The Lincoln Project’s cringe attempt to attack Trump through musical theater

With Donald Trump confirmed as the Republican nominee, a group of NeverTrump conservatives have tried to hit the former president somewhere vulnerable: the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The Lincoln Project, an organization led by old-school Republicans, has released a video parodying one of the tunes most associated with Trump’s rallies — the theme song from The Phantom of the Opera.

Trump has a profound love of musical theater, particularly the work of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Since 2015, songs like “The Music of the Night,” “All I Ask of You” and “The Phantom of the Opera” have been part of his pre-speech soundtrack. He revealed in Think Like a Billionaire that he saw a production of Evita six times. Trump’s love of Lloyd Webber is so deep that when he would get angry in the Oval Office, an aide would soothe him by humming “Memory” from Cats. 

So when the Lincoln Project launched their parody video “Phantom of the MAGA,” they expected it to sting. The video, which uses a combination of archive footage of Trump and bespoke dramatization, takes the tune of “The Phantom of the Opera” and changes the lyrics.

“Phantom of the MAGA” (note the unnecessary omission of the definite article) opens like this: “And though Dems turn from you, they glance behind. The President of the United States is in their mind.” It’s stiff, nebulous stuff, and doesn’t even begin at the start of the song. It’s followed by Lloyd Webber’s famous organ intro (placed out of order) and the lines: “In Mar-a-Lago dark, he feels despair. A tower of debt now grown, beyond repair. Age and senility, now hold their sway. So sad to see his power shrivel up, and fade away.”

It’s high-minded, scathing and utterly cringeworthy. All of its points — Trump’s parlous finances, his legal woes, and his copious self-interest — are too obvious. It’s the kind of spoof you’d expect from a prep schooler.

Some of the lyrics are bluntly effective, but the song still pulls its punches: “Age and senility now hold their sway. So sad to see his power shrivel up.” Are these caveats a sympathetic way to persuade Trump voters against supporting him again? Or, given that the Lincoln Project was only founded in 2019, are they an attempt to justify the collective conservative inaction that prevailed for almost all of Trump’s presidency? 

Even though it was produced by disaffected Republicans, the example of “Phantom of the MAGA” highlights one of the difficulties faced by the Democrats this year. It’s so hard to keep criticizing Trump — what is there left to say?

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.