Rhinos All The Way Down
An absurdist classic proves prophetic
(Composite / Photos: Shutterstock)
One after another, Republican “leaders” are falling into line. Again.
This has been the pattern for the last eight years, but it is still remarkable to watch the metamorphosis.
Even as Trump dubs Capitol rioters “hostages,” rants about magnets in water, threatens retribution, and claims immunity for presidential assassinations, GOP senators, congressmen, and governors watch all this and say, “Yeah, he’s our guy.”
Eight years ago, the GOP normies rationalized their support for Trump because it was a “binary choice” between the faux billionaire and Hillary Clinton. This time around, though they still have alternatives and off-ramps — the choice is not yet binary — the rush to grovel is accelerating. And this time around, given everything we know about Trump, the transformations are even more stunning.
On yesterday’s episode of the “Trump Trials,” Ben Wittes and I found ourselves searching for an explanation from the world of absurdist literature.
Until recently, for example, it would have been unthinkable for any political party to support, much less nominate a convicted felon for the presidency. But, I remarked, in the GOP, pledging fealty to felons is now required.
Even Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire who has been very critical of Trump, and endorsed Nikki Haley, tells Kaitlan Collins, “Yes. I will support him even if he is a convicted felon”.
Even after all these years, it’s still shocking.
It reminded Ben — man of letters that he is — of a play that was once regarded as “absurdist,” but which now seems prophetic.
“It is the Eugène Ionesco play, Rhinoceros, which was written a long time ago about a different political ecosystem in which people turned into rhinoceroses.
“And it is notable that the… play was considered absurdist theater. Right? And now we are watching it in a very literal sense.”
Originally written as a commentary on the drift into fascism (and communism), Ionesco depicts one character after another slipping away from normality and transforming into a rough horned beast. The metaphor seems disturbingly apt today.
BEN: And we’re watching it and have been for years, seven years. We’re watching it happen to our friends. We’re watching it happen to people we knew and respected we are watching it happen to an entire political party, and we need to remember that the Ionesco play is absurdism, that this isn’t the normal progression of events. Right?
And that we need to retain our ability to be shocked by it because the moment you accept it as not shocking, you’ve accepted that it has a legitimate place in the political system.
This is one of the reasons we so often feel like we’ve taken crazy pills. We keep pretending that we are living in a quasi-normal political universe. The smart kids in PunditWorld fuss endlessly over the horse-race and the latest blips in the Iowa polls, and I’m sitting there going, wait. Wait. Wait. Has anybody noticed that Fred over there has turned into a fucking rhinoceros?
ME: “There’s a rhinoceros running through the halls of the hospital, people. It’s like [we think we] are still in this normal world, and nobody notices that the person sitting across the table from you has a fucking horn coming out of their forehead.
And if we say, “Excuse me, can I mention this?” [we’d be accused of suffering from] Rhinoceros Derangement Syndrome. Goddamn right we do, because you’re a fucking rhinoceros.
BEN: Right? That’s what we need to do. We need to stage a Zoom reading of rhinoceros with the Bulwark community And we can all get rhinoceros masks for the scenes where people turn into rhinoceroses.
ME: Oh my god.
In today’s GOP, it’s rhinos all the way down.1
You can listen to the whole thing here:
Or watch us on YouTube.
**
Speaking of rhinoceroses….
In his latest column, David French describes the transformations all around us:
Eight years of bitter experience have taught us that supporting Trump degrades the character of his core supporters….
Already we can see the changes in individual character. In December, I wrote about the moral devolution of Rudy Giuliani and of the other MAGA men and women who have populated the highest echelons of the Trump movement.
But what worries me even more is the change I see in ordinary Americans. I live in the heart of MAGA country, and Donald Trump is the single most culturally influential person here. It’s not close.
He’s far more influential than any pastor, politician, coach or celebrity. He has changed people politically and also personally. It is common for those outside the Trump movement to describe their aunts or uncles or parents or grandparents as “lost.” They mean their relatives’ lives are utterly dominated by Trump, Trump’s media and Trump’s grievances.
Meanwhile…
Trump’s courtroom rant. Trump’s Disrespect for the Law, Manifested - The Atlantic
‘This to Him Is the Grand Finale’: Donald Trump’s 50-Year Mission to Discredit the Justice System - POLITICO
Update on the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party. Wisconsin: far-right group bids to recall speaker for resisting Trump’s big lie - the Guardian
Their master’s voice. “A Pathetic Surrender”: Why Fox News Just Can’t Quit Donald Trump | Brian Stelter in Vanity Fair
The GOP crackup continues. Speaker Mike Johnson’s Days Might Be Numbered — Joe Perticone, in The Bulwark
Flashback:
Quick Hits
1. What Is Nikki Haley Even Talking About?
A characteristically brilliant piece by Mark Liebovich on the unbearable lightness of Nikki.
Haley is a gifted political performer, particularly in a certain kind of room. This was one of those, a politely boisterous gathering of a few hundred people, serious and professional, many still dressed for work. She came off as reasonable and solicitous, holding the same authority as she did at the various Trumpless debates she has rated so well in. You can see how Haley could rise to the level she has, the most formidable alternative to Trump or (if you prefer) first among the Republican also-rans.
But…
Beyond her expertly rendered deliveries, Haley’s actual answers can be mushy or even nonsensical, with strange constructions and frequent malaprops. In Manchester, Haley praised Sununu for having his “pulse to the ground” in his state and boasted that her campaign already had momentum before his endorsement “just gave it a speed bump.” At a November debate, she ordered Ramaswamy to “leave my daughter out of your voice” (as opposed to her daughter’s name out of his mouth). “We have to deal with the cancer that is mental health,” she declares in her town halls when the subject arises (mental health, not cancer).
Later in the session, a reporter asked Haley about Trump’s then-most-recent flare-up, his statement to Sean Hannity that he would be a dictator “on day one,” long since overshadowed by Trump’s “rot in Hell” Christmas message and his claim that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” In the moment, the “dictator” comment did feel germane, as did the question to Haley about whether that should perhaps preclude him from leading the world’s most powerful democracy.
“First of all, that’s for the voters to decide,” Haley declared, “if they want a dictator on day one.”
Yes, unquestionably. But what about Haley, the candidate we were speaking to—what did she decide?
“I’m not going to be a dictator on day one,” she assured everyone, not answering.
2. Don’t Count Sherrod Brown Out
Facing re-election this fall as a well-known progressive incumbent in a state that Donald Trump won by a wide margin in both 2016 and 2020, Brown will spend much of the coming year on the treadmill of a “keep me” campaign, reaching out to voters who have nothing new to learn about him or his priorities. But for all that familiarity, they somehow haven’t gotten tired of him. The latest polls and news items say that this Senate election will be tough for the Republicans to win—partly because the well-practiced Brown can beat them at their own populist game.
3. Get Ready for AI-Driven Skill Democratization
Brent Orrell in today’s Bulwark:
According to a new analysis, the answer is more complex than the AI “substitution” (human replacement) or “augmentation” (human enhancement) camps would have us believe. For these authors—University of Toronto researchers Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb—the focus is not on whether machines replace or augment human skills but on how increased computerization will reconfigure how human beings are deployed in the economy. They find that AI could democratize skills, unlocking job opportunities for lower-skilled workers, raising the “labor share” of the economy, and reducing the value of currently rare but narrow, more easily automatable skills. Playing on Erik Brynjolfsson’s “Turing trap” work, which posits the drive for human-level AI will result in mass disemployment, these authors argue we face a “Turing transformation” wherein automating specialized skills spreads capabilities more evenly across the population, benefiting the middle of the economic distribution mainly at the expense of the highly educated and skilled.
Cheap Shots
Not to be confused with RINOS (Republicans In Name Only). This is also a variation on the old story about the turtles. In 1993, Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Class of 199 at McGill University:
The story is told of the Sultan who awoke in the middle of the night and summoned his wizard. "Wizard," he said, "my sleep is troubled. Tell me: What is holding up the earth?"
"Majesty," replied the wizard, "the earth rests on the back of a giant elephant." The Sultan was satisfied and went back to sleep.
He then awoke in a cold sweat and called the wizard back immediately. "Wizard," he said, "what's holding up the elephant?"
The wizard looked at him and said, "The elephant stands on the back of a giant turtle. And you can stop right there, Majesty, It's turtles all the way down.”
Why are so many folks caught up in this Trump anger cycle? Ask them why directly, I asked my 85 year old, exceedingly wealthy father why he is so mad and who was is that hurt him, he’s rich, has everything he ever wanted, why so angry. He couldn’t tell, he doesn’t know. So I said, stop then, I don’t want to hear any more about it, quit wishing the rest of us ill will (me, the liberal and my husband and my children, his grandchildren) just because we don’t vote for Republicans. I don’t know if he got over it, but he did quit discussing the crazy with me.
Quick hits:
1) It is interesting to ponder the metamorphosis of the GOP over time, but also important to note that the transformation already was complete by at least 2020. We simply note at this point how deep it runs and are stunned at how far it reaches, though in reality it stopped being a surprise after January 6. Once any meaningful opposition to that fell, the rest is simply crossing the Ts and dotting the Is.
2) As we analyze this, let's be honest enough to admit that while MAGA has been a horrific pox upon our democratic norms, it also has been the inevitable outcome of an evolution that began at least 30 years ago, when Gingrich, Limbaugh, and others successfully planted the seeds of hatred and grievance that grew into these vile weeds, as mounting conservative anger and self-pity went unchecked. There are many to blame for where we find ourselves now, and history should record that while many of the bad actors have long since left the stage, their impact remains on display in what they unleashed, with many more individuals complicit in enabling it over the years by giving aid and comfort. A monumental national reckoning is in order.
3) It is particularly telling that a divide-and-conquer GOP hardliner (Robin Vos) is not sufficiently MAGA for a group of people who think that he has not done enough damage to his home state generally and to democratic norms specifically. Those of us in Wisconsin on the wrong side of Act 10, grossly gerrymandered redistricting, Michael Gableman seeking nonexistent election fraud, having approved cost-of-living raises held hostage (there's that word again) over diversity, equity, and inclusion issues they had nothing to do with, and many other unwanted toxic hyperpartisan battles beg to differ. The solution to Vos' many ills is not a move even further to the right. Instead it is a move toward sanity, in the form of compromise and actual shared governance.
4) Anyone surprised by Haley's lack of backbone simply hasn't been paying attention. Her jellyfish imitation has been evident for months, if not years, in playing the Bothsideserism game, trying to look tough and act prepared when so often inconsistent, imprecise, and unwilling to take firm positions on issues that matter to many millions of people. I hope Christie is right that she gets smoked, but by someone other than Trump in the end. She gives career politicians a bad name, something seemingly impossible to do in this day and age.