Trump holds meeting with Buffy and Superman actors in midst of escalating global coronavirus crisis and economic meltdown
While US vice president Mike Pence held his first emergency coronavirus taskforce meeting and the country’s stock market plunged to its worst one-day point drop in history, Donald Trump also had an important meeting – with the actors in a new play said to “expose the Russia collusion hoax”.
There are 60 cases of coronavirus now known in the US, and the expectation is that the deadly disease will continue to spread.
The risk has seen markets collapse around the world, and US stocks have been sharply dumped to put indexes on track for their worst week since autumn 2008, which marked the nadir of the global financial crisis.
Despite the dire economic and public health threats to the US, on Thursday Mr Trump took the time to meet with the cast of the play, FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers.
It was the first play ever to be performed at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, and stars actors Dean Cain and Kristy Swanson.
Cain is best known for playing Clark Kent/Superman in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Swanson is best known for playing Buffy Summers in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She also starred in Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Big Daddy.
The play was written by Phelim McAleer, a conservative film-maker whose other works include pro-fracking documentary FrackNation, and an “anti-environmentalist” film called Mine Your Own Business.
His play is apparently based on the text messages exchanged between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who were having an affair and exchanged text messages critical of Mr Trump ahead of his 2016 election.
The pair have become an obsession among many of the president's supporters, who have repeatedly insisted they represent a “deep state” conspiracy which aimed to keep Mr Trump out of the White House.
In December 2017 the texts between the pair were made public, resulting in Mr Strzok and Ms Page both being removed from their posts as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The play was first performed last year, with Politico describing it as “Hamilton for the MAGA crowd”.
The team behind the play are now using crowdfunding to try and bring the play to a wider audience, attracting 471 backers so far.
Unlike coronavirus, it is unclear whether the play will be available to the public.
