HOW MANY DIVISIONS DOES JENNIFER LAWRENCE HAVE?

Right-wingers are upset about celebrities again:

Can't wait to have to star fucker out of the White House. Obama was a groupie who denigrated the office. https://t.co/WD7Yduo4Rb

— Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) January 8, 2017

That's in response to a Daily Mail story about a White House farewell party Friday night:

Dozens of celebrities turned out to party until 4am at the White House in a farewell bash that saw the likes of Paul McCartney, Meryl Streep and SJP tear up the dancefloor....

The bash was well attended by artists, philanthropists, activists, and executives, many of whom made the trip to Washington D.C. just to saw their farewells.

Guests snacked on chicken and waffles until 4am while the likes of Bradley Cooper and Magic Johnson chatted beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln.

(If you're as out of touch as I am, I'll save you a trip to Google: SJP is Sarah Jessica Parker.)

At Legal Insurrection, Aleister harrumphs:

This was a fitting end for Obama and his party. Some have suggested that the Democrats have become the party of wealthy, coastal elites. What could reinforce that image better than an exclusive White House party for A-listers?

He also writes:

No president in recent memory has been more embraced by America’s celebrity class than Obama.

Depends on what you mean by "recent memory." My memory of this is quite vivid:











And over at the New York Post, Kyle Smith is upset because celebrities aren't showing sufficient deference to our Dear Leader-elect:

At the Golden Globes Sunday night, and the Oscars next month, expect lots of gold-plated bitching about Donald Trump. Honorees will mourn the “dark times in America” in their $20,000 frocks. Or they’ll mutter “fight the fascists” as they head back to their Malibu estates....

Jennifer Lawrence, who wasn’t strongly identified with liberal politics before the election, wrote an angry open letter after it, telling America, “Do not let this defeat you -- let this enrage you! Let it motivate you! Let this be the fire you didn’t have before.” ...

“RISE UP” and “THE REVOLUTION IS COMING” tweeted Katy Perry in defiance of Trump’s election. “This is an embarrassing night for America. We’ve let a hatemonger lead our great nation,” agreed Captain America, Chris Evans, whose tweet virtually tagged 46 percent of American voters as supporters of the hate that Trump supposedly mongered.

That's one of Smith's key points: that, as he says elsewhere in the column, these entertainers protesting Trump "might as well have told 46 percent of their audience to take their business elsewhere." (Below Smith's column, the Post teases an opinion piece titled "The 5 Key Things Trump Must Do to Crush His Critics." I could argue that the Post is telling 54 percent of Americans to take their business elsewhere, but I mustn't forget that it's OK if you're a Republican.)

More from Smith:

Michael Shannon -- General Zod in “Man of Steel” -- joined fellow actors Debra Messing and Rosie O’Donnell in signing an open letter published in The New York Times exhorting, “Fill the streets of DC with millions, millions more demonstrate in every major city and small town all over US and the world, demanding that Trump-Pence be prevented from taking office before January 20.” It was an open call for mob rule to overturn the results of an election. And somehow Trump is the fascist?

(Um, Trump will wield state power starting in two weeks. I'm pretty sure that's a precondition for fascism, one that Michael Shannon and Rosie O'Donnell don't meet.)

Smith adds:

Possibly the craving of performers to be taken seriously is understandable when you consider how intellectually insecure they can be. Lawrence has been acting since she was 14 and didn’t attend college. Shannon is a high-school dropout. Perry left high school at age 15. Evans did not attend college.

Gosh, I thought we'd just spent the last few months being told that Democrats and the media are anti-elitist bigots because we don't respect Trump's less-educated voters. Again, though, I need to remember: it's OK if you're a Republican.

Look, I don't think we're going to bottle up Trump because celebrities are shaking their fists at him. The words and gestures of celebrities don't have that much political power.

But that's just the point. Celebrities aren't going to overthrow Trump -- and yet, while the right-wing press always attacks anti-Republican celebrities, there's the likelihood of a significant increase in such attacks once Trump is president.

The reason is simple: Republicans will control everything in Washington, but they don't want to take ownership of anything bad that happens to America. So they'll try to persuade their base that Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have all the power. Or the "liberal media." Or left-leaning professors and college students. Or celebrities.

Republicans will be in control, but they'll continue to insist that they're the rebels, they're the outsiders, they're the guerrillas fighting to retake America from the power structure. Pay no attention to the fact that they are the power structure.