Top 5 Reasons Why Elvis Might Have Been a MAGA (And 5 Why He Would Have Left)

January 8, 1935, 90 years ago: Elvis Aaron Presley is born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and grows up in Memphis, Tennessee. He became the King of Rock and Roll, and the world was never the same.

Much has done to make him a heroic figure. Much has also been done to make him a figure of ridicule. Much like Donald Trump, whose ego far exceeded Elvis', and who never had any talent besides fraud.

Top 5 Reasons Why Elvis Might Have Been a MAGA (And 5 Why He Would Have Left)

10. Would Have Been: Elvis Supported Richard Nixon. If he supported one criminal Republican President, surely, supporting another wouldn't have been hard.

9. Would Have Left: Elvis Supported Law and Order. The famous meeting between the Memphis Flash and Tricky Dick happened on December 21, 1970, before we knew Nixon was involved in anything critical, much less had totally, as would Trump all those years later, betrayed his commitment to "law and order." Elvis believed in law and justice. That's why he wanted to see Nixon: He wanted to be made a federal agent, even if it only meant getting a symbolic badge.

8. Would Have Been: Show of Strength. Elvis loved comic book heroes and movie heroes. At first, he would have seen Trump as one.

7. Would Have Left: Reality of Weakness. The reality would have sunk in during COVID. Elvis would have seen that Trump was afraid to do what would have helped people, because it would have made him look weak. Elvis would have hated that: He knew that helping people makes you look stronger. He didn't talk about that, he actually did it.

After seeing Trump mishandle COVID, other things might have sunk in, like how submissive Trump acted before the Russians and the Saudis, and how easily Trump was moved by the flattery of North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un. Elvis would have realized: This guy is not a strong man. He is weak.

6. Would Have Been: Trump's Macho Appeal. It's easy to imagine Elvis voting for Trump because of the image the right wing created of Hillary Clinton: The privilege Yankee outsider who turned a true poor son of the South into the same kind of left-wing extremist that she is. Elvis would have been pleased to see that "real men" were back in charge.

5. Would Have Left: Trump's Bigotry Appeals. Joe Biden said that the spark of his deciding to run for President in 2020 was the far-right demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017. Elvis would have been disgusted by that.

And other things would have sunk in. He would have seen that Mexicans were not the people Trump was describing. He would have seen that immigrants in general were people who tended to believe in America, and, once here, obeyed the law better than did Trump himself. He would have seen that Trump believes that black lives don't matter. That use of the Army to clear the streets so Trump could do that photo-op with an upside-down Bible? That really would have chafed Elvis' chaps.

Elvis had his flaws -- including one he shared with Trump, liking women a little too young for present-day tastes -- but he was no bigot. He might not have been "woke," but he was definitely inclusive.

4. Would Have Been: Trump's Pandering to the Military. Elvis would have dug that.

3. Would Have Left: Trump's Actual Treatment of the Men and Women In Uniform -- and Veterans. Elvis was a veteran, and would not have put up with Trump calling him, or anyone else who served, "losers" and "suckers."

2. Would Have Been: The Words Themselves. Of course, Elvis would have wanted to "make America great again."

1. Would Have Left: The Words Rendered Meaningless. Elvis would have been sickened by the Insurrection of January 6, 2021. If he had still supported Trump up until that moment, that would have ended it. And no price of gas or eggs would have swayed him. (Why would it?) And he certainly wouldn't have been dumb enough to be persuaded by, "They're eating the dogs! They're eating the cats!" That would not have turned him back to Trump.

You see, it's bad enough that Trump did the opposite of what he promised: He made America no longer great, because he rendered America no longer good.

 

But now, he wants to remake America in his image: The image of a bully who does whatever he wants, and gets away with all of it, but is really a coward at heart. And Elvis would not have put up with that.

Elvis was satisfied with being a King in name only. Trump wants to be King of America. And, thanks to a Supreme Court hand-picked by the Heritage Foundation and Mitch McConnell, he essentially is. Even though he is on his knees before Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman.

In many ways -- beautiful, excessive, and some not so good -- Elvis Presley was about as American as you can get. He wasn't brilliant, but he was smart enough to have eventually seen that Donald Trump is about as un-American as you can get.