Thank god for Trump

Never have I seen moral purity so easily obtained and so cheaply.  We are now experiencing a time when peripheral figures, sycophants, and otherwise happy-go-lucky types suddenly find their ethical redemption is readily available at bargain basement prices.  And this is all thanks, I suppose, to the general mood engendered by the Trump presidency.  But, frankly, low bars are just that, and one really is just a bit deluded when he thinks he brings home the love of his life at the last call.

What do I mean?  Well, we’ve got the so-called #metoo movement, a movement, I’d suggest, that would not have nearly the momentum it does now, if not for the President and all that he represents.  Then we have the “shithole” moment, when the President basically has given voice to what is a fundamental cultural meme in Peoria.  I’ll go no further, but a moment’s reflection will make it clear that folks whose moral uncertainty was partly founded on some kind of profound or, maybe, unthinking awareness of their own failings, have now found that, lo and behold, their ship has arrived!  Ahoy mate!  At last, America’s political cynosure is such as to make even the most fallen a saint by comparison.  At least, it is now possible for any person of uncertain character to assert otherwise.

This is just a bit revolting.

The #metoo movement, which is fundamentally a witch hunt in the old timey sense – even hunting for witches probably found people who were bona fide miscreants – is a fire that probably never would have had sufficient oxygen but for Trump and, well, the Hollywood Caligula, aka Weinstein.  But now that the train is underway, oddly enough, everyone is jumping on board to poor both scorn and condemnation on any and all, apparently unaware that purity itself becomes a competitive affair in these kinds of situations.  I’m not endorsing rape or touching people uninvited, but it is rather astonishing to see all the post hoc folks who materialize ex nihilo to proclaim their love of women’s rights once the enemy is routed and the field is safe.  Presumably they pile on because they assume that a) they will never be called to account even for acts which they assume to be innocent and b) they figure that cheering the good guys or wymyn will make it appear that they too are among the annointed.  Fools.  History reveals the critical fact, namely, that no one is ever sufficiently pure, particularly when one comes from a group that is a priori suspect.  That means, men folk, rally round #metoo all you like in the hope that your purity will be shown, but judgment of your histories is only in abeyance pendente lite.  First things first.

At any rate, if not for the groundwork laid by the exposure of the infamous “Trump Tape,” in which he spoke with all the shocking vulgarity that one could easily have heard in any gym or on just about any episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, #metoo probably would have fizzled earlier.  Again, I do not mean that I endorse grabbing people.  But the fact is that, if not for the environment engendered by the President, this probably would have imploded by now.  But here we are.  And in a world where accusations matter more than proofs, that means that even defending oneself is ruled out.  Why?  Mere defense, mere questioning of the allegation is interpreted by the politically advanced as “blaming the victim.”  If that attempt to shame won’t do, then one can always offer that no one would ever make a false accusation of that sort, which has, of course, been shown to be untrue time and time again.  But, if it’s factually untrue, it is not morally untrue, and that is what counts in this kind of discourse.  There is only moral high ground, and those who condemn inequality etc., occupy it. 

Now there’s this recent brouhaha about “shithole,” a term which the President allegedly applied to African countries.  Let’s be honest: this is the meme that American media has used for I don’t know how long to describe Africa when it wasn’t presenting stories about Latin America or Haiti.  For anyone, I mean any single person, to pretend otherwise is just absurd.  However, now that the President has actually uttered what I’m sure many inside and outside government have not only thought, but actually said, everyone is full of moral indignation.  Shocked, shocked!  It’s a Casablanca moment, hiliarious for its hypocrisy.  Grave Senators and Members of Congress suddenly step forward to intone their moral indignation that such an expression could ever, like winged words, have broken the barrier of Presidential lips.  No doubt they have not recalled their numerous visits to those benighted countries out of a certain modesty or desire to mask all their vacations enjoyed at public expense.  Doubtless they were among the first to pile into Monrovia’s hotel suites once ebola was safely stuffed back into its forest fastness.  Actually, the fact is that, while a President should always be more dignified, the present case was merely an expression of an American prejudice so widespread as to make complaint pure hypocrisy.

At any rate, leaving aside what I consider fundamental problems with those who pile on to the #metoo or shithole movements, I would just add, as I began, that it represents a kind of moral version of Gresham’s law.  In other words, scoundrels and political calculators of various sorts join in precisely because the joining is cheap while the returns, or seigniorage, are high.  The coin of their morality costs nothing, but they look good all the same for uttering the desired verbiage.  And this in an era where the mob is ascendant, ever eager to reward such scoundrels. 

I’m no supporter of mob politics, which seems to be gaining steam.  These two recent exponents, the #metoo and shithole folks, are manifestations of that.  The fact that they lay claim to an unearned morality at the same time makes them all the more worrisome.  Robespierre and his gang ended up, as such usually due, in a morality spiral, competing over purities.  That may be where we head, and, while at some level I do not mind if those who wish to purchase reputations with cheap morality end up losing the bargain, I do worry that such moments might be extreme and violent in nature.  That is, I suppose, the bigger issue.