DeNiro exhibits one of the perils of typecasting

An 80-something pugilistic poseur stumps for another 80-something self-imagined badass

The announcement of the Biden-Harris campaign press conference (“with Special Guests”), at which Robert DeNiro waxed vitriolic at Trump and Trump supporters, appeared as follows:

(It certainly wasn’t the first time DeNiro spewed such vitriol at Donald Trump; consider his latrine-mouthed opening remarks — and his posturing! — at the 2018 Tony Awards, for which his Hollywood comrades showed their class by giving him a standing ovation.)

Notice, please, that the announcement got the date wrong. Tuesday was May 28th, at least on the planet I’m on!

This, to me, is proof that the Dems are in their own timezone, or in their own little world, or in another dimension or an alternate universe (or perhaps all of these).

I also couldn’t help but notice that DeNiro was reading (and apparently for the first time, and not very well) remarks that were clearly not his own (although they were written for his “voice”).

When DeNiro alleged that Trump has “never thrown a punch, or taken one,” I saw that as a projection of DeNiro believing himself to be the tough-guy character he has played so many times. It’s likely a more apt description of DeNiro than of Trump; remember, Trump attended New York Military Academy, and at most military academies the manly art of self-defense is part of the curriculum. So I would imagine that Trump has stepped into the ring for at least a round or two.

Another clear example of projection was when DeNiro called Trump supporters “gangsters.” I also found it especially ironic in that it came from a guy who has made a career of glamorizing gangsters.

Another fellow who fancies himself a tough guy is Joe Biden, who, despite his tales of facing down “Corn Pop” and his threats to “take Trump out behind the gym,” has likely never had an actual fistfight.

When DeNiro declared “I’d like to punch him [Trump] in the mouth!”, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Mike Tyson’s remark that “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”; While Biden or DeNiro may have delivered a punch or two, I doubt that either has ever taken such a punch. And while not as artful a pugilist as, say, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson or Floyd Mayweather, Tyson is a certified badass; Biden and DeNiro, probably not so much.

(‘Just free-associating here about boxing: I used to watch prizefights with my dad; he had mixed feelings about the sport: he would often say, “How can it be a sport when the object is to cause the unconsciousness of your opponent?” But he respected any man who could “take care of himself” with just his fists, because he worked with genuine tough guys. He was employed by the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, and he was at work before dawn, fingerprinting, photographing, documenting and otherwise overseeing the daily hiring of longshoremen, and had to help restore order when disputes devolved into fisticuffs. When I was a teenager, we’d be watching a couple of heavyweights, like Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson, slug it out — they fought twice, in ‘62 and ‘63 — and my dad would say, “These guys are professionals, and contenders for Heavyweight Champion of the World, but I could introduce you to guys down on the docks who could take these guys apart!”)

Tuesday’s press conference struck me as an 80 yr. old poseur who believes he’s a tough guy stumping for an 81 yr. old who entertains all manner of delusions about what he’s done and who he is.

ST