When Sanity Clause burst forth from the inter-ether last February, I expected that cultural issues—and not the economy—would be central to the 2024 political season. Three developments have intervened: inflation, war and Donald Trump. Less than a year away from the election, it seems possible that these will be central to the race, more important than cultural issues like abortion or crime. Especially Trump…but then Donald Trump is, himself, a human culture issue compendium. His supporters get joy from hate. They remind me of the 1930s lefties who still supported Stalin after the show trials. The hard core is, if polling is accurate, a plurality of the Republican Party, not a majority. But they are the most coherent force in American politics. If Trump prevails in the primaries—and I’m still not entirely convinced that he will—the election will be about him. And more him. We’ve been getting a preview of the approaching panic over that in the mainstream media this week. Bob Kagan’s warning about a Trump dictatorship in the Washington Post last week set off a landslide of commentary, a belated acknowledgment that a second Trump term would be much worse than the first and very bad for democracy.
That trend continues this week, with a big piece in the Times about a the horrors of a second term—and also pieces by two of my favorite magazine editors, Jeff Goldberg of The Atlantic and Mike Tomasky of the New Republic. Goldberg’s is the more surprising, since The Atlantic is not an avowedly partisan sheet, though it does tilt decorously toward the port. Jeff’s piece is attached to an entire issue of The Atlantic, apparently devoted to Trumpery. He concludes: “Our concern is that the Republican Party has mortgaged itself to an anti-democratic demagogue, one who is completely devoid of decency.” Along the way, he unloads a choice tidbit: He had lunch with Jared Kushner at the White House and was told, “No one can go as low as the President…You shouldn’t even try.” Kushner, who made a pile of money off his father-in-law’s presidency (Hunter Biden is a piker by comparison), was paying a compliment—and an implicit response to Michelle Obama’s “When they go low, we go high.”
Obama’s call to decency occurred at the 2016 Democratic convention, when Trump was a looming tornado headed for the heart of America. Hers was an admirable sentiment, but the wrong strategy. There is no way to ignore, or “go high,” in response to rhetoric like this, spewed by Trump in Iowa last weekend:
“If Joe Biden wants to make this race a question of which candidate will defend our democracy and protect our freedoms, and I say to crooked Joe—and he is crooked, the most corrupt president we’ve ever had—we will win that fight and we’re going to win it very big…Joe Biden is not the defender of American democracy. Joe Biden is the destroyer of American democracy.”
It is always striking to me how Trump’s attacks on his opponents are pure projection, precise reflections of his own deficiencies. Mike Tomasky thinks the Democrats should respond tougher, kick Orange in the kumquats. I have argued in the past that ridicule is a good tactic against a phony bully. I mean, we can start with his hair, which is ridiculous. (Does Trump’s hair presage a trend among dictatators—that guy in Argentina—to look like presiders in the Hunger Games?) It might be pointed out that, as a friend once noted, the massive pink marble lobby of Trump Tower looks like a bathroom—the man has gilded toilet taste in every aspect of his life. And…Is it possible that he’s still pissed off about Obamacare because it doesn’t cover ozempic? Perhaps Kamala Harris—who showed some good chops in Dubai over the weekend—should be assigned Spiro Agnew pit bull duty: I think women make Donald uncomfortable. When he goes low, we should laugh about how pathetic he is. (We hope Kamala would find as good a gag writer as William Safire was for Agnew.) Sadly, Biden’s attempts to go after Trump seem as old as he does; it’s hard for grandpa to be a leg-biter. But he’s going to have to go there. (Maybe Jon Stewart needs to be deployed on a secret mission.)
Tomasky’s call to arms is warranted. He argues that Democrats are mired in wussitude. They don’t use fists or elbows, which they must if they are to beat Orange Jesus. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Hillary Clinton’s missed opportunity in the second debate in 2016. Trump was stalking her around the stage, his testosterone jell afizz. If she had turned on him and said, “Donald, what on earth are you doing?” she might have won the election.
I assume the Gaza war will be done in 2024, but fear the asymmetric terrorist attacks it may inspire—a second 9/11 wins the election for Trump. As for inflation, I find myself pissed off every time I go to the grocery store—and outraged when I go to a restaurant. Sanity Goddess says: no more dining out. Even Grub Hub is frowned upon. Heard, chef! So where does that leave my vaunted cultural issues in 2024? Here’s the current heat list:
1. Abortion.
The heavyweight champ until proven otherwise. I don’t know if this is enough to throw the election to Biden, but it certainly isn’t going to hurt. Trump and Nikki Haley know enough to step away from DeSantis crazyland, but this issue is the work of Trump’s Supreme Court and if Democrats don’t make him pay for that, they’re even more pathetic than Tomasky thinks they are.
1a. Immigration.
Here’s a telltale fact: Biden’s building the wall. The I did/You didn’t argument might help. But the situation at the border is a disaster, the result of left-sensitive Biden aides heeding the call of Latino activists who really don’t represent the views of the naturally conservative Latino community. This is a case of flat-out political malfeasance. I’m a big fan of legal immigration—we need more of that—but Biden has to send the National Guard, at the very least, down to the border. He needs to be seen obsessed by this issue. You might fold terrorism into the mix, especially—if my fears are realized—bombers sneak in through Mexico. Fentanyl and killer drugs are part of the equation, too. I think the Trump/Haley/DeSantis argument that we should send drones across the border to take out drug factories will have heft in 2024. By the way, homelessness—especially among refugees—should also be counted in this basket. Immigration may not be as powerful a cultural issue as abortion, but it is more comprehensive.
3. Race/Crime
Never underestimate the ability of the Left to make fools of themselves on this issue. Affirmative action has faded, a tremendous favor done for Democrats by the Supreme Court (as was the abortion issue). But black crime and black/left-student anti-Semitism will remain front and center. Red America’s race fear, stoked shamelessly by Trump, is the great understated factor in American politics. The increasing support for Trump among black people shows delusion knows no color.
4. Transylvania
Sexual fluidity has slipped down the charts for two reasons: Anti-trans ranting did Ron DeSantis very little good. And queer activists got the message and are acting less foolishly than they did earlier in the year. I must admit, I still get annoyed when I get emails from people who include their preferred pronouns. “They” needs to go the way of “Latinx.”
5. Gun Control
We haven’t had a mass gun crime in a couple of weeks. But, sure as shootin’, there will be a constant tattoo in the coming year. And nothing will be done about it. One would hope the Democrats would organize a battalion of military leaders and veteran sharpshooters—and movie stars—to campaign against the AR-15. I suspect the Dems have over-valued the strength of the National Rifle Association. A Tomasky-style direct hit on that outlandishly corrupt crowd might work better than the Dems think.
And don’t forget our discount offer. The holidays are approaching, don’t forget to give the gift of sanity to that lonely political geek on your list:
If there’s a second Trump administration there will be a third unless he chokes on a Big Mac or Whopper.
From your mouth to gods ears.