We are in a cold war of public insult and offense.
It all “started” with Michelle Wolf’s routine at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. She took the news media to task–with only partial humor, predominantly viciousness–for their complicity in Trump’s success at shaping his mass media persona without balancing it with context (e.g. lies were often left un-addressed). She also threw sharp critiques at Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, seated 10 feet away, for her many lies during her White House press conferences. Wolf’s set also included references to Sanders’ smoky eye makeup and her similarity to a female collaborator in A Handmaid’s Tale. No matter the target, Wolf delivered it with a smiling vulgarity that is her signature and, indeed, that of many comics before her. The right, and some on the left, felt she had gone too far; none that I had read addressed the content of her message.
More recently Rosanne Barr compared a black woman to an ape. I’m trying to find a similar depth of metaphor as Wolf’s comments but, as with most racist comments, cannot. Both sides justifiably and nearly unanimously recognized what true vulgarity was and Barr’s extremely popular show was quickly cancelled.
Prior, Bill Maher gave one of his many virtuosically angry monologues about Trump while displaying a picture of an orange-haired orangutan on the screen. Unlike Michelle Wolf, this was a caricature without content. He may have been making a point about Trump’s buffoonery, but it came across as purely visual. After the Rosanne affair, Conservatives resurrected Maher’s Trump comparison. I can’t begin to see how they’re equivalent, especially given that his contentful monologue was the primary message and, of course, that absence of racism.
Then we jump to Samantha Bee’s use of the phrase “feckless cunt” to describe Ivanka Trump. More outrage ensued. (In this subset of examples, it seems that female comedians have a predilection for vulgar insults.) I have to admit I love this phrase and it’s pure Samantha Bee (as racism is pure Rosanne Barr) but have been told that cunt is a word that Cannot Be Uttered Even By Another Female. That being said, feckless is a pretty accurate description of Ivanka.
Mostly ignored in the coverage of these events are the many vulgar statements made by Donald Trump, arguably someone who should be held to a higher standard than comedians. This again is an example of the news media basically giving him a pass. Most of the insults were directed at him and those around him–and he publicly railed against Michelle Wolf’s and Samantha Bee’s comments because of that–but his past, similar transgressions went unaddressed. Well, unaddressed in the news media but the irony was often brought up on Twitter and elsewhere.
Of these examples, I obviously have a bias.
During the same Bill Maher episode with the orangutan “guest”, his panel compared and contrasted the actions of Roy Moore, Al Franken, Harvey Weinstein, and others who have paid the price of their actions thanks to the Me Too movement’s ascendancy. All agreed that Franken’s groping pantomime was far removed from Moore’s predatory actions and Weinstein’s public masturbation et al. This fact should be obvious. The summary of the panel’s discussion was that actions that are similar are not necessarily the same (also obvious) and that people need to stop thinking in simply black-and-white. It’s a tough point to make while discussing vulgar jokes, but nuance seems to have become a forgotten skill.
Updated 12 Jun 2018
Robert de Niro: “I’m gonna say one thing: fuck Trump [applause, standing ovation]. It’s no longer ‘down with Trump’ it’s ‘fuck Trump’.”
This rises to a new level of cathartic anger.
Criticism was split on the left and right, with many on the left saying he should have “gone high” a la Michelle Obama and many on the right withering in a manner that’s absent for similar outbursts by Trump. And there was the inevitable accusation of left-wing, Hollywood elitism snubbing an everyman.
People have been saying this-and-statements-like-this for the entirety of Trump’s presidency and campaign, but none so publicly, succinctly, and from a point of such visibility and fame. To state the obvious: de Niro’s statement contains none of the nuance of Wolf or Maher or Bee and more of the simple vulgarity of Trump (“son of a bitch,” “shithole countries,” “go fuck themselves,” etc.). Several articles past and present document the pejorative peccadilloes of previous presidents (These Are the Most Foul-Mouthed Presidents, and How Donald Trump Compares from Culture CheatSheet and A Brief History of Presidential Profanity from Rolling Stone). What’s to be learned from these articles is that although every president swears, few match the magnitude and frequency of Trump.
The social noise continues to escalate.
Updated 9 Jul 2018
Continuing the outbreak of politicians getting confronted in public.
Kristin Mink, a progressive school teacher, confronted Scott Pruitt at a restaurant in DC and enumerated his abysmal environmental policies and corruption (details: Kristin Mink: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know and I confronted Scott Pruitt not for his corruption but for his environmental crimes).
A group followed Mitch McConnell leaving a restaurant in Louisville, KY and asked questions about the missing children and demanded he abolish ICE (details Protesters confront McConnell leaving Kentucky restaurant).
Steve Bannon was called a piece of trash in Black Swan Books in Richmond, VA (details Steve Bannon called ‘piece of trash’ by heckler at bookstore). Stephen Miller was yelled at by a bartender at a sushi restaurant in DC (details From Kellyanne Conway to Stephen Miller, Trump’s advisers face taunts from hecklers around D.C.).
Arguments for confronting politicians in public are that they are public servants (true, even with Bannon who is an ex-advisor). Against, at least what I’ve read, are that we should respect their privacy (restaurants and book stores are public spaces) and we should instead vote to change policy (people can both confront and vote).
I hope this keeps up.