Ghosts of the GOP past, &c.

On political conventions, teleprompters, populists, Russians, Golden Domers, and more

A t last week’s Democratic convention, all three former presidents — former Democratic presidents — spoke. This is par for the course, and natural: The faithful, and the general public, want to see the old guys.

When I was growing up, former presidents, and former nominees, always appeared at the conventions. With the exception of Nixon. That was always the interesting exception. So disgraced was he, he was not invited (apparently) to appear at Republican conventions.

Some people thought he should have been, if only for consistency’s sake. If only to honor, or nod to, the past (which is not always pretty).

A political convention is sort of like Old Home Week. For the benefit of the young, I’d better explain what Old Home Week was — or is? But they can consult Wikipedia.

The other day, I thought about today’s GOP. Now, there’s no chance that former president George W. Bush would be asked to speak at their convention. His name is mud, and he is persona non grata.

The 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney? Ditto. The 2008 nominee, John McCain? He is not alive, but if he were, he would surely be shunned and scorned, even as he is in death. (Trump is still tweeting about him.)

Bush 41 is no longer with us. Would he be welcome at the 2020 GOP convention? How about Reagan? Would he be a member of the party today?

These are sobering thoughts, for some of us.

• Trump may lose in November, but this Politico article should hearten his supporters: “Win or lose, Trump’s new GOP is here to stay.” True, it seems to me. Here is a slice of the article:

Adherence to Trump has quickly surpassed taxes and spending as the most dominant issue to Republican primary voters, said David McIntosh, the president of the anti-tax group Club for Growth. . . . And the Club has found a potent campaign attack in revealing that a candidate gave to Romney in 2012, but not Trump in 2016.

“That tells the voter: OK, maybe in his heart he says he’s a Trump Republican, but maybe he’s really a Romney Republican,” McIntosh said. “In Republican primaries, if they feel that somebody will not be loyal to President Trump, their poll numbers go way down.”

That rings absolutely true to me. I’m not sure there is any distinction between the Republican Party and Trumpism at all.

• It’s entirely possible that, in ten days or so, this year’s presidential race will be tied. We have seen such swings in American politics before — 1988 comes to mind. Bush (the Elder) was down 17 points at the time of his convention. He spoke of a comeback.

Till Election Day, there’s an eternity from now.

• Something I liked about Biden’s acceptance speech was the promise to be president of all the people, even those who didn’t vote for him. That is a very old-fashioned sentiment; it used to be boilerplate. Now it seems kind of fresh.

President Trump retweeted someone who said, “Leave Democrat cities. Let them rot.” This is the kind of thing that thrills “the base.” But I think a president, once campaigning is over and he takes the oath, should try to be president of all the people.

A platitude, yes — a former platitude? — but worthy, I believe.

• President Trump and other Republicans said that Michelle Obama’s speech, given at the D convention, was “angry.” This got me to thinking about anger — righteous or not.

Trump is often angry, and his supporters love it. Think of his speech at his 2016 convention. Think of his inaugural address. Pretty angry, right?

The truth is, you probably like anger — or any other emotion — from politicians you favor, and dislike it from politicians you don’t. This is very human.

When I was a kid, I noticed something about myself. I “called myself out,” as we would say today. The smoke of people I liked or loved did not bother me. The smoke of people I wasn’t crazy about — did.

• “Sure, anyone can read a speech off a teleprompter,” many Republicans said, after Biden spoke last week. This got me to thinking about teleprompters.

The first thing to say is: We used to write “TelePrompTer.” It was a brand.

Teleprompters have been in use since the ’50s. Eisenhower used one. But they really got going, I think, with Reagan. I mean, it was an issue.

“Oh, sure, Reagan can read a speech off a teleprompter,” Democrats said. “He was an actor. But he can’t talk on his own. He is utterly dependent on that device. Otherwise, he’s a blithering idiot.”

I never liked a teleprompter, frankly — I thought it was false. Fake. Misleading. It gave the wrong impression: that the person was delivering his speech extemporaneously, when he wasn’t.

But we are all used to it by now, I suppose.

You know what I think is weird? When politicians quote something — even a long passage — they continue to read off the ’prompter. It would be better, I’ve always thought, if they had quotations written down on notecards or something. They should look down at the cards, to read the quotes — because no one would expect them to have these things memorized.

You know?

But I guess everyone “buys in” to the falsity.

• Steve Bannon was arrested and charged with fraud. He was arrested on a super-yacht — which is an unsurprising place for a super-populist. In my observation, populist leaders tend to live pretty well. They tend to live a one-percenty life.

Bannon was charged with fraud, as you know: bilking donors out of millions — donors who thought they were building Trump’s wall.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the populists, it seems to me, is contempt for “the people.” The populists see them as marks — a mass of humanity to be riled up.

And all too often, the populists succeed.

Those who truly respect people, I think, tell them the truth: about banks, immigrants, trade, and any other touchy subject — subjects ripe for demagoguery. Many of the populists I have seen in operation are no real friends of the people. They just stoke grievances, resentment, and fear.

And they make the cash register ring, of course.

Lincoln spoke of “the better angels of our nature.” In my reporting from around the world, I have found that the most despicable politicians and leaders are those who call forth the worse angels of human nature.

To be continued, natch . . .

• It’s amazing that Alexei Navalny has stayed alive this long, frankly. Opposition leader to Putin is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. You could ask Boris Nemtsov, the previous opposition leader — but he was gunned down within sight of the Kremlin in 2015.

Navalny has now been poisoned. At this writing, he is in a coma. Vladimir Kara-Murza was poisoned, twice. His column about Navalny and poisoning is as authoritative as you would expect: here.

• Joe Biden tweeted,

Donald Trump continues to cozy up to Russia while Putin persecutes civil society and journalists.

Now, opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma after being poisoned. It’s unacceptable.

Unlike Trump, I’ll defend our democratic values and stand up to autocrats like Putin.

For most of my life, Republicans have had to lecture Democrats on the importance of defending democratic values and standing up to dictators. The shoe is now on the other foot — which, to me, is freaky and tragic.

• This article by Gerald F. Seib is titled “How Trump Has Changed the Republicans.” There are many interesting things in it, including the following: “As former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says of Mr. Trump, ‘He’s not a conservative. He didn’t sit around reading National Review.’”

That’s for sure. Some of us did sit around reading National Review — and we are better off for it. What I owe Bill Buckley is barely calculable. Love that man, grateful for him.

• Let me recommend a column by my old friend Rod Dreher, headed “Brayden Harrington, Hero.” Brayden is the 13-year-old who gave a much-noted speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Writes Rod,

I have a son who stutters, and let me tell you, as hard as it looked for Brayden to give that little talk, I assure you that it was far, far more difficult. I had tears in my eyes last night watching that brave kid struggle to say his words . . .

Rod goes on to address a prominent writer on the right who mocked stuttering. A powerful column.

• Have you ever heard of Eva Victor? I hadn’t either. She is a young comedian, writer, actress. This little short — mini-short — is brilliant.

• A reader, knowing my love for names — especially great American names — alerted me to a new player for the Green Bay Packers: Equanimeous St. Brown. The young man is a wide receiver. His father is American — a two-time Mr. Universe and three-time Mr. World. His mother is German.

His full name is spectacular: “Equanimeous Tristan Imhotep J. St. Brown.” One for the ages. I hope he goes on to a big pro career.

• Got a letter from a college student, which begins,

Dear Mr. Nordlinger,

On reading Impromptus the other week, I was utterly devastated to discover that you are, in fact, a Michigan Man. As a Golden Domer myself, I have no choice but to grudgingly offer congratulations about our schools’ most recent meeting on the football field, a travesty of a game that I can now wipe clean from my memory once again. (What was I saying?)

I’ve been following your columns in National Review for some time now, more regularly over the summer while the whole country languished at home in the typical angst of the past few years. It has been refreshing to get back to Notre Dame, though I fear the University’s resolve to remain open grows ever more tenuous as my peers continue to act their age. I’m twenty years old and I already feel like a curmudgeon.

I know just what he means. Join the club, baby.

See you around.

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