A highly exclusive, highly secretive club
organized by and for Hollywood’s (relatively small) conservative community has
spectacularly imploded – and like many bad things, this can be blamed on Donald
Trump.
According to a recent announcement by “The Friends of
Abe” – a club with members including Clint Eastwood, Gary Sinise,
Kelsey Grammer, Jon Voight, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer – the group will
abruptly end after reported in-fighting and lack of enthusiasm caused irredeemable dysfunction .
“Effective immediately, we are going to begin to wind down the 501 c3 organization, bring the Sustaining Membership dues to an end, and do away with the costly infrastructure and the abespal.com website,” the executive director, Jeremy Boreing, told members in an email, a copy of which the Guardian has seen.“Today, because we have been successful in creating a community that extends far beyond our events, people just don’t feel as much of a need to show up for every speaker or bar night, and fewer people pay the dues that help us maintain that large infrastructure.”
As the Guardian notes, one of the major reasons the celebrities
can’t get along is because of the question of Donald Trump.
Now, as California appears to be the key primary state, the one
which will likely decide whether Trump slides easily into the nomination or if
the clown show heads to a contested convention, things have gone nuclear.
Things only got worse after the group hosted both Trump and his
rival Ted Cruz at separate events – neither candidate, apparently, won
over everyone.
The club itself has been around for a decade, but not a lot is
known about its meetings. The members, an enclave of conservatives in “liberal”
Hollywood, adopted – and I’m not kidding here – the first rule of “Fight Club”:
Don’t talk about The Friends of Abe. Secrecy was strictly enforced, including a
ban on pictures and tweets.
It’s unclear where the battle lines are drawn, but Jon Voight
seemed to throw some serious shade at the “Never Trump” club members when in an
interview with Breitbart , he said conservatives preventing Trump from
being president were suckers.
“There are many Republicans fighting to keep him from winning the Republican nomination. You know why? Because he has no bull to sell, and everyone will discover the bull most politicians spew out is for their own causes and benefits. I pray all Americans who have seen and felt the meltdown of America with the Obama years, to please fight for Donald Trump.”
Both Gary Sinise and Kelsey Grammer are die-hard Cruz fans.
In many ways, what happened in Hollywood is happening all over
the country.
The Republican Party has been shredded over Donald Trump’s rise
and with an alternative as weak as Ted Cruz as the only other option, many
long-time Republicans have been stumbling around in what can only be described
as a catatonically despondent state.
Apparently, even holding a secret meeting with fellow
conservatives at a bar became too much to handle as the primary season slouches
towards its terrifying conclusion.
Author Jameson
Parker covers US politics, social justice issues, and other current
events which aren't getting the attention they deserve. Feel free to follow or
drop me a line on twitter.
