The bottom line is simple. If character assassination is the new standard then you hire a character.
In fact the strategy has been stunningly successful. The political scene has become robustly noisy and no slur will ever go unchallenged.
Good men and women will still come out but gratuitous retreats in the face of slander has ended..
Why the Kavanaugh Smears Validate Trumpian Politics
The last-minute ambush validates key assumptions of Donald Trump’s
supporters that fueled his rise and buttress him in office, no matter
how rocky the ride has been or will become. At least three premises have
been underlined by the tawdry events of the past couple of weeks.
First, that good character is no defense. If you are John McCain, who genuinely tried to do the right thing and carefully cultivated a relationship with the media over decades, they will still call you a racist when you run against Barack Obama.
First, that good character is no defense. If you are John McCain, who genuinely tried to do the right thing and carefully cultivated a relationship with the media over decades, they will still call you a racist when you run against Barack Obama.
If you are Mitt Romney, an exceptionally earnest and decent man, they
will make you into a heartless and despicable vulture capitalist, also
for the offense of campaigning against Obama.
If you are Brett Kavanaugh, a respected member of the legal establishment who doesn’t have a flyspeck on his record across decades of public service in Washington, they will come up with dubious accusations of wrongdoing from decades ago when you were a teenager.
If you are Brett Kavanaugh, a respected member of the legal establishment who doesn’t have a flyspeck on his record across decades of public service in Washington, they will come up with dubious accusations of wrongdoing from decades ago when you were a teenager.
Second, that the media is an unremitting political and cultural
adversary. In the Kavanaugh controversy, the press has been wholly on
the other side, presuming his guilt and valorizing his accusers and
their supporters, including Hawaii senator Mazie Hirono, whose most
famous contribution to the debate was telling men to “shut up.” The
advocacy isn’t limited to cable networks or the Twitter feeds of
journalists. It reaches all the way up the food chain.
The New Yorker — which imagines itself an upholder of the
finest standards of American journalism; which sports a refined
monocle-wearing dandy as its mascot; which was once edited by that
famous paragon of editorial care, William Shawn — happily published a
new accusation against Kavanaugh even though the accuser herself had
doubts about it (she only became convinced of it after days of
consideration and talks with her lawyer).
The New York Times passed on the story when it couldn’t find any firsthand corroboration of it. The New Yorker didn’t allow that to become an obstacle.
Third, that politics isn’t just rough-and-tumble; it’s red in tooth
and claw. Process and norms are nice, but they go out the window as soon
as something important is at stake, like a potential fifth vote on the
Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Senate Democrats may delicately talk about the importance of norms
and civility on Sunday shows, but watch how they act. They sat on an
accusation throughout an extensive process of vetting and questioning a
nominee, then declared it dispositive evidence against his confirmation
when it leaked at the eleventh hour. They delayed a hearing with
Christine Blasey Ford long enough to allow time for the second accuser
to be persuaded to come forward.
All of this plays into Trump’s support. Surely, a reason that the
president appealed to many Republicans in the first place, despite his
extravagant personal failings, was that they had decided that virtuous
men would get smeared and chewed up by the opposition’s meat grinder, so
why be a stickler for standards?
If Trump’s attacks against the media are over-the-top and sometimes disgraceful, at least he understands the score.
He may not be a constitutionalist, but he will be faithful to his own
side, and fiercely battle it out with his political opponents.
The logic of this dynamic is risky. It can be self-defeating, and
lead down the road of supporting, say, a Roy Moore, a kooky candidate
doomed even in red Alabama. It can be corrupting, if character and
standards are no longer considered important. But the dark view of our
politics that has driven the Trump phenomenon for three years now is
impossible to gainsay. Who can watch the frenzied assault on Brett
Kavanaugh and say that it’s wrong?
No comments:
Post a Comment