gracchusdixit

Donald Trump spent much of his presidential campaign assailing “political correctness,” the social taboo that shuns deliberately offensive language or behavior, particularly when the targets are minorities, women, or persons whose sexual orientation doesn’t fit neatly into traditional categories.  We heard time and again from his fired-up followers that what they most admired about their man was his willingness to “tell it like it is”.  When the victims of Trump’s attacks complained, they were dismissed as whingeing weaklings.  Within hours of Trump’s unexpected victory, much of rural and small-town America was festooned with banners, improvised bumper stickers, and spray-painted graffiti, proclaiming:  “Get over it, snowflakes.  He won!”

Now, it would seem, the tables have turned. 

Seventy-two hours ago, the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner was held in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton.  This event, originally designed to honor practicing and prospective journalists, has become a high-profile social occasion, during which journalists mingle and preen with politicians, power-brokers, and celebrities.  For years, many both inside and outside the news business have questioned the propriety of this, insofar as it smacks of cozy and symbiotic self-interest, blurring the line that is supposed to separate the powerful from those whose job it is to keep them honest.  After this year’s dinner, these simmering questions have exploded into a full-scale culture war.

For decades, one of the main features of the White House Correspondent’s Dinner has been a monologue by an established or aspiring comedian, designed to poke fun at the sitting president and his entourage.  The long list of those who have played this part includes Milton Berle, Peter Sellers, Richard Pryor, Bob Hope, Chevy Chase, Rich Little, Jay Leno, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and so on—a veritable honor role of the funniest people in the land.  

This year’s pick was Michelle Wolf, who appears regularly on the cable television network, Comedy Central, but was by no means a household name—that is, until she took the stage at the Washington Hilton. Wolf is caustic and not infrequently vulgar, fearlessly withering in her criticism of those she deems to be hypocritical or mendacious, and wickedly funny.  All of these qualities were on full display at the White House Correspondents’ dinner.  

Wolf tore into Trump for his misogyny and racism.  She skewered the innumerable lies and evasions of Kellyanne Conway, his most slippery spokesperson.  Most of all, she eviscerated Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, all the while Sanders was seated just a few feet away on the dais.  None of this should have come as a surprise to the organizers of the event.  Michelle Wolf is unwavering, and her humor is stiletto-sharp.

Nevertheless, the backlash to her performance was explosive.  Conservatives huffed and puffed, complaining that Wolf’s monologue proved, yet again, that the “fake news media” harbor a bias against Donald Trump and conservatism in general.  Liberals, for their part, cringed and whined, worrying out loud that Wolf had handed Trump a victory in the unending culture war that divides the country.  Countless pundits who opine in print or on television declared, too late to do any good, that journalism must rise above such down-and-dirty mockery.

All of which is utter rubbish.

Whether it was appropriate, prudent, or useful for the White House Correspondent’s Association to pick Michelle Wolf as this year’s headliner is not for me to judge.  What I do know is that her comedic critique was spot on.  In particular, her take-down of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, though undoubtedly humiliating, was no less undoubtedly deserved.  Wolf’s critics and Sander’s defenders assert that the latter is a decent person in private and that personal attacks should be out of bounds.  These are dubious propositions at best.  

The more important point is that Sarah Huckabee Sanders has consistently lied to the American people, defending a president who is little more than a common criminal, and betraying the most basic obligations of someone who engages in public service.  Instead of feeling sorry for Sanders, we should be asking why she is still employed.  The same question, of course, should also be asked about Donald Trump and the coterie of sycophants that surrounds him.

The ultimate irony in this episode is what it says about the intellectual and emotional fragility of those on the political right.  They are ready at the drop of a hat to attack their political opponents in the most vicious and personal ways.  Yet the moment they themselves are attacked, their only recourse is to cry foul, shout their grievances, and impugn the motives of their critics.  

To cite merely one example, a prominent conservative lobbyist named Matt Schlapp and his wife Mercedes (who works for Trump) stalked out of the correspondent’s dinner in a fury of sanctimonious dudgeon.  “Enough of elites mocking all of us,” he tweeted.  “It’s why America hates the out of touch leftist media elite.”  The hypocrisy of such people is thicker than treacle.   

Schlapp and his spouse are, in fact, card-carrying members of what amounts to an out of touch right-wing elite, people who have made millions by stoking the fires of phony class resentment. He heads a right-wing organization that routinely welcomes racists, Islamophobes, and neo-fascists to speak at its annual convention.  For such a person to be offended by the likes of Michelle Wolf is ludicrous on its face.

It would therefore appear that the real “snowflakes” in our country aren’t politically correct liberals but politically insecure conservatives.  They simply cannot abide the thought that they are themselves out of touch with the sentiments of an overwhelmingly majority of the American people or that they and their so-called “ideas” should be subjected to the mockery they deserve.

The “snowflakes” on the right would be wise to follow the advice of Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States:  “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”   The temperature in the kitchen isn’t going to cool down anytime soon.  

Get over it, snowflakes!