In California Before the Democratic Primary, ‘Nobody Knows Anything’
This article originally appeared in The Nation on February 28, 2020
Until this year, the California presidential primary took place in June and had no impact because the nomination was already settled. But as one of his last acts in office, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill to move the primary to “Super Tuesday” on March 3. Early voting has already begun in California, where voters are choosing 414 delegates—more than the combined total from Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.In theory, California’s new strategic significance should increase the influence of the state’s highly visible entertainment community. The pocket of Hollywood conservatism that spawned Ronald Reagan still exists, but the community as a whole is more progressive than other elites.At the Golden Globe Awards in January, host Ricky Gervais mocked the star-studded audience: “You say you’re woke, but the companies you work for, I mean, unbelievable: work for… Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service, you’d call your agent, wouldn’t you?” However, show business has always been a bastard child of art and commerce. Producers and executives, like non-Republican leaders of other businesses, lean toward establishment Democrats, while writers and performers veer to the left—as they have since the days of Charlie Chaplin. Both factions are fixated on defeating Donald Trump.
David Simon, producer of the The Wire and an upcoming HBO miniseries based on Phillip Roth’s novel The Plot Against America, says, “I am for Warren, with Sanders as my number two, but I am uninterested in running down anyone in the Democratic field and creating a rhetorical path for the GOP to use after the primaries. If the Democrats nominate a Petri dish laced with smallpox, I’m voting for the pathogen.” In a similar vein, Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the iconic “Hope” poster for Barack Obama in 2008 and artwork for Bernie Sanders in 2016 worries, “I think Dems attacking each other could be disastrous, since Trump repeats criticisms endlessly and exaggeratedly. I’m quite nervous about the circular firing squad on our side.”
Unlike 1988, when mainstream Hollywood lined up behind Gary Hart, or 1992, when Bill Clinton charmed many of the same people, there is no clear favorite. The only candidate who had that potential was California’s Senator Kamala Harris, who attracted early support from Jennifer Garner, Sally Field, Ben Affleck, Michael Douglas, Chris Rock, Steven Spielberg, Alfre Woodard, and Sean Penn. Lily Adams, who was communications director for the Harris campaign, says her former Hollywood supporters are now scattered among various candidates.Political Hollywood reflects a national divide among Democrats that is as much generational as it is ideological. The son of a prominent TV show runner recently sent a widely circulated e-mail to his “moderate” parents explaining why he and his friends are campaigning for Sanders—whose celebrity supporters include Cardi B, John Cusack, Ariana Grande, Emily Ratajkowski, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Tim Robbins, Steve Skrovan, The Strokes, and Vampire Weekend. On the Sunday before the primary, Sanders is appearing at the Los Angeles Convention Center with Public Enemy, Sarah Silverman, and Dick Van Dyke.Elizabeth Warren has been endorsed by Transparent producer Jill Soloway, Handmaid’s Tale writer/producer Dorothy Fortenberry, Martin Sheen, Jack Black, Melissa Etheridge, John Legend (who recently campaigned with her), and Jane Fonda, who hosted a grassroots conference call for Warren on President’s Day on which she told the faithful, “We cannot be moderate in a radical time. Elizabeth is brave, bold and understands all of the problems. She will deal not just from pragmatism but with humanity, compassion, and empathy.”CURRENT ISSUEView our current issueIf you like this article, please give today to help fund The Nation’s work.Adam McKay, director of The Big Short and Vice, contributed both to Sanders and Warren and hopes they run together. The Vermont senator’s lead in California polls is causing angst among many more traditional Democrats, some who believe the debatable theory that Sanders was partially responsible for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss, and many who are worried about his electability.Joe Biden got early support from Rob Reiner, Tom Hanks, and Scarlett Johannsen. Before Andrew Yang dropped out, his advocates included Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino), David Chappelle, and Rivers Cuomo of Weezer. Prior to Amy Klobuchar’s surge in New Hampshire, she did not have many visible Hollywood supporters, though some moderates are giving her a second look. Tom Steyer, a native of Northern California, has a low profile in Hollywood and has been polling at less than 3 percent statewide.The moderate with the most passionate supporters in the community is Pete Buttigieg, whose advocates include David Geffen, Seth MacFarlane, Michael J. Fox, and Kevin Costner. Producer Laurie David insists that the former South Bend mayor “is a very progressive candidate. You can be progressive and reasonable.”Electability is the rhetorical coin of the realm. Sanders and Warren partisans claim that only their candidates can attract a sizable enough turnout of young voters to overcome Trump’s base—but they can’t prove it. Despite nationally published polls that show Sanders faring as well or better than other candidates against Trump, moderates cite private surveys that show Sanders losing in the swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan and endangering newly elected House members in swing seats. However, the line between statistics and ideology is often blurry. Many who cite this “data” also confidently predicted that Clinton would win in 2016. After the New Hampshire primary, an adviser to several local power brokers balefully quoted the opening line from screenwriter William Goldman’s memoir Adventures in the Screen Trade: “Nobody knows anything.”
Another anti-Sanders rationale was articulated by Haim Saban, a significant Democratic fundraiser who amassed a fortune from the Power Rangers franchise. Saban told The Hollywood Reporter that he “profoundly dislikes Bernie Sanders” because “he thinks every billionaire is a crook. ”Other than Sanders’s growth in the polls, the most palpable trend in the days leading up to the primary was a reluctant increase in support for former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has endorsed Bloomberg, but many in the creative community who appreciate his generous funding for gun control and environmental issues remain in the closet because of discomfort about complaints from former female employees and his previous support for stop-and-frisk policing.
