“If there is a volcano in Lisbon it cannot be elsewhere. It is impossible that things should be other than they are; for everything is right.”
—said by Dr. Pangloss in Candide, by Voltaire (François Marie Arouet, 1694-1778)
Three months have passed, and we’re still doing fine, n’est-ce pas? The stock market’s breaking barriers, the economy keeps improving, house sales in Tampa Bay are going through our expensive roofs. Our azaleas bloomed (azaleas thrive on shadow and acid). Similarly, despite the shadow of President Trump, our blood pressure has risen only a little.
Of course, one doesn’t want to sound like Dr. Pangloss while talking about Trump and his administration. The trick is to keep your eyes open without being a whiny poor loser. Jeanne and I once lived in the attic of James Thurber’s house in Columbus, Ohio, its walls crowded with Thurber’s cartoons, dry and sharp as martinis (which were often in his drawings). My favorite portrays two duelists, one crying “Touche!” as he decapitates the other, whose flying head frowns bloodlessly at his opponent. We need more of Thurber’s wicked eye and light touch, the opposite of Trump’s roving eye and heavy hand.
Trump’s hard to get hold of. He’s not exactly slippery, but soft: try picking up a piece of vanilla pudding. Without fixed principles, ideas or policies, he floats above and below the salvos fired by the press. His breaches of normal behavior are mind-numbingly multiple, and when he does something that seems fairly sensible (appointing General Mattis), it stands out so clearly that there’s great relief and hearty congratulations.
For example, when he picked his friend, Steve Bannon — with Bannon’s clear ties to Breitbart News and the racist alt-right — for the White House National Security Council, there was some protest. But this was mostly lost in the furor of his other alarming choices (Betsy DeVos, Jeff Sessions, Rex Tillerson, Scott Pruitt, et al). Added to this, fair-minded columnists pointed out that Bannon was also against “crony capitalism”; and people tended to like his rumpled look, which made things more complicated, so complaint was muted. But now, pulling Bannon off the Council shows that Trump is “maturing” into his role: “Hurray! He’s acting presidential!” No one ever said that about President Obama. He was presidential.
But Trump isn’t maturing into his role. Even in that decision Trump had to throw in his reflex lie, pointlessly claiming he hardly knew Bannon (besides the presidential race, Trump frequently appeared on his TV show). And Bannon’s still there, hanging around. He wasn’t demoted for his ideas, but for posing on the cover of Time magazine.
Here’s my theory: Deep inside the White House in his sumptuous bedroom, where Trump sleeps mostly alone (Melania preferring to stay with their children in New York), there’s an ancient magic mirror made for Spoiled Billionaires instead of Evil Queens. President Trump likes to stand before it, asking “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the Greatest of them all?” And two weeks ago, the mirror answered, “Famed is thy Greatness, Majesty, but I see a Greater Man than thee. A Man on Time, destined to fame: And Stephen Bannon is his name.” And that, children, is why Bannon was yanked from his Lordly Position.
Watch out, General Mattis.
Walt Disney believed in evil, and his Snow White is a scary movie. Behind the fabled preening of President Trump, real evil is being done to the villagers, especially those who are female, poor, and nonwhite, by the small bills that have passed already (like H.J. Res. 43). This is a dangerous presidency. Whether Trump is evil or not is beside the point. Actual harm is happening, and greater danger is lurking.
At the end of Candide, when Pangloss again insists that “All events are linked in the best of all possible worlds,” Candide (and Voltaire) have the last word:
“Cela est bien dit, mais il faut cultiver notre jardin.”
“That is well said, but we must cultivate our garden.”
Our role as citizens isn’t just to make the best of a bad situation, but to be alert, and ready. America is our garden.
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 4, 2017.