Going gaga?

Reader question:

Please explain this headline, particularly “going gaga”: Why MAGA isn’t going gaga about Trump backing Israel?

My comments:

MAGA, by the way, refers to Making America Great Again, the political movement led by President Donald Trump.

Now, why isn’t MAGA going gaga about Trump backing Israel in its attacks against Iran?

Here, MAGA refers to MAGA people, folks who support the MAGA agenda.

So, why are MSGA folks not fanatically supporting Trump for taking Israel’s side in its fresh confrontation with Iran?

Simply put, MAGA folks are, generally speaking, isolationists. MAGA, to use Trump’s own words, puts America first. Putting America first means, among other things, not meddling in other people’s wars.

“Stupid endless wars”, again, in Trump’s own words.

Oh, going gaga.

Gaga is the cackling sound one makes when one is, say, laughing uncontrollably. It’s not dissimilar to the quacking sound ducks make when they cry.

Gaga is derived from French, according to my research, or rather search.

Specifically a search online.

According to the dictionary, gaga is “from French, ‘senile, a senile person’, reduplication based on gâteux, variant of gâteur, hospital slang in the sense ‘bed-wetter’.”

So, going gaga is literally an old man spewing nonsense because he’s old and losing control of his tongue and other faculties.

Figuratively, going gaga means becoming excessively excited or enthusiastic about someone or something, either because you’re smitten or because you’re going crazy, losing your mind.

All right?

All right. Here are a few media examples of people going gaga for this and that:

1. Like everyone else in the world, even the poker-faced academics at Cambridge have gone gaga for Lady Gaga.

The university has given the go-ahead for a dissertation on the singer's place in the history of pop art.

According to the London student behind the 10,000-word project, the 25-year-old New Yorker is a post-modern critic of consumerism in the style of pop artist Andy Warhol.

Third-year undergraduate Amrou Al-Kadhi, 21, who studies history of art at 14-century Corpus Christi college, has just had his project proposal on Lady Gaga accepted by the university authorities.

He told the Standard it “took a bit of work” to persuade academics that the dissertation was worthy of Cambridge’s standards, and that when he first submitted the idea he had to explain who the singer was.

Old Etonian Mr Al-Kadhi, who lives in west London, has been a fan of Lady Gaga since she emerged in 2008 with her Grammy-winning dance-pop album The Fame, and saw her in concert at the O2 two years ago. Gaga – whose real name is Stefani Germanotta – has since become the world’s leading recording artist with 65 million records sold to date.

Mr Al-Kadhi said he decided to do the project after bringing up the artist’s videos in classes for his Modernism, Postmodernism and After course.

“I raised the influence of pop art-style critiques of consumer culture in Lady Gaga’s performances and videos, and the legacy of second wave feminist performance art in them as well,” he said, adding that he took the idea forward because the comments were “surprisingly well received”.

When he submitted his dissertation proposal last year, however, it took aspiring actor Mr Al-Kadhi a few meetings to win permission from a department whose students have included the sculptor Antony Gormley and Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota. Mr Al-Kadhi had to enlist the backing of his course supervisor, a lecturer in post-war art theory, before he was given the go-ahead.

- Cambridge goes Gaga, Standard.co.uk, April 13, 2012.

2. Actor Hugh Jackman confessed that he was “struggling” and “nervous” when he started filming X-Men back in the year 2000.

Speaking at the Producers Guild Awards, the 48-year-old Australian star revealed that the studio was not going gaga over his performance as Wolverine when the first movie of the Marvel franchise began shooting about 18 years ago, reported E! News.

Jackman said, “I was kind of struggling, to be honest. It was the first movie I had ever done in America. I was pretty tight. I was nervous. I was average, to be honest, at best.”

But it was a turnaround for the Australian actor when studio executive Tom Rothman sat down with him about a month into the shooting of the film.

The Wolverine star admitted, “He told me that he believed in me, that from the moment he’d seen my tape he had a gut feeling I was the guy, but watching my dailies was like watching someone put a lampshade over a light.”

With things turning in Jackman’s favour over time, he is all set to appear for his last outing as the adamantium-clawed mutant in Logan which releases on March 3.

- Hugh Jackman remembers his first time as Wolverine: I was struggling, I was average, February 01, 2017.

3. Indeed, a woman “converted” Donald Trump to “Christianity” and is looking after his soul. No, not his wife, Melania, but a bizarre televangelist named Paula White-Cain, or simply “Paula White,” described as being his “spiritual adviser.” Who knew that Trump even needed such an adviser, since he self-identifies as the “chosen one” and thus would hardly need any sort of guidance, given his “divine” connection. But there you have it. The man has a “spiritual adviser.” White is called the “Trump Whisperer,” because of her deep influence on him. Trump has appointed her to run his White House faith Office.

Perhaps it is fitting that she would be the face of MAGA “spirituality,” since the worship of wealth and success is now endemic to the brand. How many times have we heard the reasoning that Trump is perfect for the job of president because he knows how to make a lot of money? White kicks it up a notch by saying that having wealth and being successful is the true mark of her god’s favor. Conversely she asserts, being poor and unsuccessful is a sign of being cursed by her god.

Of course, not even the most hardened MAGA adherent will insist that Trump is deeply religious. Trump’s religious affiliation is generally categorized as Protestant, but his personal practice and connection to organized religion is best described as tenuous. He is not known to have a consistent home church and his knowledge of Christian beliefs, let alone Scripture, is noteworthy for being absent. Thus, his support among conservative evangelicals largely stems from his political actions, rather than exemplar religious devotion.

White, like her apprentice, Trump, is a thrice-married prosperity enthusiast, who propounds a “theology” of convenience, meaning that cherry-picked Bible verses are used as justifications for all manner of excess, blasphemy, and heresy. As we all know, even the Devil can expertly quote the Bible.

…

In case you were wondering – Paula White offers these seven supernatural blessings for a measly donation of $1,000 or more. This is what you get: (1) An angel assigned to protect you the donor; (2) “God” will instantly become the enemy of the donor’s enemies; (3) Prosperity; (4) Removal of sickness; (5) A long life; (6) Increase (everything you dream about) and inheritance (everything you want); and last but not least (7) A special year of blessing.

Plus, donors giving $1,000 or more also receive a 10-inch Waterford Crystal cross, while a $125 donation on top offers an olive wood communion set from the Holy Land.

White emphasizes the belief that giving money to her ministry will result in material compensation from God. In brief, the wealth of the rich is the mark of “God’s” blessing, while the poverty of the poor is the “mark” of “Satan.” You are blessed if you are wealthy. You are cursed if you are poor.

No wonder Trump went gaga and described her as having the “It factor.” How could the “relationship” not blossom between the two?

- Trump’s “Spiritual Adviser”, ThePostil.com, May 1, 2025.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）