Yesterday, with an admitted impulse to provocation in my heart, I posed the question "could anyone think of a worse person to serve as a public official in US history than Donald Trump." The response was overwhelming.
First, I would like to thank all those bots and trolls and red Xs and Trumpinis and Alt Right nuts out there for their many nearly identical answers. It makes it so much easier when it comes to blocking and muting people to have a big chunk of the worst offenders line up at once.
Next, I would like to say how illuminating the whole thing was. Of course, I don't mean all those folks (& bots) who reflexively responded that the Clintons were murderers or terrorists or space aliens or that Obama was a coke head & a member of Al Qaeda. You're all just idiots.
Nor do I mean the ones who said I was the worst public official in US history (flawed as I am, I probably don't really claim any place of distinction in US history) or who simply attacked me as butt-hurt (my butt feels fine thanks) or as a snowflake or a libtard.
But it was interesting to watch as a litany emerged of counter-answers--which was a kind of acceptable rogue's gallery that oddly consisted largely of Democrats that respondents thought was a clever counter to the implicit critique of their dear leader, Trump.
Ted Kennedy was a natural on this list given the more sordid aspects of his past and indeed, his character is open to question (although he does possess redeeming characteristics and made substantial contributions to American public life things that cannot be said of Trump.)
Andrew Jackson was another who deserved the mentions he got--he was a really bad guy. But some of the critics who flagged him tipped their hand when they noted that he "founded" the Democratic Party. George Wallace also deserved his place on these lists--he was vile.
One of the interesting names that came up again and again was Woodrow Wilson. Now, Wilson is also a guy who has rightly come under fire for his racist and anti-immigrant views. (Although it is a bit rich to defend Trump by pointing such a man out.)
But, of course, Wilson was on the list for other reasons. The hard right likes to attack him because he was in some ways the first American globalist (and because he was a Democrat). Again, of course, they minimize his contributions to America or his redeeming traits.
Many others made the list--some bad, some crooks, some not public officials, some not American (some people had trouble with reading the entire question even though it was one sentence long). But the vast majority followed one of the patterns or templates above.
There was a particularly repulsive subset of responders who started adding John McCain to the list shortly after he died. And of course, there were many pre-prepared memes and photos and bits of manufactured agitprop that added color to the entire exercise.
(And, needless to say, there were many many folks who actually couldn't think of anyone worse than Trump. Not that they think he murdered anyone--like Ted Kennedy--or tore apart the Union--like Jeff Davis--or launched an unwarranted war--like George W. Bush, etc.
But rather they felt that his character was more deficient than that of anyone else they knew of from history, that it was not offset with any redeeming traits, that he was so narcissistic, corrupt, racist, sexist, treasonous, vulgar, and generally repugnant that he stood out.
Further, while some on the list could be excused (slightly) for embracing the values or customs of their time, he could not. And that further, he had done much to damage America and nothing to help it. As some pointed out privately to me, some of his actions...
...take the recent decision to eliminate clean air standards, were certain to produce thousands of deaths. His own government's study's predicted 1400 a year but he proceed anyway. And his negligence in place like Puerto Rico likely produced thousands more.
So he has more blood on his hands than the Ted Kennedys of this world by far. (You can add refugees turned away and left to die, the pain and suffering of broken families, the likely consequences of other environmental regulations, the consequences of removing health coverage,
and many other actions taken by Trump that will produce death and suffering.) So, as I say, some pointed out via emails and DMs that the picture of Trump as a self-absorbed dufus downplays his myriad grievous flaws.
But one thing stood out among the literally thousands of responses I got. Almost no one defended Trump. Lots said there were people worse. A few MAGA-ed out and said Trump was 1% Jesus. But thousands and thousand responded without pointing out anything positive about Trump.
There's a reason for that. He's a terrible person. Is he the worst person in American history? No. Is his character the most deficient? Are his redeeming traits the fewest? Quite possibly. He is certainly in the running. In any case, it's not a competition.
I'm willing to stipulate, he can just be one of the very worst people to have held high public office in US history & the worst of our time. (No, Hillary did not steal the organs of millions of us in our sleep-even though yes, Bill was a very bad guy to women, a real pig.)
And he has the potential to be much, much worse. And that's the point, after all. We know his character and we know the power he has to do damage--and we need to stop him before he can remove all doubt about just how bad he is.
In any event, thanks for playing boys and girls. (And, if you have red Xs or MAGA or a green frog and lots of numbers in your handle, don't bother to respond. I've already blocked or muted you.)
