Why are Trump and Hollywood so obsessed with each other?

The correct answer is: way too long and way too boring. But that’s not why Trump took issue with this year’s Oscars.

“And the winner is: a movie from South Korea,” he continued. “What the hell is that all about? We got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of it, they give ’em the best movie of the year. Was it good? I don’t know.”

Cue the outrage. “Donald Trump’s fundamentally un-American ‘Parasite’ critique,” ran a headline from CNN the next morning. Production company Neon, which distributed Parasite, responded on Twitter with a simple troll: “Understandable, he can’t read.”

Shots fired.

Based on his comments, Trump clearly hasn’t seen the film, but he has evidently seen Gone with the Wind, which he suggested as an alternative. So Trump pines for a movie that won Best Picture in 1940, six years before he was born. He also praised Sunset Boulevard, which was nominated for Best Picture in 1951 but, unlike Parasite, didn’t win.

Not content with simply expressing his pre-boomer taste in movies, Trump then called Brad Pitt a “little wise guy” — three times — in response to the actor’s viral quip about John Bolton. (Though really, Trump should’ve called out Pitt’s speechwriter.)

“Thank you to the Academy for this honor of honors,” Pitt said during his acceptance speech at the Oscars earlier this month. “They told me I only have 45 seconds up here, which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week.”

Comments such as Trump’s glib Hollywood critiques fire up his base of conservatives who are tired of being mocked or ignored by entertainers. (What’s really surprising is that Trump didn’t bring up Joaquin Phoenix’s criticism of milk.)

Although Pitt’s speech contained one of the few political comments of this year’s Oscars, Hollywood gives Trump plenty of material to work with each year. Last year, Trump criticized Spike Lee’s “do the right thing” speech about voting for “love” not “hate” in 2020. Lee didn’t name Trump, but his target was clear.

“Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other Pres!” Trump responded on Twitter.

Trump can’t help but fire back when he’s criticized. But even when he’s not, he doesn’t mind sharing his opinion of Hollywood.

Here’s the problem: Hollywood wants political authority that the Left has lost, and Trump wants cultural authority that he can’t wield. So Trump and the West Coast entertainers are caught in an endless back-and-forth over a moral superiority that neither has any claim to. They kind of resemble the famous Spider-Man meme: Each accuses the other of destroying America’s moral fabric, even though both look exactly alike — the Harvey Weinstein defenders and enablers on the one hand, and the president accused of sexual assault on the other.

Both Trump and Hollywood need a reminder that wielding social power doesn’t make you a better person, which is kind of what Parasite was all about.