Friday, October 18, 2024

Fake Tough Guys

From today's Bulwark article "All the Ex-President’s Cowering Men":
“They would risk nothing by speaking publicly about the threat of Trump. They would risk nothing by urging a vote for Harris. Sarah and Cassidy and Alyssa run those risks. Yet they are doing what they can. Mattis and Kelly and Romney and Bush are not.”
Forgive me for losing my composure: Those sanctimoniously patriotic "don't tread on me" anti-authoritarian Constitution-humping tough guy motherfuckers all turned cowardly in the face of genuine threat (yeah, Romney did a few things, but Romney always does "a few things"). You can forgive them or not, your choice, but please don't waste the moment by ignoring the lesson they unintentionally teach us.

My father would wax on and on about what a thoughtful and careful head-of-household he was. He told me how, when he bought our family home, he'd checked topographical data to ensure we didn't lie downhill from significant moisture. No Russian bombing targets, etc. Everything gamed out carefully, smartly, nothing too safe for his family. What a super-diligent solid good guy.

One night we pulled into the driveway after a vacation. I, a small child, ran to the house and found lights on, door glass broken and utter chaos within. I ran back to the car, hollering, "Dad, someone broke into the house!"

He didn't pack us in the car and drive to a payphone to call the police in case the bad guys were still in the house. He didn't instruct me to steer clear of, at least, the broken glass. He didn't even go first. His shocking response was "Whudda you want me to do about it?" as he wearily, phlegmatically hoisted himself from the vehicle to approach the house long after the rest of us had begun to survey the damage.

Not his finest moment. And, to be fair, he was dead tired, and nobody's on top of his game every minute, and he suffered from depression, and he gave me useful stuff, too.

But I sure won't need to learn this lesson a third time: This is how it is with people who strive to seem some certain way. This is the truth behind poses - principled patriots, thoughtful providers, any of that weighty gravitas bullshit.

Genuinely solid good guys (and gals!) aren't weighty. They quietly do their duty when called upon to do so, because they're doers of things, not stoking empty images as Thing Doers. Seemers are uselessly lost in the epic mental movies in which they star. They're never genuine. You cannot count on them. Don't fall for it!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is the worst case scenario of a Trump presidency? What do you envision the BRICSS nations doing in response? What will be the personal impact on the average American? I literally am voting for Kamala (not just because she likes the same kinda Gun, lol not being facetious, Glock baby Glock, lol. Glocks are the gold standard 'a pistol in every purse'. You are vice-president and still hold your own GAT, my girl. Women being disarmed has made them targets. I have been an advocate for woman's rights by fighting for their second amendment rights Always... you can still get raped but the odds of it not happening significantly increase when you are alert and trained to use a firearm, Heck Yeah. Also if the bad guys know they might have the ability to kill them before they have their way it makes them think twice. But the real reason I am voting Kamala is she is Fun . Trumps rhetoric is boring now.

Anonymous said...

know I am not beleaguering the point, but a good friend was a Assistant District Attorney in the State of New York doing real things and he never , to this day ever saw the necessity of holding a pistol. I wish Kamala would really come across and acknowledge the need to keep a fire arm. Not just for public service but for the average citizen.

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