I try to keep this blog as apolitical as possible, steeped as I am in popular culture of another era–which may be seen by some as a method by which I avoid the present day. (By the way, if that’s what somebody thinks, they’re right). But the extraordinarily ugly events of this past Friday in the oval office reminded me so much of one of my favorite Marx Brothers sequences that I have no choice but to post it, thus drawing the obvious and unfortunate comparison. In this scene from ‘Duck Soup’ (1933), Freedonia’s President Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho of course) is about to meet with Trentino, ambassador to Sylvania to avert war and assure each other of good will. But the way in which Groucho jacks himself up into a frenzy of falsely feeling he’s being insulted, thus resulting in what was supposed to be a mutual meeting of minds and goodwill turning irrevocably sour, is so eerily reminiscent of Friday’s events that I couldn’t help but share it. Groucho plays the role currently filled by both our President and Vice President, with Margaret Dumont filling the role of the Ukrainian ambassador who is said to have put her face in her hands when this very moment occurred. The scene is followed by one of the Marx’s greatest numbers, the hilarious and very topical celebration of a fresh new war’s beginning ‘The Country’s Going To War’ (at least that’s the title I give it). Words and music by Bert Kalmer and Harry Ruby, direction by Leo McCarey with a chorus line headed by the MAGA contingent of Freedonia, circa 1933.