"Shh! You'll wake up the monkey" — We now know Trump's favorite movie.

There was a time when this business had the eyes of the whole wide world. But that wasn't good enough. Oh, no! They wanted the ears of the world, too. So they opened their big mouths, and out came talk, talk, talk... And who have they got now? Some nobodies — a lot of pale little frogs croaking pish-posh.... Words! Words! You've made a rope of words and strangled this business! But there is a microphone right there to catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor to photograph the orange, swollen tongue!

Yes, Trump was raving last night. In Colorado Springs. One of his many topics was the fact that a South Korean film had won the Best Picture Oscar:

"How bad were the Academy Awards this year? Did you see? And the winner is: a movie from South Korea. What the hell was that all about? We've got enough problems with South Korea, with trade. On top of it, they give them the best movie of the year? Was it good? I don't know? I'm looking for — where? — can we get 'Gone with the Wind' back please? 'Sunset Boulevard.' So many great movies. The winner is: from South Korea. I thought it was Best Foreign Film. Best Foreign Movie. No. Has this ever happened before? And then you have Brad Pitt. I was never a big fan of his. He got up, said little wise guy statement.* Little wise guy. He's a little wise guy."

Now, the most interesting part of all that was saying "Sunset Boulevard."

Some people might say, no, the important thing was disrespecting South Korea or disrespecting films that are not American. But that's just his usual America-first rhetoric. We should be the best. Other countries may compete, and good for them, but we should play to win. Certainly, the film industry is a place where America has traditionally won big. So we should win every year.

Some people might say that the important thing was that when he needed to think of examples of American greatness in film, the first thing he thought of was "Gone with the Wind" — a movie that takes the Southern side in the Civil War and presents slavery in a positive light. How out of touch can you get? Or was he dog-whistling to present-day racists? Ah, "Gone with the Wind," those were the days! Is he nostalgic for old movies or for the Old South? Or is he just trying to sidetrack his critics into making weak accusations against him?

But I say the most interesting partis that after he cited "Gone with the Wind" — the most conspicuous Old Hollywood movie — he paused and said "Sunset Boulevard." Now, "Sunset Boulevard" is a great old movie. It's one of the few movies that has its own tag on this blog, one of my all-time favorites. But it is a smaller, more artsy, more film buff choice. It must be a movie he actually cares about. Does he identify with the main character, Norma Desmond? She's an aging actress, who has become sidelined, but she dreams of becoming big again, and it's all quite delusional. Think about what it means for Trump to identify with that... and then to find himself on the presidential stage.


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* Pitt's "little wise guy statement" — accepting the Best Supporting Actor Oscar — was: "They told me you only have 45 seconds up here, which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week. I'm thinking maybe Quentin does a movie about it. In the end, the adults do the right thing."

IN THE COMMENTS: Temujin says something that completely resonates with me:

I turned on Trump's speech and saw he had printed out old Drudge Report headlines from the Republican primary stage of 4 years ago. He was going over his lead in the polls- again- from 4 years ago. I could not watch him reciting poll numbers again.

Seriously, this is not a normal mind. He's got some real deal issues. He's somewhere on some spectrum. But he's a functioning person on that spectrum (whatever it is). And he's actually a highly functional person on that spectrum.

He's not nuts. He's...brain-different. But he's definitely not normal. I get that people will stand in line for days to catch one of his 'shows'. He's an entertainer. And though it's not a show I can watch, it still makes me smile and shake my head as I turn it off. But behind closed doors, in the Oval Office, he is trying to point the country in the direction he thinks works best for...get this...American citizens. It's such a novel approach it seems out of control and crazy to the Washington establishment, and the media (but I repeat myself).

We will never see the likes of Trump again. Enjoy the ride while it's here. You'll all be telling your kids and grandkids about it in a few years.