The Wretched in the White House

Under the watchful eyes of the US President, the participants at the Governors' Ball 2025 sit captivated at their banquets. Some of the singing soldiers approach the smartphone that is capturing the entire scene. The gaze of a singer does not quite reveal what is happening here. On Yahoo one reads later that the choice of songs caused confusion on social media. Yet it also brought jubilation and disappointment. While some believed the choir chose the song as a protest, others pointed out that Trump had already played a song from Les Miserables at campaign events in 2016 and 2024.

The title of Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables, upon which the musical is based, directly refers to the existential struggles of marginalized populations in 19th century France. The numerous characters appearing in the novel show the reader how structural violence deforms individual biographies. The Paris June Rebellion of 1832, which occupies significant space in the novel, becomes a cipher for the struggle against a system that systematically produces poverty.

One almost wants to believe that the U.S. Army Chorus is setting an example under the eyes of the US President. After all, he will one day be responsible for everything that the different French revolutions since 1789 sought to overcome. The betrayal of the ideals of the European Enlightenment by the US Vice President, previously executed at the Munich Security Conference, stands as my witness. Did Emmanuel Macron remind Trump yesterday during his visit to Washington of the significance of Victor Hugo's work for the French identity?

On February 14, 2025, I had the unique experience of seeing Les Miserables live in Amsterdam; during one of the few dates of "The Arena Spectacular" by the London ensemble featuring Milan van Waardenburg as part of their world tour 2025.

Just over a week later, the U.S. Army Chorus sings the title "One Day More" from Les Miserables at the White House. The singers in uniform march with firm posture at the Governors' Ball 2025 and sing one of the musical's highlights.

In the song, all the protagonists come together and sing about another day that will hold a different fate for each. A day that promises infinity in its own way for everyone. Tomorrow will be the day when God in heaven will show what he has planned for the individual.

Unfortunately, this was not a protest, as cleverly prepared by meme producers for social media. I myself only became aware of it through a reel on Instagram. In it, the video is equipped with a text layer noting that protest happens in very different ways. It spontaneously brought tears to my eyes. I've had the musical in my bones since Amsterdam, and as a connoisseur of the novel, I know the significance that scene holds in the musical.

Numerous statements then contradict the notion of the protest. They argue it's merely wishful thinking. As mentioned above, "Shitler von Clownface," as he was called in a post on Bluesky, used the song "Do You Hear The People Sing?" for his campaign appearances. That alone was reason enough to write this vignette. Because the misery at the White House has nothing to do with the misery that Victor Hugo wrote onto the skin of his wretched characters years before its 1862 premiere. The real protest, therefore, must be to advocate for Les Miserables and give POTUS a significant jolt. However, I am left only to align myself with the words of Cameron Mackintosh. He produces the musical in London and noted as far back as 2016 in The Guardian the following.

The authors of Les Misérables have not been asked for permission and did not authorize or endorse the use of "Do You Hear The People Sing?" at the Trump rally in Miami [at that time], and have never done so for any of the songs from the musical for this or any other political event.

I conclude with the note that this remark applies to everything this postmodern clown appropriates from the book and the musical. And with that, I now truly conclude.