Happy July 4th! Today would have been the perfect opportunity for president Joe Biden to wrap himself in the flag and announce to the nation that his patriotism and love of country are so deep that he is stepping aside and withdrawing his reelection candidacy.
But no. Instead, he gave a radio interview in which he declared himself proud to have been “the first Black woman to serve with a Black president” as though he’d spent the last 3-1/2 years in drag and Blackface. He also boasted of being the first president elected statewide in Delaware. Like most states, Delaware doesn’t have a president.
And if Donald Trump prevails in November, the country won’t have a president either, and instead will have an autocrat, a despot, perhaps a dictator. When last heard from, Trump was suggesting that former Representative Liz Cheney be tried by a military tribunal, and that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer and former Vice President Mike Pence all should be jailed.
All of this unfolds against a backdrop of a corrupted Supreme Court. The Court’s conservative supermajority professes a bromance with the Founders, but in granting Trump near total immunity from prosecution ignored the Founders’ preeminent goal, which was to extricate the Colonies from the tyranny of England’s monarchy. In the modern context, when a ruler has untrammeled power, we don’t call him a king: the word we use is dictator.
That’s what’s at stake. There’s no recovering from a debate debacle so dismal. Indeed, the President all but lost the evening before he even reached the podium, shuffling out on stage with no energy, no rizz. And once the debate began, well, there are scarcely words for what transpired. And Trump, for his part, was mostly restrained and controlled—not exactly presidential in his affect, but by and large he performed as a solid candidate should.
Of course, that’s ignoring the fact that virtually everything Trump 45 said was a lie. But the sad truth is that performance trumps policy and veracity, at least for undecided, underinformed and unengaged voters. If we’re to avoid Trump 47, Biden needs to step aside—and the most likely replacement is Harris.
Yes, Harris is mired in negatives, but she would have direct access to the almost one-quarter of a billion dollar Biden-Harris war chest and, critically, she has a legitimacy that comes from the fact that the American people already voted for her as Biden’s backup. Here’s hoping that Biden does the right thing, and soon.
Closer to home, I wrote for Puck (subscription) a few days ago on the new IATSE deal. And, I’ve been appearing in the media (over 1,500 appearances since 2007) and on panels on various topics, including AI. In addition to my law practice (and here), here’s what I’ve been up to since January 1:
Media Appearances
July 3: Spectrum News 1 (live) (Skydance/Paramount deal)
June 26: KNX, KNBC, Spectrum News 1 (live) (IATSE deal) [1513]
June 21: The Drum (US Supreme Court Starbucks decision)
June 18: KNX (FilmLA raising permit fees)
June 10: RTVI (Will Smith Bad Boys box office)
June 6: Spectrum News 1 (live) (IATSE negotiations)
June 5: RTVI Russian-language TV (live) (NY soundstages and state of the industry)
June 4: RTVI Russian-language TV (live) (Eruption by Michael Crichton & James Patterson)
June 1: ABA Journal (AI and law firms)
May 21: Good Morning America (Scarlett Johansson vs. OpenAI), RTVI Russian-language TV (live) (Trump biopic The Apprentice)
May 17: KNX (IATSE negotiations)
May 14: RTVI Russian-language TV (live) (George Clooney Broadway debut Good Night and Good Luck) [1500]
May 13: RTVI Russian-language TV (live) (Sam Rubin obit)
May 2: RTVI Russian-language TV (live) (Beverly Hills Film Festival)
April 30: Law & Crime Network (Diddy)
April 29: KNX (IATSE negotiations), RTVI (live) Nicole Kidman AFI award), KNX (Bob Bakish out at Paramount)
April 24: KNBC (FTC noncompete ban)
April 22: RTVI (live) (Taylor Swift Tortured Poets Department album)
April 19: KNX (IATSE/Teamsters negotiations)
April 3: Law & Crime Network (Diddy)
April 1: RTVI (live) (Godzilla/Kong domestic box office)
March 22: KTTV Fox 11 (and here) (live in-studio) (IATSE & Teamsters negotiations)
March 4: KNBC (Sean Diddy Combs lawsuit); Spectrum News 1 (live), KNX (IATSE & Teamsters negotiations)
March 3: KNX (same)
March 1: RTVI (live) (Willy Wonka allege scam event)
Feb. 14: ATVN (audio) (Disneyland characters unionization drive), The Moving Spotlight video podcast (audio) (SAG-AFTRA and guilds)
Feb. 11: CNN.com (entertainment law careers)
Jan. 26: LAist radio NPR
Jan. 22: NYSBA Newsletter
Jan. 1: KNX (Who Do You Want to Be?) [1476]
Panels and Presentations
Strike Post-Mortem, Entertainment Industry Conference, California Society of CPAs (6/20/2024) (panelist).
Entertainment Industry Strikes, Negotiations and Ratifications in 2023 - Lessons Learned, USC Gould School of Law (4/19/2024) (moderator).
Ask Me Anything—Legal, National Assn. of Broadcasters (Las Vegas, 4/15/2024) (guild law panelist).
Labor Patterns and Collective Bargaining: Artificial Intelligence and (vs) Entertainment Agreements, ABA Forum on Entertainment & Sports Industries (4/12/2024) (panelist).
Examining Labor Laws in Light of the SAG-AFTRA Strike, Harvard Law School 2024 Entertainment Law Symposium (3/21/2024).
Generative AI and the Current Legal Landscape, AI Summit, Television Academy (2/24/2024) (moderator).
Robots Come to Hollywood: Breaking Down the Artificial Intelligence Provisions in the New SAG-AFTRA and WGA Contracts, Manatt (2/6/2024) (panelist).
Nine investor conference calls on the 2023 Hollywood union and guild negotiations, strikes and agreements (2022-2024).
Artist Representation: Unions & Talent Agencies, Fordham Law School Ninth Annual Media & Entertainment Law Symposium (NY, 1/19/2024) (panelist).
The Impact of AI on Entertainment, New York State Bar Assn. Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law Section (NY, 1/18/2024) (moderator).
The Writing on the Wall: Lessons, Takeaways & Opportunities From the Hollywood Strikes, California Copyright Conference (1/9/2024) (panelist).
Well said