter

Earlier this week, controversial filmmaker Michael Moore announced that he was debuting a secret film on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Unveiled in New York City just this week, the secret film, Michael Moore in Trumpland, sees the filmmaker more concerned with extolling the virtues of Hillary Clinton than bashing the blabber buffoon known at The Donald. In a deeply Republican county in Ohio, ironically named Clinton County, Moore delivers his one-man show to a mostly white audience in a performance filmed just weeks ago. And this isn’t the first time that Moore has tried to make a film in order to sway a presidential election, as he did in 2004 with Fahrenheit 9/11. Michael Moore in Trumpland is likely to sway as many voters as Fahrenheit 9/11 did – none. The points that Moore tries to make with this film are undermined by the film’s obviously rushed construction, from the noticeable audio and editing issues to the fact that many of Moore’s jokes are undercooked and just not funny.

Moore stands in front a predominately white crowd in Wilmington, Ohio, birthplace of the banana split, on a stage ordained with a lectern, a desk, and a comfy chair with images of a young Hillary Clinton as a backdrop. Trying to break the ice with the crowd of various political leanings, Moore starts out with a routine that seems like it was pulled from an improv special from the ‘80s. The only thing missing is the brick wall as Moore basically makes hacky jokes that go like, “Conservatives are like this…and liberals are like this…” Then Moore makes the worst joke of the 73-minute film, promising to make Trump supporters comfortable by building a wall around the Mexican audience members on the balcony and a drone monitoring the segregated Muslims also on the balcony. This is literally prop comedy with people of different ethnic and religious identities as the props. Of course, this tasteless joke could’ve been overlooked had it actually been funny, but it’s not.

From there Moore hits a few points that have some validity, a defense of Millennials and an earnest attempt to understand how economic anxiety have made Trump’s outsider status as attractive. In his attempts to reach out to Trump supporters, Moore completely avoids the insidious white nationalism that Trump has made the centerpiece of his campaign. It’s obvious that Moore is trying to play the room, but when he blames the media for Trump’s rise and not the politicized racial resentment of the past 40 years, he loses all validity to his statements.

Among the other underwhelming aspects to Michael Moore in Trumpland are some video segments created for the show. One of a news report on Trump’s inauguration day is simply weak and isn’t nearly as funny as Obama’s jokes on Trump from the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The other video segment is an unimaginative Trump campaign ad, which more loud than amusing.

All isn’t bleak in the film. The best aspect of the film is Moore’s impassioned defense of Hillary Clinton’s record as a public servant. He uses sound-bites from Clinton’s commencement speech at Wellesley College in 1969. Moore questions the extent of the vitriol directed at the former First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State – imploring the conservatives of the crowd to speak kindly of her. What stands out most in this segment is when Moore breaks down Hillary’s efforts to get universal health care in 1993, the political defeat, and the statistics of how many people die each year due to a lack of affordable care. It’s a somber moment that speaks to larger issues, and easily the most powerful in the film.

Between Michael Moore in Trumpland and Where to Invade Next, I do commend Michael Moore on trying to make his films much more about positivity in our public discourse. Moore’s best work always put a comedic spin on political issues, typically using comedy to highlight the absurd nature of some of these issues. As Moore’s films have lost their comedic potency, the quality of the films and their messages have declined considerably. Michael Moore makes a decent case as to the importance of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, but the bigger case he seems to be pushing is his own diminishing relevancy (or maybe he’s just hoping we all forget this unfortunate op-ed). Michael Moore in Trumpland won’t sway a single voter. It may not even amuse Moore’s core audience of disillusioned liberals. I’m a very liberal person and view Donald Trump’s candidacy an existential threat to America, but Michael Moore’s one-man show won’t motivate me against that spray-tanned narcissist more than his own repellent words and behavior.