Gilead came to DC on Friday. The Handmaid’s Tale filmed at the Lincoln Memorial.
I hurried down at the end of the day to catch a bit of the shoot. Was I watching a TV show or a preview of the future?
Visually, it was striking to see the red robes against the white marble. And unsettling to see a police state operating in an American setting, even if it was just fiction.
The handmaids moved with military precision. When the scene at the Lincoln wrapped up, they turned en masse and marched in formation down the marble steps. I hurried out of the way, intimidated by the martial display.
The handmaids then assembled at the base of the memorial, lining up in neat rows with the Washington Monument in the background.
Production assistants walked down the lines of handmaids, adjusting robes and bonnets. The camera wheeled into place. Brown-robed Aunts with cattle prods surrounded the handmaids and, surrounding them, soldiers with assault rifles.
“Veils on!” the director commanded. The handmaids covered their mouths. Then the camera rolled down the line of women, all perfectly still in their obedience.
It can happen here, I thought as I watched. Anything is possible.
Earlier in the day, Trump had declared a national emergency, so that he could violate the Constitution to build his border wall. Republicans cheered.
Democracy only works when people follow the law. Once the law becomes meaningless, anything is possible.
A precedent has been set. Congress won’t do what you want? Declare a national emergency.
I had coffee with a friend. He said that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to build a fair and environmentally sustainable country was unrealistic. We can’t afford a Green New Deal. The Washington centrist position is is that AOC’s vision for this country is unattainable.
Or is it?
Trump has shattered our democratic norms. Now, anything is possible.
On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, I witnessed the Republican vision for the country. A handmaid future, with women enslaved for the benefit of men.
One possibility.
But with the norms of convention smashed, it’s possible to create another, better future, too, one in which we go beyond the stale politics of our era to build a country that is fair for all its citizens.
Gilead or Green New Deal? Both are possible now.
