Against Kabuki Normality
Trump weaponizes democracy's traditions against it.
Last night’s show in Philly was a lot of fun. If you missed it, you can catch the replay here.
I’m writing today’s newsletter from a bus making its way across the Keystone State. Sarah and I are going to tape a quick Secret show by huddling together in the back and chatting. We’ll try to get it out to you later in the day.
1. Al Smith
Last night Donald Trump was a guest of honor at the annual Al Smith Dinner. This is one of those white-tie events that was a staple of American politics in the before times.
Republicans and Democrats gather together and trade good-natured jokes at each others’ expense. Everyone has a couple pops. The proceeds go to Catholic Charities. Traditionally, the guests of honor are the two presidential candidates, who roast each other, and themselves.
Such events serve an important civic function: They remind the public that we’re all on the same side. The Republican might say that the Democrat is a socialist. And the Democrat might say that the Republican wants to kill Social Security. But the fact that they appear together and make jokes tells the country that this is all just political rhetoric and should be discounted as such.
The message of the Al Smith dinner was that politics is kabuki theater and our differences are actually quite small.
Donald Trump has inverted this proposition. His presence at the Al Smith dinner last night turned the event itself into kabuki theater, in which everyone participating pretended that the man who attempted a coup, says he wants to be a dictator, calls his opponents “vermin” and “the enemy within,” and has raised the possibility of using the military against American citizens is normal.
No different than Mitt Romney, or John McCain, or Hillary Clinton.
Trumpism corrupts. And Trumpism has turned events like the Al Smith dinner—which used to be balms for democracy—into weapons against it.