A few weeks ago one of my few (only?) remaining readers sent me an email after reading this post, in which I pointed out that yet another example of Never-Trumpers ignoring history, and pretending that the decline of the Republican Party began only when Trump descended that escalator.
He suggested I read Profiles in Ignorance, by Andy Borowitz. If you’re familiar with Borowitz’s work, you know that his satire is all made up, but usually rings true. In the book, however, everything he relates is true, though if you’d predicted some of the stuff he relates 40 years ago you’d have been referred to a psychiatrist.
He documents the process through which the Republican Party embraced stupidity and mendacity as a winning political strategy. He posits three steps: Ridicule, Acceptance, and Celebration.
His prime example in the Ridicule stage is Dan Quayle, whose gross stupidity and cluelessness he documents. Quayle was relentlessly criticized, not so much for his ignorance, which was no greater than the ignorance displayed by Ronald Reagan, but for his inability to put a gloss on it so that it would be ignored by the media, as was Reagan’s ignorance, which Borowitz also documents.
The prime example of the Acceptance stage is George W. Bush, whose ignorance is also fully documented in the book. Bush simply scorned the entire idea that he should know anything, and was totally upfront about the fact that he knew almost nothing about anything. He also, of course, made stuff up when convenient.
The Celebration stage, in which politicians are loud and proud about their ignorance, begins with Sarah Palin, reaches its apex with Trump, and continues with the likes of Boebert, Greene, Gaetz, Gohmert, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, et. al. In some cases, such as Hawley, they are probably not actually ignorant, they just pretend to be because it now works perfectly to advance their political careers.
As I said, some of the things these people have said or done are truly unbelievable in their utter stupidity. The astounding thing is that as you read the book, you realize you’re not reading about anything you hadn’t heard before, but all of them have been thrown down the memory hole in one way or another, often by a media that really does have different rules for Republicans than Democrats. (I should add here that Borowitz explains that all of his examples are Republicans because there are no Democrats that compare with them.)
The book should be required reading for anyone who repeats the lie peddled by the likes of David Brooks that the decline of the Republican Party started the day that Trump descended that escalator. Borowitz, like Driftglass before him, convincingly demonstrates that he was the natural outgrowth of a movement within the party that began more than forty years ago.
I highly recommend it for those who have been fully aware that that decline started more than forty years ago. It’s always a good idea to refresh your recollection of the multiple examples of Republican ignorance and/or mendacity that have vanished from our collective consciousness.
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