Arellano: 'It's a Wonderful ICE?' Trumpworld tries to hijack a holiday classic

For decades, American families person gathered to ticker “It’s a Wonderful Life” connected Christmas Eve.

The 1946 Frank Capra movie, astir a antheral who connected 1 of the worst days of his beingness discovers however helium has positively impacted his hometown of Bedford Falls, is beloved for extolling selflessness, assemblage and the small feline taking connected rapacious capitalists. Take those values, adhd successful almighty acting and the committedness of airy successful the darkest of hours, and it’s the lone movie that makes maine cry.

No little a fig of goodwill than Pope Leo XIV revealed past period that it’s 1 of his favourite movies. But arsenic with thing beatified successful this nation, President Trump and his followers are trying to hijack the vacation classic.

Last weekend, the Department of Homeland Security posted 2 videos celebrating its wide deportation campaign. One, titled “It’s a Wonderful Flight,” re-creates the country wherever George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart successful 1 of his champion performances) contemplates taking his ain beingness by jumping disconnected a snowy bridge. But the protagonist is simply a Latino antheral crying implicit the film’s despairing people that he’ll “do anything” to instrumentality to his woman and kids and “live again.”

Cut to the aforesaid antheral present mugging for the camera connected a level thrust retired of the United States. The country ends with a plug for an app that allows undocumented immigrants to instrumentality up Homeland Security’s connection of a escaped self-deportation formation and a $1,000 bonus — $3,000 if they instrumentality the one-way travel during the holidays.

The different DHS clip is simply a montage of Yuletide cheer — Santa, elves, stockings, dancing — implicit a sped-up electro-trash remake of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” In 1 split-second image, Bedford Falls residents sing “Auld Lang Syne,” conscionable aft they’ve saved George Bailey from fiscal ruin and an apprehension warrant.

“This Christmas,” the caption reads, “our hearts turn arsenic our amerciable colonisation shrinks.”

“It’s a Wonderful Life” has agelong served arsenic a governmental Rorschach test. Conservatives erstwhile thought Capra’s masterpiece was truthful anti-American for its vilification of big-time bankers that they accused him of sneaking successful pro-Communist propaganda. In fact, the manager was a Republican who paused his vocation during World War II to marque abbreviated documentaries for the Department of War. Progressives thin to loathe the film’s patriotism, its sappiness, its relegation of Black radical to the inheritance and its depiction of municipality beingness arsenic downright demonic.

Then came Trump’s emergence to power. His similarity to the film’s villain, Mr. Potter — a wealthy, nasty slumlord who names everything helium takes power of aft himself — was easier to constituent retired than spots connected a cheetah. Left-leaning essayists rapidly made the facile comparison, and a 2018 “Saturday Night Live” parody imagining a state without Trump arsenic president truthful infuriated him that helium threatened to sue.

But successful caller years, Trumpworld has claimed that the movie is really a parable astir their beloved leader.

Trump is simply a modern time George Bailey, the statement goes, a secular saint walking distant from definite riches to effort to prevention the “rabble” that Mr. Potter — who successful their minds someway represents the wide elite — sneers at. A talker astatine the 2020 Republican National Convention explicitly made the comparison, and the caller Homeland Security videos warping “It’s a Wonderful Life” connote it excessively — but now, it’s unchecked migration that threatens Bedford Falls.

The Trump administration’s instrumentality connected “It’s a Wonderful Life” is that it reflects a simpler, better, whiter time. But that’s a conscious misinterpretation of this astir American of movies, whose instauration is strengthened by migrant dreams.

Director Frank Capra

(Handout)

In his 1971 autobiography “The Name Above the Title,” Capra revealed that his “dirty, hollowed-out migrant family” near Sicily for Los Angeles successful the 1900s to reunite with an older member who “jumped the ship” to participate the U.S. years before. Young Frank grew up successful the “sleazy Sicilian ghetto” of Lincoln Heights, uncovering kinship astatine Manual Arts High with the “riff-raff” of migrant and working-class achromatic kids “other schools discarded” and earning U.S. citizenship lone aft serving successful the archetypal World War. Hard times wouldn’t halt Capra and his peers from achieving success.

The manager captured that sentiment successful “It’s a Wonderful Life” done the quality of Giuseppe Martini, an Italian migrant who runs a bar. His heavy accented English is heard aboriginal successful the movie arsenic 1 of galore Bedford Falls residents praying for Bailey. In a flashback, Martini is seen leaving his shabby Potter-owned flat with a goat and a unit of kids for a suburban tract location that Bailey developed and sold to him.

Today, Trumpworld would formed the Martinis arsenic swarthy invaders destroying the American mode of life. In “It’s a Wonderful Life,” they’re America itself.

When an aggravated hubby punches Bailey astatine Martini’s barroom for insulting his wife, the migrant kicks retired the antheral for assaulting his “best friend.” And erstwhile Bedford Falls gathers astatine the extremity of the movie to rise funds and prevention Bailey, it’s Martini who arrives with the night’s profits from his business, arsenic good arsenic vino for everyone to celebrate.

Immigrants are truthful cardinal to the bully beingness successful this country, the movie argues, that successful the alternate world if George Bailey had ne'er lived, Martini is obscurity to beryllium heard.

Capra agelong stated that “It’s a Wonderful Life” was his favourite of his ain movies, adding successful his memoir that it was a emotion missive “for the Magdalenes stoned by hypocrites and the afflicted Lazaruses with lone dogs to lick their sores.”

I’ve tried to drawback astatine slightest the ending each Christmas Eve to lukewarm my spirits, nary substance however atrocious things whitethorn be. But aft Homeland Security’s hijacking of Capra’s message, I made clip to ticker the full film, which I’ve seen astatine slightest 10 times, earlier its customary airing connected NBC.

I shook my head, feeling the deja vu, arsenic Bailey’s begetter sighed, “In this town, there’s nary spot for immoderate antheral unless they crawl to Potter.”

I cheered arsenic Bailey told Potter years later, “You deliberation the full satellite revolves astir you and your money. Well, it doesn’t.” I wondered wherefore much radical haven’t said that to Trump.

When Potter ridiculed Bailey arsenic idiosyncratic “trapped into frittering his beingness distant playing nursemaid to a batch of ail eaters,” I was reminded of the right-wingers who represent those of america who basal up to Trump’s cruelty arsenic anserine and adjacent treasonous.

And arsenic the celebrated decision came, each I thought astir was immigrants.

People giving Bailey immoderate wealth they could spare reminded maine of however regular folks person done a acold amended occupation lasting up to Trump’s deportation Leviathan than the affluent and mighty have.

As the movie ends, with Bailey and his household looking connected successful awe astatine however galore radical came to assistance out, I remembered my ain migrant elders, who besides forsook dreams and careers truthful their children could execute their ain — the lone reward to a beingness of soundless sacrifice.

The tears flowed arsenic always, this clip prompted by a caller takeaway that was ever determination — “Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo,” oregon “Only we tin prevention ourselves,” a operation adopted by pro-immigrant activists successful Southern California this twelvemonth arsenic a mantra of comfortableness and resistance.

It’s the bosom of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the other of Trump’s propulsion to marque america each babelike connected his mercy. He and his chap Potters can’t bash thing to alteration that truth.