... And We Seymour Effects of Trumpism
In honor of former presidential press secretary Katie Zacharia, the noted featherbrain, today we celebrate heroically short-lived jobs.
I should note that not all instant job-loppings in America involve Donald Trump’s contributory incompetence — though his 10-day beheading of Anthony Scaramucci has long stood as the modern record to beat. And now he did it! In half the time. It was as amazing a feat as Babe Ruth breaking his own home-run record in 1927.
So, in fairness, let’s try to find some other modern examples of super-quick pink-slipping that have nothing to do with Donald Trump. There must be plenty.
Oh, wait.
It turns out there is another current case also irretrievably linked to Trumpworld. This one took place in Texas just a few days ago. You probably missed it, what with all the other offal squeezing out of the regime’s entrails-grinder and plopping onto our plates. Also, this one happened to a high-school kid, so who gives a crap?
We do, right here. It’s got everything: culture-war hypocrisy, institutional cowardice, and the retrograde thinking of the MAGA world.
Ana Mota, 17, is a singularly talented actor and singer. She is a senior at South Grand Prairie High School in Grand Prairie, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Ana gets leading parts in the school’s productions because she is very good. Just a week ago, ago, for example, she won the role of Seymour, the comically nerdy, romantically inept star of Little Shop of Horrors. How romantically inept? In the 1986 movie the role was played by Rick Moranis. (That’s a man-eating plant that he’s holding.)
A significant difference between Mr. Moranis and Ms. Mota is their pronouns.
I’m guessing you see where this is going.
Ana Mota has played male roles before — that’s her photo at the top of the column. Ana won the part of Seymour after four days of auditions. This is a school that takes its performing arts programs seriously.
Someone complained to the school district. The school district is afraid of the governor of Texas, the notoriously reactionary and sanctimonious and vindictive Greg Abbott — who, in turn , is afraid of Donald Trump, who needs no adjectival introduction here.
So the school district — as school districts are wont to do — caved. They notified Ana that she could not have the part. They offered her, instead, an opportunity to share the female lead, Audrey, with another girl. She declined.
The district clearly felt that in this political climate, such a casting decision might run afoul of the governor’s wishes. Officially, though, it cited Texas Senate Bill 12 of 2023, which prohibited drag performances in public places where minors might be present. But it turns out a federal judge had ruled that law unconstitutional in August 2026.
So then, the district decided they had really meant a different law, passed under Abbott in 2025, which restricts certain LGBTQ-related activities in public schools. Reporters asked how that law prohibited a girl from playing Seymour, but the district did not reply. Instead, it suddenly decided that the whole show was inappropriate for a high school, and cancelled the performance altogether. Er, even though Mota noted that the school had performed the play four years ago, with a male Seymour, and no complaints.
Let’s be blunt. The district’s real rationale was that, once it had become a public matter, having a female playing a man’s role apparently became unthinkable.
Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking of Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan and Kathy Rigby,
… all of whom played Peter Pan.
Or perhaps you are thinking of Meryl Streep,
… who brilliantly played a rabbi in Angels In America.
This is all so stupid. And so typical of current life in America, where the poisonous ethos of the Trump regime echoes hollowly in places big and little.
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Here is Ana Mota discussing the decision. She nails it.
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Today’s Gene Pool Gene Poll:
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So. This is the Weekend Gene Pool, where I trawl for your anecdotes and observations, to be published next week. Today, tell us about jobs you had for a very short time, and the reasons behind the departure. Poignant is good. Funny is better.
My very first job lasted one day. I was 18. It was a summer job as a scooper at a fancy ice-cream shop in Manhattan. I wasn’t fired. I quit because I was embarrassed at being utterly inept at getting those scoops spherical.
Please send your stories here:
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(Speaking of the Mailbag — a friend of Kathryn MacDonald wrote in poignantly, but did not give a name or contact information. If you write back with your email address in the body of the type, I would like to get in touch with you.)
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And finally, please consider it. I am working on a Saturday morning JUST FOR YOU, PERSONALLY.