Donald Trump, The White-House Woody Allen
Unlike so many voters, Peggy Noonan does not mistake Donald Trump's showboaty bluster for strength. She writes in the WSJ:
The president's primary problem as a leader is not that he is impetuous, brash or naive. It's not that he is inexperienced, crude, an outsider. It is that he is weak and sniveling. It is that he undermines himself almost daily by ignoring traditional norms and forms of American masculinity.He's not strong and self-controlled, not cool and tough, not low-key and determined; he's whiny, weepy and self-pitying. He throws himself, sobbing, on the body politic. He's a drama queen. It was once said, sarcastically, of George H.W. Bush that he reminded everyone of her first husband. Trump must remind people of their first wife. Actually his wife, Melania, is tougher than he is with her stoicism and grace, her self-discipline and desire to show the world respect by presenting herself with dignity.
Half the president's tweets show utter weakness. They are plaintive, shrill little cries, usually just after dawn. "It's very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their president." The brutes. Actually they've been laboring to be loyal to him since Inauguration Day.
...The way American men used to like seeing themselves, the template they most admired, was the strong silent type celebrated in classic mid-20th century films--Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Henry Fonda. In time the style shifted, and we wound up with the nervous and chattery. More than a decade ago the producer and writer David Chase had his Tony Soprano mourn the disappearance of the old style: "What they didn't know is once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings they wouldn't be able to shut him up!" The new style was more like that of Woody Allen. His characters couldn't stop talking about their emotions, their resentments and needs. They were self-justifying as they acted out their cowardice and anger.
But he was a comic. It was funny. He wasn't putting it out as a new template for maleness. Donald Trump now is like an unfunny Woody Allen.
Who needs a template for how to be a man? A lot of boys and young men, who've grown up in a culture confused about what men are and do. Who teaches them the real dignity and meaning of being a man? Mostly good fathers and teachers.
...and world leaders who act like men -- or at least like grown adults.
As far as I'm concerned, Angela Merkel (who, admittedly, makes some serious mistakes in her country), is the leader of the Free World.
> As far as I'm concerned,
> Angela Merkel (who, admittedly,
> makes some serious mistakes
> in her country), is the leader
> of the Free World.
Angie may well be the bees knees
Guys, guys, guys.... When, ever, did a duly-elected public servant of a less-than-corrupt Western state ever truly "lead" a polity to better or more decent times?
I think the idea of princely/Christian/parental adoration is so deeply baked into the human soul —that the daydream being loved by masses of people who'll do what we want is so powerful— that we forget that being guided by the authority of strangers to greater kindness is something that essentially never happens.
Roosevelt didn't give America the clarity or strength to win WW II; Lincoln didn't give America the clarity or strength to shed slavery; Mandela didn't make great things happen in South Africa. In these cases and thousands of others, the populations and their conditions were always ready for change, such that particular public servants could, at best, stay out of the way.
Heroes always/always/always have feet of clay. There are no exceptions.
Crid at July 28, 2017 4:05 AM
> It is that he undermines himself almost daily by
> ignoring traditional norms and forms of American
> masculinity
Seriously?! He's successful precisely because he is unapologetically masculine:
* he speaks his mind
* he fights
* he doesn't back down
* he refuses to regurgitate feminist propaganda
* he mercilessly mocks his enemies
* he doesn't grovel for approval
Heck, he wouldn't have a wife who was a model and so much younger than him if he weren't so masculine (check out Jeb's wife in comparison).
> Peggy Noonan
Great, another women telling men what masculinity is all about.
Snoopy at July 28, 2017 4:37 AM
Noonan's line "plaintive, shrill little cries, usually just after dawn" is nonetheless a golly-good gum drop.
But this is that thing I have to repeat every time we talk about her: She took nearly a hundred thousand obviously corrupting dollars from Enron to assist in speechwriting; and when confronted, her excuse was that she hadn't actually earned the money.
Crid at July 28, 2017 4:38 AM
"Adult" Hillary: the would-be WH Bonnie Parker.
dee nile at July 28, 2017 5:29 AM
Let's face it, the 2016 election did not give us good choices, from any angle. Johnson and Stein were not the solutions; not even viable protest votes like Perot was in 1992. And Hillary and Donald were circus clowns in a bizarre Fellini-esque side show.
The argument that Donald was, and is, better than Hillary is like arguing that decapitation is better than hanging. Probably true, but you lose either way.
Conan the Grammarian at July 28, 2017 5:41 AM
The thing to remember about Enron is that, until its collapse, it was regarded as a solid, even exciting, company. Everyone wanted to be associated with the cutting-edge energy company that was revolutionizing the sale of a staid commodity like energy.
Then, the bottom fell out and everyone tripped over their own feet trying to distance themselves from it. Noonan's excuse may be clumsy, but she was not alone in trying to point out that she didn't defraud anyone herself, despite her association with Enron.
Still, I'll agree that it's ridiculous to claim innocence by way of incompetence. And from someone otherwise so adept with words.
Conan the Grammarian at July 28, 2017 5:47 AM
The argument that Donald was, and is, better than Hillary is like arguing that decapitation is better than hanging. Probably true, but you lose either way.
Neil Gorsuch.
I'd rather not be ruled by an oligarchy of 9 robed justices. That may yet happen, but we have some breathing room.
I R A Darth Aggie at July 28, 2017 6:05 AM
Trump may well destroy the country through carelessness. But Hillary would have done so through actual malice, all the while convincing herself that she was doing so for the good of the people. I'll take chaos over an organized internal enemy with the force of government behind it.
I dispute Noonan's contention that the GOP leadership has been doing everything in their power to help Trump succeed. Very much the opposite; the GOP Washington insiders have been trying to undermine Trump since the day he won the nomination. Exhibit A: Six Republican senators who voted to repeal Obamacare in 2015 (back when they knew it was strictly symbolic since Obama was guaranteed to veto the bill) voted against the same bill yesterday. The GOP doesn't want to repeal Obamacare. They want to figure out how to tweak it to paper over the most obvious problems, and then take credit for it (while kicking the financial can down the road, yet again). There's always bipartisan support in Washington for expanding the federal government's power and influence. Nobody is going to assist the passing of a bill that significantly does the opposite. (Which is why we must have a Constitutional convention.)
One more thing: Riffing on Crid's point that the ethos and vision espoused by a President is a trailing indicator -- what does that mean for what's happening now? Does it mean that the people who elected Trump area now ready to listen to Democratic promises (not backed by any substantive plans) of "more jobs, higher wages, brighter future"? Or does it mean that in 2020, there's going to be a movement towards somebody else? I'm wondering if someone is going to try to attract those voters with a philosophy that you might call "realpolitik libertarianism", one that combines stripping down federal regulations and mandates with a certain amount of welfare support and import restrictions. (And a more focused, shall we say, approach to public communications.)
Cousin Dave at July 28, 2017 6:30 AM
The argument that Donald was, and is, better than Hillary is like arguing that decapitation is better than hanging. Probably true, but you lose either way.
Neil Gorsuch.
I'd rather not be ruled by an oligarchy of 9 robed justices. That may yet happen, but we have some breathing room.
I R A Darth Aggie at July 28, 2017 6:05 AM
Yep. When you read the ridiculous anti freedom, unconstitutional decisions coming out of the lower federal courts, you might realize how necessary this course correction was.
For a lot of us, this was a single issue election. And that issue was to stop the democratic party and the deep state from eviscerating the Constitution through the judiciary.
Isab at July 28, 2017 7:03 AM
I R A Darth Aggie Says:
"Neil Gorsuch.
I'd rather not be ruled by an oligarchy of 9 robed justices. That may yet happen, but we have some breathing room."
I do not believe this is a rational position in this case.
The alternative was Merrick Garland... not exactly an individual known for being partisan in the manner you suggest.
The idea that if not but for Trumps nomination of Neil Gorsuch we would be under the tyranny of a politically motivated group you disagree with doesn't pass the sniff test.
Perhaps you should be more concerned with the preceding behavior that violated all governmental norms.
That behavior by congress helped to set the stage for the current white house that also has little a blatant disregard for rule of law and established procedure.
Artemis at July 28, 2017 7:25 AM
The alternative was Merrick Garland
No.
You really think that President Felonia von Pantsuit would nominate Garland? do we know who was on her short list? did she publish one? try these on for size.
Justice Eric Holder
Justice William Jefferson Clinton
Justice Kamala Harris
The Notorious RBG would have retired. Who else? Bryer, probably. Kennedy? maybe, maybe not. I could see von Pantsuit nominate young, reliable progressives who see the Constitution to be a "living document".
That behavior by congress helped to set the stage for the current white house that also has little a blatant disregard for rule of law and established procedure.
The most recent occupant of the White House spent 8 years weaponizing the federal government, thinking that it would always and forever belong to the Democrat Party.
Tho I do agree that the Republicans in Congress should have sued the Obama to force him to implement the Affordable Health Care Act as written, and now allow him to use his pen and phone as alternatives.
I R A Darth Aggie at July 28, 2017 7:41 AM
Merrick Garland hadn't met a government power grab he couldn't support. It is a flat out lie that he was a centrist.
Ben at July 28, 2017 8:27 AM
Cousin Dave nails what Amy misses ...
"Trump may well destroy the country through carelessness. But Hillary would have done so through actual malice ... . I'll take chaos over an organized internal enemy with the force of government behind it."
jim simon at July 28, 2017 8:40 AM
I'm outraged.
Not by Peggy's article, but that the FBI just busted the DNC's computer dood for (allegedly) smashing up evidence-filled hard drives and then attempting to flee to Pakistan.
Peggy's head-fake is not interesting. The FBI's actions, however, are.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at July 28, 2017 9:38 AM
"Peggy's head-fake is not interesting. The FBI's actions, however, are."
Indeed. This is probably the #1 spiked story in Washington right now. These dudes had unlimited access to every computer used by at least a dozen House members. (Whether or not this included stuff attached to SPIRNET, I don't know, but it would not surprise me.) And DWS is going full Monty for them. Why?
Also: I've seen a report this morning, which I haven't found a corroboration of, that the FBI's general counsel is under investigation for leaking classified information. The freakin' general counsel, the top lawyer in the agency.
Cousin Dave at July 28, 2017 9:50 AM
And this breaking news: Even the Obamacare minor-tweaks bill was just voted down in the Senate. It appears that John McCain, after telling McConnell he would vote yes, voted no instead. All hail our health-care overlords! They will most certainly make the best decisions for all of us, just like the ones in Britain did for Charlie Gard.
Cousin Dave at July 28, 2017 9:53 AM
I don't agree. Hillary was under no obligation to renominate Garland. Garland was only nominated by Obama because he was facing a Republican Senate and needed a nominee that could get approved by Republicans. Also, because Garland provided a propaganda coup for a final year president who pretty much knew his nominee would never get a hearing, "look, those obstructionist Republicans won't even grant a hearing to a moderate."
And, in his decisions, Garland more often than Gorsuch has come down on the side of expanding government power rather than on the side of restricting it.
SCOTUS needed a new Scalia (Gorsuch) much more than it needed a Garland. We may not need nine Scalias on the Court, but we do need at least one. And Hillary would never have appointed one.
Conan the Grammarian at July 28, 2017 10:09 AM
Amy Alkon wrote: "As far as I'm concerned, Angela Merkel (who, admittedly, makes some serious mistakes in her country), is the leader of the Free World."
So Teresa May doesn't get the nod because she hasn't yet made enough mistakes?
L. Beau Macaroni at July 28, 2017 10:29 AM
To paraprase a great American and a great Texan John Nance Garner:
Being the *leader of the free world*. (An honor I assume must have been conferred on her by the chattering classes and their journalista ass kissers via popular acclamation)
Isn't worth the proverbial *bucket of warm spit*
Never mind that defining Germany and the EU as essentially free is a big stretch.
Angela Merkel was born and raised in a totalitarian soviet client state. She acts like it, and thinks like it.
Isab at July 28, 2017 11:04 AM
So, the abject stupidity of allowing an unfettered cultural invasion is a "mistake?"
I'm sure Angela is thrilled you consider her the "leader of the Free World." However, the Free World still looks to the US for help when in trouble, unless Germany has guaranteed the security of Taiwan, Japan, Israel and others. Germany barely had the ability to defend itself, much less defend others and project power in the world.
Conan the Grammarian at July 28, 2017 11:54 AM
> The thing to remember about
> Enron is that, until its
> collapse, it was regarded
> as a solid, even exciting,
> company
Yes...
The 'thing to remember' about Lance Armstrong is that, until....
The 'thing to remember' about Bernie Madoff is that, until....
Crid at July 28, 2017 1:16 PM
> Seriously?! He's successful
> precisely because...
You should blow him. Take your dentures out first.
I can no longer think of the guys in here without hearing the music. For Raddy, it's that "BAA-duh - BAA-duh - BAA-duh!" part.
> He's successful...
No. But it's not like there's some enchanting analysis forthcoming, right?
Crid at July 28, 2017 1:23 PM
Peggy Noonan can go screw herself with the broom she rode in on.
Feminists like her need to figure out how to be a female before yapping on about manliness.
Jay R at July 28, 2017 1:28 PM
Yes, it was.
And when we forget how something was perceived before it went off the rails, we struggle to understand how it ever got onto the rails to begin with.
For instance, the Nazis. Why would the German public vote for a war-mongering, mass murdering pseudo-pagan cult as its largest Reichstag bloc and let it form the new government? Well, in the beginning, the National Socialists promised law and order, a generous old-age pension, social welfare, and other goodies.
Enron promised a new way to broker energy, efficiently transferring energy from producers to users. And, for a brief moment, they succeeded, at least they succeeded enough to sell the promise to people who should have known better.
Forgetting that means we automatically ascribe ignorant or nefarious motives to people who worked with or for Enron. Yet, it was, at one time, not a pariah but a shining example (maybe too shiny) of the new economy and how technology was going to change for the better the way we live and operate.
Conan the Grammarian at July 28, 2017 1:42 PM
So you're saying the enterprise grew inexplicably militaristic?
Crid at July 28, 2017 2:23 PM
Oh, these guys are all big winners.
Crid at July 28, 2017 2:32 PM
It's far too late to pretend this is a matter of principle.
Crid at July 28, 2017 2:44 PM
I wouldn't call Noonan a big feminist. I would call her habitually wrong. The one thing she got right in an opinion piece was when she noted how much of a bubble she was in. Mind, she noticed the bubble. She didn't exit it. And at her age we shouldn't expect her to.
Ben at July 28, 2017 2:52 PM
> Let's face it, the 2016 election
> did not give us good choices
It's weird how there's this constantly reductive view of the universe of probabilities, which gracelessly offered as some kind of wizened cynicism. Well, it was this or it was that, we are told... And told so conclusively, so indulgently, that these voices pretty obviously want to describe themselves as pushed into a corner.
> For a lot of us, this was
> a single issue election.
> And that issue was...
As if the market for fig leaves was getting terribly tight.
People who say "You've got to be cruel to be kind!" are almost always looking forward to the being cruel part.
Crid at July 28, 2017 2:59 PM
Angela Merkel, in my opinion, should be swinging from a rope for destroying her country with Musloid refugees. But I do see your point about Trump.
mpetrie98 at July 28, 2017 3:00 PM
#DQotUS
Tony K at July 28, 2017 3:20 PM
And you thought Obama had the Chicago-style administration...
But let's reflect on Cartoon Snoopy's list of cartoonish masculine behaviors, as its omissions and (wacka-doodle) inclusions explain much of what's happening with this administration, vis-a-vis the personal adoration in the Japanese cartoon above:
That's quite an agenda from a famously lethargic housepet.But again, I think Noonan nailed it with "plaintive, shrill little cries, usually just after dawn"... Those are "groveling" of the most abject kind.
Crid at July 28, 2017 3:24 PM
Apparently the Obama crew submitted over a hundred "unmasking" requests to dig up intelligence dirt on folks, including the Trump team, using boilerplate "because we want it" form letters.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence wants the Director of National Intelligence to investigate.
The Committee's request letter is public.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at July 28, 2017 6:23 PM
Pride, pride, pride. (You should click that image to embiggen it, so you can taste all the creamy goodness.)
It's important to have a team, because agenda.
Right, Trump voters?
Crid at July 28, 2017 6:31 PM
"As far as I'm concerned, Angela Merkel (who, admittedly, makes some serious mistakes in her country), is the leader of the Free World."
Amy, you really need to lay off the anti-Trump crack pipe. Angela Merkel has DESTROYED Germany and is taking Europe down with it. I have friends and business acquaintances in Germany who feel it has gone to the point of no return with its importing of anti-western culture Jihadists.
Trump is not a politician and has deep flaws, however, at least it is not Hillary.
David H at July 28, 2017 7:34 PM
Some day Crid you are going to have to come to grips with the fact your guy lost. And not even by a little bit. I mean, not even one state. Not a single one. Not even 4% of the popular vote. But I guess that is an uptick from last time when he couldn't even get 1%. Even so the American people just don't want Gary Johnson as president. They'd rather have a blowhard entertainer/real estate guy who was best known for his bad hair.
Ben at July 29, 2017 5:18 AM
Oh yeah? Oh YEAAAHH?
"Well," "someday," you're going to have to "come to grips" with "the fact" that your reliance on aggressive cliches delivered in middle-school cadence betrays an indisputably trite grasp of these topics.
The fascination you goofballs have with describing your candidate as a "winner" in teenage-bedroom-poster terms makes me think you don't know, or much care, what any of this means to actual human beings, or to the flow of human events. You're observing this on the same television you use for reality teevee and espn sports, and you can't tell the difference.
> your guy
Like that.
Crid at July 29, 2017 5:47 AM
An unfunny Woody Allen? There's a funny one?
drcos at July 29, 2017 5:49 AM
Woody Allen was funny? Since when? I must have missed something. There must be millions of whiny, middle-aged, unattractive New Yorkers that no one pay a dime to see.
And I sure can't get enough about how, when he writes anything, all he writes about is himself. In "Play It Again, Sam," for example, we're supposed to find him as our sympathetic everyman.
I must have missed something, because it's been my observation that sympathetic characters do not sleep with their best friend's wives. I certainly hope that's not an everyman characteristic.
Woody Allen is funny? I must have stumbled into an alternate universe. The Woody Allen I remember is just as repulsive inside is he is out.
Patrick at July 29, 2017 6:00 AM
Little bit of projection there Crid? Do you have anything more than middle-school taunts?
Ben at July 29, 2017 7:07 AM
> I must have missed something
Yes: Context. People who don't like theater have complained about Hamlet: 'It's just a bunch of cliches strung together!' And so it is... NOW.
At the time, a lot of Allen's stuff was revelatory, especially for a newly-broad audience of college-educateds. So it was crazy popular, and then extensively copied, and now seen everywhere. His overly-verbal nebbish worked as a nice parallel with Hoffman's career, which painted the rest of the anti-hero rainbow (action, politics).
Sure, Allen grew tiresome after the first 5 or 10 years. But he was glorious in his prime, leading tastes much as would Star Wars in its coarser contexts: The future of the genre is THIS way, guys....
Crid at July 29, 2017 7:24 AM
> Do you have anything
> more than middle-school
> taunts?
Right; that's all you can read, whatever the venue.
Crid at July 29, 2017 7:26 AM
Exactly. You have to understand why something was on the rails in the first place to understand when, how, and why it went off the rails.
I never got into Woody Allen and found Annie Hall dull and never understood the reverence with which it is held by film aficionados. But, by time I saw my first Woody Allen movie, his act had been duplicated so often, and by lesser lights, that it had become tiresome, even when performed by the original.
However, even without being a fan, I understand his place in the history of movies and his impact on the industry; why people imitated him.
Conan the Grammarian at July 29, 2017 8:03 AM
Fiddle-dee-dee, someone fetch the smelling salts.
All the winning this week has made me dizzy. And then to be confronted with such a flaunting peacock-tail display of masculinity...
I do believe I have the vapors.
Gail at July 29, 2017 8:07 AM
> his act had been duplicated
> so often, and by lesser
> lights
I don't know how you'd find them, but in the first episodes of Seinfeld, Jason Alexander channeled Allen quite nakedly.... He was a young actor doing what he knew how to do. I never actually watched the show, but saw a clip during an interview in which he copped to the theft with straightforward candor... Because he knew the videotape would tell the truth.
So, that guy and a thousand others. Patrick is bored with it for good reasons.
Crid at July 29, 2017 8:21 AM
One could argue the inspiration (and archetype) for the Woody Allen archetype is Caspar Milquetoast, created by Harold Webster.
Conan the Grammarian at July 29, 2017 9:36 AM
Off-topic, but Crid, how do you get two separate links in one reply past Amy's spam filter? Is there some inside track you have? Are you actually Gregg, by any chance?
mpetrie98 at July 29, 2017 1:00 PM
No. Gregg is—
The trick is to NOT use the "URL" field (the one "Email Address" and "Remember personal info?") when writing your comment. Amy's software allows two links, but that will counts one of them. "URL" is available but not compulsory.
Crid at July 29, 2017 2:10 PM
That should read 'the one BETWEEN "Email Address" and "Remember personal info?"'
Patience, patience.
Crid at July 29, 2017 2:13 PM
"As far as I'm concerned, Angela Merkel (who, admittedly, makes some serious mistakes in her country), is the leader of the Free World."
I'm piling on.
That's one of the dumbest things you've written, and it stems purely from personal animus. I would adore anything you have to say about this "free world", that you would think this of Merkel - the erstwhile leader of a nation who has not only failed to protect her citizens, she hadn't noticed they needed protection until it was pointed out to her.
"Come on in, refugees (somehow without their families)!" - Angela Merkel, hero
"I'm establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. Don't want them here" - Donald Trump, nasty child
And of course, your "adult candidate" successfully covered both cheeks, calling for more refugees but vetting them first, then criticizing Trump for what turned out to be following existing Federal law.
The "free world" - maybe, what, all but a dozen nations? How many of those hundreds have EVER called on her office, no matter how many Volkwagens they have?
More grandly, where in the hell did the idea come from that any culture making it dangerous to walk in their vicinity was deserving not only of excuses, but support?
Radwaste at July 29, 2017 2:46 PM
Thanks, Crid.
mpetrie98 at July 29, 2017 8:20 PM
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