I started this post a couple of months ago. The ridiculous row over whether Jill Biden should be called “Doctor” inspired me to finish it.
Out of the myriad of reasons the Left and the #NeverTrump Right hate Donald Trump, the one that gets mentioned with surprising frequency is the way Trump breaks Washington D.C. norms of behavior. Of all the horrible things they accuse Trump of doing, this seems like an odd complaint to fixate on. Until you think about it a little bit. Norms and traditions are about all D.C. has going for it. Anybody think Mazie Hirono is a great intellect? Or Jerry Nadler has a lot of class and sophistication? D.C. is chock full of unimpressive scumbags. They aren’t smart. They aren’t clever. They aren’t hard working. And they certainly aren’t virtuous.
Deep down they must know this, and it probably doesn’t sit well with their over-sized egos. I think the desire to think of oneself as a good person is a near universal human desire. We all want to believe we are good people deep down inside, and that we are deserving of the good things in life that come to us. Pride and ego are just part of human nature.
Yet all the DC “elites” have to signify their imagined greatness is their positions. They are surrounded by the ornate architecture of the massive buildings they work in. Immersed in the pomp and circumstance of the Federal government’s rituals and ceremonies. They occupy lavish offices with dozens of support staff. They lead an army of bureaucrats, who serve at their beck and call. And they draw a horde of lackeys in the press, who slavishly hang on their every word.
Donald Trump obviously isn’t impressed by any of it. He was much more interested in the job of President, than in the position. Trump doesn’t want to be invited to their parties. He doesn’t care what the Sunday morning talking heads say about him on TV shows nobody watches. Trump doesn’t accept the Republican Party establishment as the thought leaders of the right, or the New York Times as the conscience of the nation. In short, Donald Trump won’t even bother to pretend he respects the DC “elites”, much less that he likes them.
Very few politicians have any real accomplishments they can point to in their lives. Joe Biden was a fixture in Washington for 47 years, seemingly because he had a nice smile at one time and was good at debating. Biden mastered the art of belching up platitudes in a folksy style that sounds just like the old fashioned common sense talk your dear old grandpa would use. Joe also knew how to play the game and work the system. What Joe didn’t know how to do was actually deliver on behalf of the people he represented. After nearly half a century in office, Sleazy Joe’s most notable achievements are long incarcerations for black men over minor drug crimes, and enriching himself and his family.
In fact, the man Democrats nominated for President has a long history of exaggerating his intelligence. Of publicly belittling people who challenge him. Of being a blowhard and a bully. Of treating women poorly. And of corruptly using his office to enrich himself and his family. Literally everything the left and #NeverTrump right say they hate about Donald Trump applies just as well to Joe Biden. But Sleazy Joe does have one important redeeming quality. Biden is in their club. He is a team player. He is perfectly comfortable in the swamp. In fact he loves it.
The Washington swamp things have always portrayed themselves as the pinnacle of expertise and achievement. Donald Trump has smashed that mirage, perhaps for good. The emperors no longer have clothes. They are laid bare for all to see. They can’t hide their mediocrity and immorality behind a false veneer of respectability anymore. And they really hate him for that.