Pity poor rich Hollywood celebrities: Aside from Tom Hanks who beat his colleagues at their own game and quickly came down with the coronavirus, they have been pushed out of the limelight by doctors and one politician who they despise.

But for those of us who have been bemoaning for years that this nation has made an aristocracy out of the wrong people, sports stars and entertainers, this is, if albeit temporary, welcome news.

The poor devils are pathetically trying to swim against the tide. Jon Cusack, Bette Midler, and other self-important folks put out their wanky little statements on the coronavirus. However, aside from making fun of them, they get relatively rare coverage from their former media pals. Gone are the days of a slobbering fan base hanging on their every fetid utterance. Those same people are properly concerned now with things that actually matter.

The man who was supposed to upend Trump for them, Sanders, came a cropper. Then Biden, he was going to topple orange man bad. Hasn’t worked out that way so far. Some hold out hope for Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is likely too smart to sip from that poisoned chalice. So, what then?

For as long as this lasts they will contend with their just station in life: irrelevance. Oh, the arts, you cry! Roy Acuff, George Gershwin, Dave Brubeck, Tom Wolfe, Otto Preminger, Elvis Costello, Edward Hopper, Alexander Borodin—those are the arts. In a civilized society the arts should not be constituted by whining deviants howling imprecations at society because they didn’t get a pony on their sixth birthday.

Finally in this country, firmly back in the saddle after decades, the grownups are in charge. It may not last long and the Hollywood crowd may yet see their pull reemerge. If and when it does and the president and his team come out as the obvious heroes of the drama, Hollywood will be placed in a quandary.

How do you write about Midway without mentioning Chet Nimitz, Gettysburg without talking about George Meade, the moon landings minus reference NASA? They will try and they will fail. So much, in this instance, for the “arts.”