Soapbox Saturday: Nevermind That Status Quo is Crappy Too
Politics have always been the domain of shitty behaviour and the efforts to hide it. Media coverage of this USA election cycle is playing make believe says Jake Johnson, when they assert Trump is uniquely shitty. He’s not. He just wears his shit on his sleeve. Consider this:
A Trump presidency, we are told, would be an unprecedented disaster; his proposals and his proclamations, we are frequently reminded, are the most dangerous ever uttered by the nominee of a major party. We are urged to listen to the respectable voices of the American foreign policy establishment, who recently declared that Trump represents a unique threat to American security interests.
But this is largely a farce — and a dangerous one. They are correct, of course, that Trump is a menace; they are wrong, however, in their self-interested assumption that representatives of the status quo are somehow humane, respectable, or in any way worthy of the reverence they are so often granted.
For instance, while simultaneously denouncing Donald Trump’s dangerous proposals, Hillary Clinton is reportedly seeking the endorsement of Henry Kissinger, whose heinous record is all too familiar. She has also received — and touted — the endorsement of former CIA director Michael Morell, who recently recommended that the United States begin “covertly” killing Russians and Iranians to make them “pay a price in Syria.” And he, like Trump, has defended the use of torture.
These examples (and there are many more) underline a crucial point: Business as usual is often just as horrifying as vulgar demagoguery — far more so, in this case, because it is actually happening.