CSotD: The Yeah-But Wars Drag On
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The difference in our nation doesn’t get much starker than this, to which someone might say “Yeah, but how many people even remember Kennedy’s inauguration?”
It’s a fair question. I turned 10 a week after he was inaugurated, so I remember him, but not in a political context. I remember that he was president and that he came across as a nice guy with a nice family and I have a vague memory of his nice wife providing a tour of the White House.
I also remember Vaughn Meader’s The First Family, which scandalized a lot of people, and My Daddy Is President, but I was 12 by then. By the time I was 13 and he was killed, I realized how he had inspired college students to join the Peace Corps or to travel to the South to register Black voters, but those people are in their mid-80s today.
At least those who are left. People 85 and older make up less than 2 percent of the population, which makes people inspired by his words a very slim slice of current demographics.
And it’s been a long time since poking fun at the president scandalized anyone.
What I do remember about his presidential campaign, however, is getting a quarter in change in which someone had put red nail polish on Washington’s head in imitation of a cardinal’s cap, the first time I realized that people hated me for being Catholic and hated even more the idea that a Catholic might win the election.
So another “yeah, but” is that yeah, we’ve changed a lot in the past 65 years, but those bigots have always been here.
Which is why young people went South to register Black voters and were sometimes murdered in the night, and little Black girls were occasionally blown up by bombs and police attacked civil rights workers with fire hoses and dogs.
Yeah, but now the George Wallaces and Lester Maddoxes and Ross Barnetts are no longer regional politicians of little national impact and influence.
So yeah, liberals are having fun with Trump having said that smart people don’t like him, but what they are missing is that a lot of people think “smart” is the same as “elite” and “snobbish” and feel that having “smart people” dislike you is the same as being scorned by elite snobs who think they’re better than everyone else.
It’s like saying that only ignorant hillbilly dumbasses eat at Cracker Barrel when, in fact, the chicken-fried steak there is pretty good, and ex-freaking-scuse me if it’s not served at snooty places with expensive prices where you have to wear a tie.
And if you’re thinking “yeah, but …” you are part of the problem and not part of the solution.
Similarly, Randy Bish notes that we’ve still got plenty of racists amongst us, and he’s right that, back in 1925, the Klan was active throughout the country, not just in the Deep South, while, similarly, today’s MAGA hardliners are not a regional phenomenon either.
Yeah, he’s right that it should be shameful to align yourself with such people, but here we are.
And, yeah, Jesus continually preached against racism and hatred, but people who call themselves Christian often prefer the violent, clannish advice of the Old Testament, even though Christ directly refuted it.
And, yeah, a lot of Christians are hateful hypocrites, but there are a lot of very good, very decent Christians, too, and lumping them all in together is just another form of bigotry.
Juxtaposition of the Day
Two things you should probably keep in mind if you prefer the Kennedy world to the Trump world:
One is that people still wear Cleveland Browns gear and fill the stadium, despite the team having a losing record for eight of the past 10 years. Arguing that they aren’t the finest team in football misses the point: It’s about loyalty, not quality.
The other is — and brace yourself for a surprise — insulting people doesn’t often turn them into your friends.
Espinoza and MacLeod focus on the message rather than on insulting the messenger.
Charlie Kirk had many followers, but not the throngs flooding to his banner today. If you had surveyed the nation two weeks ago, you’d have likely found that most people had barely heard of him, and had never read his words or heard him speak.
Rather than telling them what horrible people they are, try quoting his positions and letting his own words define him.
Similarly, yeah, anyone with a junior-high understanding of science knows RFK Jr is a dangerous crackpot, but he’s also a chilling example of how tribal loyalty can carry more weight than common sense.
So yeah, Dear Leader throws out insults and lies by the bushel basket, but he expects loyalty in return, and he’s fully capable of hurling abuse while calling on people not to hurl abuse.
Loyalty is good, disloyalty is bad, logical consistency is no more important than the Cleveland Browns won/loss record.
And, yeah, Sheneman is right that rural voters supported Trump and continue to support Trump, but farm subsidies have been a reality for generations. Even William Jennings Bryan was unable to persuade farmers to make him president, and they were genuinely angry with governmental economic policies that harmed them.
They don’t see subsidies as socialism, and, if you insist that they are, they’ll just see you as some kind of smart ass, the kind that doesn’t like Donald Trump.
Discuss the tariffs, not the patchwork solutions.
Katauskas has Karoline Leavitt promoting the president’s successful war on facts and his lucrative program of extortion.
Yeah, but loyalty wipes out the impact of his exaggerations and outright lies about peacemaking, while universities, major media and law firms are those smart asses his supporters despise.
Leavitt is winning not through logic or accuracy, but through snark, following the Bellman’s rule: “I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.”
Or possibly that was Goebbels, but who cares?
What Katauskas may miss from Australia, Body sees clearly from next door in New Zealand.
Yeah, but watching from a distance is beginning to seem like a really good idea.
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