Vince Vaughn is cancelled—or is he?

Progressives affected by Trump Derangement Syndrome will say that Vince Vaughn’s career died several years ago, which prompts me to wonder why his appearance last night with President Trump is making such a stir. Clearly, Vaughn’s still relevant, and no amount of fraternizing with the Don is going to change that.

The actor, best known for his roles in Wedding Crashers, Swingers, and Dodgeball, is facing a round of outrage after video of him meeting with President Trump emerged last night on social media in a post by former Deadspin writer Timothy Burke.

“I’m very sorry to have to share this video with you. All of it, every part of it,” wrote Burke, seemingly gleeful at the thought of cancelling the actor.

Vaughn’s crime, apparently, was to speak to and shake hands with the President. How dare he? The outrage he now faces is similar to the anger Ellen DeGeneres sparked after she was spotted mingling with former President George W. Bush at a football game last year. Does anyone even remember when that happened? Clearly not, because the outrage brigade moved past her—just as they’ll move past Vaughn—well within a week before moving on to some other target.

When that happened, DeGeneres acknowledged the outrage mob (even though she didn’t need to) and shared what remains perhaps some of the wisest words to come out of this election cycle: “We’re all different. And I think that we’ve forgotten that that’s OK that we’re all different.”

Nevertheless, all eyes are on Vaughn now, and multiple outlets have published articles to cover the outrage—many of which are chiding the actor for audaciously treating the President of the United States of America with dignity instead of yelling in his face as many of these people wish to, if they could get within 50 feet of him.

Never one to fall in line with the rest of the Hollywood flock, Vaughn has been out and open about his divergent political beliefs. From as far back as 2012, Vaughn, among several other celebrities—including Snoop Dogg—openly endorsed libertarian and Republican congressman Ron Paul. Unlike Snoop Dogg, whose politics have in recent years move farther towards the left, Vaughn has remained a staunch and steadfast libertarian, even doing an interview with the Ron Paul Institute late last year. Vaughn is also a good friend of Rand Paul, having introduced him at a libertarian event in 2011.

It’s impossible to say who Vaughn voted for in 2016 given that he still keeps some things about himself private—not that it matters—but it probably wasn’t Hillary.

For all the talk of “cancellation” and unpersoning of Vaughn among cultural and entertainment commentators on mainstream publications, his career in Hollywood hasn’t taken much of a dent as he continues to build film credits as both an actor and a producer with seven new projects in the works.

Unlike DeGeneres, Vaughn is unlikely to respond to the outrage brigade. These people don’t watch his movies anyway, and those who’ve already had him on their personal blacklists decided he was a verboten subject given his continued friendship with Mel Gibson, who’s persona non grata to liberal keyboard warriors on social media.

Naturally, some leftist commentators have been quick to downplay the burgeoning outrage against Vince Vaughn. Posting on Twitter, Vox reporter Aaron Rupar wrote: “Democrats aren’t mad about Vince Vaughn chatting with Trump. Nobody cares. Fox & Friends and Hogan Gidley are making stuff up.”

If that were truly the case, one might wonder why so many media outlets are eager to write about his oh-so-unacceptable interaction with President Trump. Is it all just a bunch of fake news, then? Or does the liberal media just make things up as they go along? After all, they can’t issue stern condemnations of Vince Vaughn well after every conservative commentator predicted it—at least, not without looking like the easily manipulated schmucks that they are.