The Collapse of Meghan Culture...or The Beyoncé Campaign, Part 2

The trailer for Meghan Markle's new series is an extension of November's historic turn

Last August I wrote a column about the rumors surrounding a supposed surprise Beyoncé appearance at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the ensuing disappointment when it all turned out to be yet another nothingburger in one of the most nothingburgerest of campaigns in American history. It was indicative of a lazy media and a hastily organized presidential campaign that ran on empty promises and whispers of “joy” without actual joy ever arriving.

Not only was it a hilarious let-down, it was yet another indictment of a legacy media that no longer performs journalism but rather is a lazy stenographer pool that can’t be bothered to do any real work beyond reporting on social media posts. They had all day and every investigative resource to hunt down that rumor and/or confirm with the Harris camp - a camp they are all friendly with. Then they had the nerve to be perturbed with TMZ - a gossip publication - for spreading gossip.

But I think the symbolism of that Beyoncé-less final night goes far beyond the media’s typical terribleness. What happened (or didn’t happen, to be more precise) Thursday night is indicative of the entire Harris/Walz campaign. It was a shiny symbol of a presidential ticket that is all rumor and innuendo and absolutely no substance.

We all know how that circus ended. Cue Meghan Markle, disgraced American Duchess and desperate debutante. The former actress left one of the most prestigious positions in the world to seek her childhood dream of American celebrity, but it has been one publicity disaster after another for Markle and her put-upon prince, including rumors that Netflix brass are very annoyed with the royal couple for their anemic output after inking a $100 million dollar deal back in 2020.

Executives at the streaming giant must have breathed a sigh of relief when the Duchess of Sussex finally produced a trailer for her upcoming cooking and lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan. That relief was clearly premature. The trailer has been widely panned across social media as tone-deaf and phony. Netflix has disabled the dislike button for the trailer on YouTube. So far there are over 20,000 comments and as far as I can tell, every one of them is negative, hilarious, or some combination of both.

Inherent cringe level aside, as I watched the trailer I couldn’t help but feel a weary sense of deja vu. Watching the reactions to it felt like watching the reactions to the reveal that Beyoncé wasn’t ever showing up to the DNC stage, and to the entire Harris/Walz campaign in general. There was an exasperation with the inauthenticity of it all.

It isn’t just that people are tired of blatant lies. Americans are tired of fakery. Period.

Everything around us feels inauthentic these days. Our foods are processed. We live in urban centers where our bare feet rarely touch the unpaved earth. The #MeToo movement and the Epstein/Diddy scandals ripped the mask of entertainment culture. More Americans came face-to-face with just how much of the celebrity image is manufactured and manipulated. During COVID, while Americans were stuck in their studio apartments and barred from school and work, celebrities were making ridiculous videos of “solidarity” from their sprawling estates and golden bathtubs. And, perhaps most damningly, we watched a fawning media and a slobbering celebrity class tell us for years that Joe Biden was the sharpest guy on dry land, even as he mentally disintegrated in front of us.

It’s all fake, and Americans are sick of it. Americans voted against it.

The progressive talking heads have been twisting themselves into knots for the last month, trying to figure out why Americans would vote so enthusiastically for such a “crude and vulgar” figure like Trump. What they fail to understand is Americans do not view Trump as crude or vulgar. They view him as straight-forward.

The Obama Era brought the rise of the Diplomacy State, and the Diplomacy State brought us the worst economy in our modern memories, the Summer o’BLM, Antifa, crashing education, rising crime, and a border crisis that has been borne by the entire country. Americans are sick and tired of public figures smiling in our faces and stabbing us in our backs. We’d rather have a straight shooter who sounds a little rough around the edges but delivers on his word.

Everything about Markle’s new show feels fake. After an initial star-studded royal wedding, Hollywood seems to have largely sworn off the Sussexes, perhaps an indication of Markle’s reportedly abrasive personality. In the trailer, we can see her laughing and celebrating with people we know would not socialize with her in Los Angeles. We see her strolling through opulent gardens, hand-cutting begonias and sharing her wisdom for pulling together a floral color scheme, even as most Americans wonder if they can add eggs to their grocery budget this week. We see her preparing food in a pristine kitchen that is the size of many apartments, and even that is fake piled on top of fake, sprinkled with fake.

The show highlights Markle picking her own fresh vegetables, seemingly for her dishes. But the garden she is strolling in isn’t her garden. And the kitchen she is cooking in isn’t her kitchen. Just like the friends she invites over aren’t really her friends.

Viewers can sense the fakery because it is fakery. The show is shot in the Sussex’s supposed hometown of Montecito, California (there is some dispute as to if they really live there or not), but they chose to use a nearby mansion to film instead.

From People magazine:

While filmed in Montecito, California — where Meghan and Prince Harry live with their children, Prince Archie, 5 and Princess Lilibet, 3, — the series wasn't shot at their house.

Instead, the show was filmed at a nearby mansion, showcasing Meghan as she explores the gorgeous kitchen, gardens, and orchards of the stunning estate.

Who wants to watch a fake princess entertain fake friends, pick vegetables in a fake personal garden and then cook them in a fake home kitchen? Even the sweater casually draped over her designer outfits in several of the shots feels like an insult. For most of us a sweater is a practical provider of warmth, not an accessory for our shoulders.

To be a person like this and introduce a project like this at a time like this, and then to imagine it would generate excitement, is the height of delusion.

Let’s round this circle.

With love, Meghan could not have been released at a worse time…for Meghan Markle and Netflix. But perhaps this is the best time for the rest of us.

It serves as a vapid reminder of the filtered, over-produced political/entertainment culture of the last 20 years; a symbol of the empty promises of the elite; a flashing red sign that screams, “They’re not like us!”

These people are, indeed, not like us, so let us treat them accordingly.

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