In the last edition of Sanity Clause, I fantasized—in the manner of Hunter S. Thompson—that perhaps Donald Trump looked so wan and puffy-pink-eyed on the day of his indictment because he was suffering from a major ibogaine hangover. I think the idea popped into my head after a recent conversation I had with a rogue Republican political consultant, who proposed the following: that the Democratic Party is operating at a severe disadvantage because it refuses to lie and cheat and play dirty like the Trump fiction-faction. “Why don’t they spread some really nasty rumors about him? I mean, really disgusting…?”
Because it would be irresponsible, of course. But it is tempting. Maybe the Dems might use the supermarket tabloids the way Trump has in the past. Pay someone to impugn his manhood…or worse. (After all, the tabs accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of murdering Vince Foster.)
All this was rattling around in my subconscious when Lesley Stahl—caveat lector: she’s a pal—was lumbered by the left for not being tough enough on Marjorie Taylor Greene in a 60 Minutes interview. I’m biased, but I thought Lesley did just fine; she allowed MTG to hang herself on numerous occasion—lying about the Parkland school shooting as a “false flag” operation, lying about wanting someone to put a bullet in Nancy Pelosi’s skull. The business about the Democrats as pedophiles was especially revealing; it made clear that the Q-Anon nutball theory about a pedophile ring operating from the basement of a Washington pizza parlor has mutated, like a virus, into a slightly more mainstream canard: support for trans rights is a form of “grooming.” That’s a lot of news to come out of one interview.
But then I had a naughty thought: What if Stahl had been inhabited by the ghost of Hunter Thompson midway through her interview with Greene? It might have gone like this:
Lesley Stahl: [You’ve said] The Democrats are a party of pedophiles.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: I would definitely say so. They support grooming children.
Lesley Stahl: They are not pedophiles. Why would you say that?
Marjorie Taylor Greene: Democrats, Democrats support, even Joe Biden, the president himself, supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries. Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children.
Lesley Stahl: Wow. OK.* Do the other members of your coven believe that?
MTG: My what?
Lesley Stahl: Your coven. [pulls out a file with a sheaf of news clippings]. You’re not going to deny that you’re a member of a coven, are you? 60 Minutes has spoken with several of your neighbors.
MTG: I am not! Which neighbors? Some of my neighbors are…
Lesley Stahl: Your neighbors have asked that their names not be mentioned for fear of retribution…But several of them have told us that you organized the South Appalachian Witch and Warlock Association (SAWWA) because you’re possessed by a demon. Others have said—and 60 Minutes hasn’t yet confirmed this, but you could put the matter to rest right now—that you are the spawn of Satan [echoey effect here].
MTG: That’s ridiculous!
Lesley Stahl: You’re not denying it?
MTG: I’m…
Lesley Stahl: Can you prove you’re not the spawn of Satan?
MTG: Of course I can. I’m a church-going Christian…
Lesley Stahl: That’s not proof. Indeed, that excuse has been used as a cover story by satanists in the past. Throughout history, Mephistopheles has empowered those who claim to be “righteous”—especially those who claim that others are sinful—to spread fear and distrust. Aren’t you that very sort of person?
MTG: That’s nonsense.
Lesley Stahl: So you say. But some people—a great many people, perhaps—will believe that you are the spawn of Satan [echoey effect] since you’ve been unable, before a national audience, to prove that you’re not.
*Here endeth the actual transcript. The rest is…ghosted.
Now, Stahl is a pro’s pro. She would never do that. But there are times when we could use a Hunter Thompson-style ambush: Is it true, Ms. Greene that you and Mr. Trump are having….No. No. I won’t go there.
T for Texas, T for Tennessee
A friend from Chattanooga once suggested that Tennessee was “the thinking man’s red state.” That might have been arguable when it was producing Senators like Howard Baker, Dr. Bill Frist, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker. Now, it’s just another right-wing extremist fever-blister, competing with Texas—where the governor wants to pardon a man who murdered an (armed) Black Lives Matter protester—for the dishonor of being the most UnAmerican state.
The Washington Post accompanied the story of the Tennessee legislature’s banishment of two young black members with another piece about members who haven’t been censured or banished for outrageous speech, like this one:
Last month, state Rep. Paul Sherrell (R) asked if the state would consider adding “hanging by a tree” to its list of [legal] execution methods. “I think it’s a very good idea, and I was just wondering about … could I put an amendment on that it would include hanging by a tree, also?” Sherrell asked during a committee hearing.
I suppose this sort of bilious bro-talk is a collateral effect of Donald Trump’s vile influence on American politics. But still, this Rep. Sherrell is referring—I assume he was joking—to a rolling massacre of black people that defined the South for a century after the end of slavery, the wholesale murder of thousands of people, some by “hanging from a tree.” The idea that this smirking paleface serves unimpeded in the Tennessee legislature while two of his colleagues who protested a school shooting are banished tells you just about everything you need to know about the current iteration of the Republican Party.
Moore Better
I am entirely biased when it comes to Wes Moore, the new governor of Maryland. I first wrote about him—and Time Magazine put him on the cover with several other Iraq and Afghanistan veterans—in 2011, when I predicted that people like Wes would be part of a “New Greatest Generation” who would become political leaders. On Sunday, the Washington Post ran this piece celebrating—there is no other word for it—his first few months in office. I mean, he’s actually talking to Republicans, trying to build consensus, making compromises. And he is rewarding young people who spend a year or two working for the government with college scholarship money—which is something that Joe Biden needs to emphasize more. (Again, I believe national service should be the best way to pay off student loans.) This is a very good start for Governor Moore, but only a start. Politics can corrode even the most honorable among us. Stick with it, Wes. Stay strong. We need you.