Donald Trump’s endorsement of the absurd narrative that Dr. Jill Biden is “in love” with the President-elect after their innocuous interaction at the Notre Dame Cathedral reopening ceremony in Paris, serves as a quintessential example of what it’s like being a woman most – if not all – the time.
If you are, by natural inclination, a polite and friendly woman who likes to treat everyone with respect and give everyone undivided attention – at least, until they lose the right to it – you likely know that there are people, mostly men, who will misinterpret and overestimate your goodwill for a sign that you are into them, when, truly and thoroughly, you are not.
But, leave it to the legally branded sexual abuser, who’s been accused of sexual misconduct by more women than you can count with your fingers and toes, to misinterpret the smallest of amicable smiles as something that it isn’t. And leave it to the unscrupulous businessman to leap at the opportunity to capitalize on the now-viral photo of himself and The First Lady (not his Lady, as Melania was nowhere to be seen in the event) to pander $199 perfumes.
As John Stewart said with all the frustration most of us feel: “You f***king won. You won. You don’t have to push merch anymore. I find it hard to believe I’m saying this but, it’s beneath you.”
But winning isn’t enough for these Republicans. They act comparably to the people who suck all the fun out of playing boardgames: you’re damned if they lose – they will throw a violent tantrum – and you’re damned if they win – they will rub it in your face until you regret playing in the first place.
This same equation applies to Trump’s media buddies at Fox News – and Australia’s Sky News. But, unlike the Right-wing Aussies who manage to keep a modicum of decency even in their nonsensical analysis of the Notre Dame ceremony situation, Fox News’ Larry Kudlow is the perfect embodiment of why, as I explained above, it becomes a self-protective measure to act aloof towards certain men.
The bar for political dignity and decorum is in hell
On the Dec. 9 edition of Fox News’ Outnumbered, Larry Kudlow decided to go as low as your average Internet troll – albeit with slightly more sophisticated vocabulary – in his interpretation of Donald Trump and Jill Biden’s photos inside the French Gothic cathedral. The septuagenarian commentator sharing his belief that Mrs. Biden voted for the felon was not the problem; at this point, it’s simply part of the Trump enthusiasts’ silly political rhetoric that we have, sadly, grown used to. What is the problem, however, is how Kudlow went even further than his Trump in his nasty implications and sexualization of the First Lady.
The conservative analyst said on air: “Take a careful look at that. That wasn’t a nice conversation. That was outright flirtation. […] That was almost heavy almost heavy-duty petting at the G7 level. I’ve been there. I’ve seen these things before.”
The group of commentators went on to, in essence, argue that Jill Biden is power-hungry and, hence why she “gravitated” towards Trump. That, seemingly made Kudlow realize how vile he had sounded and backtrack on his previous statement: “This fondness for power is what I metaphorically called heavy-duty petting at the G7!”
Was it? Or did Kudlow realize that, even for Fox News-level standards, he took a step too far? Either way, all of this goes to show that, at least on one side of the extremely divided political isle, the bar for decency and uprightness in socio-political discourse is in the pits of hell – the ninth circle of a Dante’s Inferno kind of hell, where there’s no raging fire but an icy wasteland of unmovable figures with morals encased in glaciers.
Published: Dec 12, 2024 08:43 am