Daphne Barak - Struggling for One America: Trump vs. Hollywood: The Two White Houses

Copyright 2021 by Erbil Gunasti and Daphne Barak

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Radoslav Iliev and Brian Peterson

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-6808-6

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-6841-3

Printed in the United States of America

For the memory of Sevim Gunasti
September 4, 1934August 14, 2020

Preface

O n September 17, 1862, more than twenty thousand soldiers were killed or wounded in the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history. All told, 750 thousand soldiers died during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. That would translate into about 7.5 million US deaths in proportion to Americas current population. Struggling for One America is written with those in mind who lost their lives because America was then divided on the emancipation of the enslaved people.

***

Since the 2016 presidential campaigns, conservatives, liberals, Democrats, Republicans, whites, and non-whites in America began lauding that they are fighting for America. Yet, by the 2020 presidential election, they were even more divided than united despite all the good intentions of most. Now that America is well into 2021, it is time to yearn for One America but without fighting.

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Here is the caveatto achieve One America, the Trump phenomena must first be understood. Next, discrimination and racism in America must be revisited. After that, cancel culture and No-No rhetoric must be handled promptly and sensitively. Finally, Hollywood must first embrace the #MeToo movement and then come up with a long-term strategy.

For that reason, director Daphne Barak and producer Erbil Gunasti brought on board twenty-four Hollywood stars and entertainers in their Trump vs. Hollywood documentary. Half were pro-Trump and half against. Daphne interviewed them, posing the question: Can we talk?

Struggling for One America stands as the genesis of this documentary. On November 4, 2020, this documentary was revised with a reference to the American Civil War. It is now called Trump vs. Hollywood: The Two White Houses.

During the American Civil War, there were two White Houses in America for four years, when unimaginable atrocities were committed by humankind.

This book, in that respect, points at the presumptive and pretended culprits and scapegoats in the current divide, while focusing on the obvious. Nowadays, the two White Houses are standing tall, in plain sight. A step further in the wrong direction from this moment on would be nothing less than repeating history.

Introduction

S truggling for One America: Trump vs. Hollywood: The Two White Houses is book number eight attributed to two authors: It is the seventh for Daphne Barak and fourth for Erbil Gunasti.

The book is a culmination of a documentary project. It involves Donald J. Trump, the forty-fifth president of the sole superpower in the world, and Hollywood stars and entertainers.

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Daphne writes in this book as the interviewer of the stars and entertainers in the documentary, in first person singular. She fills in in real time what transpired all throughout with anecdotes.

Erbil writes in third person plural, as the producer of the documentary that was observing what transpired before his eyes. He also narrates the book to put it into perspective how both authors viewed the developments during filming for the documentary and writing this book to present a larger picture to the reader.

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Filming sit-down exclusives with A-listers is a domain Daphne has been traveling in for more than two decades. She has interviewed hundreds of inaccessible leaders, Hollywood superstars, and many others with global name recognition for decades.

The US network televisions aired them. The leading print outlets in all major media markets around the world, including the US, printed them. They generated cover stories and top ratings.

***

Daphne is well known for her first book, Saving Amy. It is about the six months Daphne and Erbil spent with Amy Winehouse and her parents.

That was three years before Amys passing, during the twenty-seventh year of her short but very memorable life. This encounter also produced the only interview with Amy before her passing.

Amy was quoted in People magazine, Only Daphne Barak can explain my complicated life, when the book was released in London in 2009.

It is also important to note Daphne and Erbil are the reason why Amy went to St. Lucia and stayed there for four months, but also why she returned back to London only two weeks after their week-long visit with her.

***

Daphne and Erbil have collaborated on two other books. In addition, while Erbil edited Daphnes earlier books, Daphne also contributed to a chapter in Erbils book, GameChanger.

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Coming Home with the Kennedys was one project they worked on together, which included photographs taken by Erbil during their historic trip to New Ross, Ireland. Daphne and Erbil were exclusively in the company of thirty-five members of the Kennedy family, led by Caroline, the daughter of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the US. The ceremonial week in June 2013 was to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of JFK visiting his roots for the first time.

Their other joint project involved a cookbook. It was called Mama Sarah Obama: Home Cooking Recipes. The recipes belonged to the paternal grandmother of the forty-fourth president of the USA, Barack H. Obama Jr. Daphne and Erbil cooked each one of these dishes at their home in California together with the Obamas while the book was penned alongside an autobiography.

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The autobiography Mama Sarah Obama: Our Dreams and Roots and My Benazir are the other two books by Daphne.

My Benazir refers to Benazir Bhutto, two-time prime minister of Pakistan. She was murdered in a second suicide bombing attempt during an election campaign in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, racing for a third term in office.

Daphne and Erbil spent lot of private time with Benazir and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, until her assassination in 2007. They were in exile, living in Dubai and New York, respectively. Daphne was in constant touch with both of them for two years before Benazirs murder.