Hubris and Cowardice
The two sides of the populist coin
When You Come at the Mouse You Best Not Miss
Not content with merely enjoying legislative victory, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and state Republicans have trained their sights on Disney, seeking to eliminate the corporation’s special status it has enjoyed for almost 60 years.
And while DeSantis et al are trying to disguise this as a [strangely sudden] fealty to good governance, anyone with a connected synapse can see this for exactly what it is: a petulant football-spiking and endzone dance in the face of a large corporation for having the temerity to vaguely criticize a law after it had already passed.
That, I think, is what galls me most about this. DeSantis had already achieved his political objectives. His dumb little bill “protecting” children from knowing gay people exist or whatever the hell had already become law. Disney released a tepid statement after the fact, and now they’re getting their face rubbed in the dirt for getting uppity. It used to be that the government inflicting economic pain on businesses out of political spite was something Republicans opposed. (I mean, I’ve mostly given up on pretending it matters what Republicans used to believe, but y’know.) This is now just yet another eye-rolling and exhausting battle in the larger culture war.
I wonder, and possibly even hope, however, if DeSantis has overplayed his hand here. For one thing, Disney was eating a whole bunch of taxes that will now have to be paid by the residents of the county in which Disney is located; to the tune of some $2,000 per family. If there’s one thing even non-political citizens hate, it’s taxes going up. Plus, Disney is the largest single employer in the state, and DeSantis is going to suddenly raise their operations costs? What effect is that going to have on employment? Or, hell, what if Disney decides that their business would be more cost-effective elsewhere? And when asked to choose between the Republican party and Disney, I imagine a whole bunch of people are going to pick Disney. DeSantis may have wounded the goo— er, mouse that lays the golden egg. (Hey, mammals can lay eggs, they’re called monotremes. Read a book.)
But these sorts of efforts should be opposed on the merits. Politicians should be punished for governing out of spite and vengeance. Even though — or perhaps especially because — spite and vengeance have been the animating force in our politics for the last several years.
As You Sow So Shall You Reap
The New York Times earlier this week had [at this point] a [totally predictable] bombshell report from the aftermath of the January 6th Capitol attack in which both the Republican House and Senate leaders — Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell, respectively — were outraged at Donald Trump’s incitement of the attack and vowed to drive him from politics. McCarthy went so far as to say that he would recommend to Donald Trump that he resign. McConnell seemingly reveled in the imminent impeachment vote, saying “the Democrats are going to take care of the son of a bitch for us.”
But as we all know, both men quickly and totally reversed their attitudes within three weeks.
Much has been made about the utter cravenness and cowardice these men displayed, and they no doubt deserve it, but on a certain level it’s understandable in the context. As one anecdote in the NYT story points out:
In one group conversation, Representative Bill Johnson of Ohio cautioned that conservative voters back home “go ballistic” in response to criticism of Mr. Trump, demanding that Republicans instead train their denunciations on Democrats, such as Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden.
“I’m just telling you that that’s the kind of thing that we’re dealing with, with our base,” Mr. Johnson said.
Both McConnell and McCarthy were willing, in the days immediately following January 6th, to lead the parade away from Trump. But it didn’t take long to realize that their voters weren’t following them. It’s a recurring theme of mine, but our elected leaders cannot be better people than those who elect them. Are Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell craven cowards whose chief motivation is remaining in office? Sure. Are they sniveling invertebrates lacking in principle? Definitely. But what is their incentive to behave admirably? Driving Trump from office would likely have driven themselves from office, where they would no doubt have been replaced by someone even worse — as has become an inside joke in certain conservative circles, we’d end up with Senator Cleetus von Ivermectin.
The irony is that their cowardice is going to subject them to the worst of both worlds. It’s entirely possible now that Kevin McCarthy is deprived of the Speakership even if Republicans, as seems likely, win control of the House in November. [Quick side note: It’s schadenfreude-licious how the New York Times released the story and let McCarthy release a statement claiming it was all lies and that he never said any such thing, only to then release the audio recordings of McCarthy saying exactly what they claimed he said.] And Mitch McConnell has likely run his last race anyway, but instead of disqualifying Trump from office when he had the opportunity, he now has to deal with at least two more election cycles of Donald Trump rocking the Republican boat like a maladjusted gorilla.
There’s any number of clichés that could have predicted this — a stitch in time saves nine, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, make hay while the sun shines, etc. They could have avoided all of this if they simply did what they knew was right at the time and voted to convict Trump. I mean, sure, there’s a non-zero chance that this angry mob would have pulled Lindsey Graham apart in the middle of Reagan airport like a pack of dogs on a three-legged cat; but that’s a risk I think many of us were willing to take.
It’s important to remember, however, this is isn’t a top-down problem for Republicans. It’s a bottom-up problem. McCarthy and McConnell were willing to jettison Trump, but their voters simply weren’t. Personally I don’t understand the allure of being a politician if you have to rely on the support of people who demand that you behave so dishonorably, but maybe I’m missing something. Nevertheless, we can’t demand better from our elected leaders unless we demand better from the people who put them there.
McConnell, McCarthy et al are cowards who deserve their fates as a result of their cowardice, but they were put in their positions by a significant slice of the electorate who are choosing to fail at their civic duty.
Occasional Trivia
Answer from last time:
Category: Baseball
Clue: Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela was notable for his reverse curveball, commonly known by this wackier name.
Screwball
Today’s clue:
Category: Puppet Shows
Clue: The sarcastic old men who jeer from the balcony on the Muppets share their names with these two hotels.
Dispatches from the Homefront
Last week in preparation for Passover I cleaned my car as thoroughly as possible with a toddler who had been eating in the backseat for a year. I vacuumed the seat itself, as well as under it, which produced enough crackers and cereal to feed a small school. But one place I did not think to clean was the car seat’s cupholder, under the ever-present Disney Princess water bottle. Well the bottle needed a refill earlier this week, so I took it out of the car for the first time in living memory; under which I found a half-eaten snack bar — a violation of Passover protocol — but more disturbingly I found a chicken nugget of indeterminate age and provenance. That feels way worse to me.