As anyone who follows her on Twitter knows, Bette Midler is no fan of now-former President Trump. And as anyone who’s seen any of the dozens of political satire videos created by Meidas Touch knows, they’ve been a proud thorn in the side of the Trump Administration since last March.
The two mutual fans saw their collaboration come to a fitting conclusion in the waning hours of Trump’s presidency on Tuesday night with a video, sung by Midler, placing “Goodbye Donnie” to the tune of “Hello Dolly,” with piano by veteran film and musical composer Marc Shaiman (“Hairspray,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “South Park”) and lyrics by Eric Kornfeld.
While the lyrics are closely tied to the minute-long video, which you can watch below, some do stand on their own (the ones this family publication can print, anyway):
“Goodbye Donnie, well goodbye, Donnie
It’s so nice you’ll soon right where you belong:
Writing memoirs, Donnie
Behind bars, Donnie
once the birth that cursed the earth has gone to Leavenworth [military prison]
“The tax you owe, Donnie
Your last ho, Donnie
All the lies that we despite at least will end.”
MeidasTouch is a political action committee formed earlier this year by brothers Ben, Brett and Jordan Meiselas, who have deep connections to the entertainment industry. Their father is top music attorneyKenny Meiselas, who reps Sean “Diddy” Combs, Lady Gaga, the Weeknd, Lizzo and others. Ben, 35, is a litigator and civil rights attorney who represents exiled NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and led a class-action suit over the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival; Brett, 30, is a video editor and former head of post-production and social media for “Ellen”; and Jordan, 27, is an executive at Steve Stoute’s branding and marketing firm Translation.
While they have done song-oriented videos in the past, their work generally follows a “Daily Show”-style approach, juxtaposing quotes from the president and his associates with footage that starkly contradicts them. “It’s exactly what I would do in a trial,” Ben told PvNew last year. “‘Here’s what Trump or his family or staff are saying. Here are the facts and the data. Decide for yourself’ — although I have between two minutes and 30 seconds to convince my jury, which is the American people.”
