Some (Brief) Thoughts on Civility in the Age of Trump
"The throughline of all of Mr. Trump’s criminal efforts was deceit — knowingly false claims of election fraud — and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States’ democratic process…”
“Indeed, but for Mr. Trump's election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.” — Jack Smith’s final report to the Department of Justice.
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Donald Trump will be inaugurated as President in just six days.
Happy Tuesday.
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Really, you ought to download and read Smith’s whole report, which you can find here.
Trump’s reaction — in the middle of the night— was, of course, exactly what you’d expect. “Deranged Jack Smith... is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide,” Trump raged.
“[He was] unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his ‘boss,’ Crooked Joe Biden, so he ends up writing yet another ‘Report”’ based on information that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs ILLEGALLY DESTROYED AND DELETED, because it showed how totally innocent I was, and how completely guilty Nancy Pelosi, and others, were.
This is, of course, a lie. But it’s a reminder — as if we needed one — of the man America just elected president.
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On Monday, Donald J. Trump will stand on the steps of the Capitol his supporters attacked to take the oath that he “will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Irony weeps. Or would, if it had not been pummeled by hammers, fed into woodchippers, and drowned four fathoms deep years ago.
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Next Monday, we will watch Constitutional norms observed and the traditional gavotte of democratic rituals performed. Hands will be shaken, civilities exchanged, and political differences apparently set aside for the peaceful transfer of power.
America, in other words, will go through a kabuki dance of normality.
But Karen Pence would like a word.
You know this story. Last week, Karen Pence, the wife of former veep Mike Pence, declined to play her role in this farce. At the funeral for Jimmy Carter, she simply refused to regard Trump’s presence as normal or that the standard rules of civility applied to a man who tried to have her family killed.
While other dignitaries, including former presidents, shook Trump’s hand and chatted with him, “Karen, however, appeared to be a completely different story.”
While her husband stood up to greet the Trumps, Karen stayed in her seat and didn’t even so much as look in their direction. Once Trump shook Pence’s hand, he briefly glanced in her direction before he and Melania continued down the row.
Neither of the Trumps extended a hand to her, and she did not appear to acknowledge them.
In an interview with Christianity Today, Mike Pence made reference to the snub. Trump had greeted him, and Pence rose to shake his hand, congratulating the incoming president. Karen, of course didn’t move, or even look at the incoming president, but cordially greeted former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush.
What happened? Pence was asked.
“You’d have to ask my wife about her posture,” Pence said, “but we’ve been married 44 years, and she loves her husband, and her husband respects her deeply.”
Of course, we know what happened. Trump had pressured her husband to violate the Constitution and overturn the election and then incited a mob to hunt her family down. As the family took shelter, pro-Trump rioters erected makeshift gallows and called for Pence’s execution. When White House aides ,told Trump that Pence’s safety was at risk he reportedly responded: “So what?”
Karen Pence — and everyone else -- was supposed to forget that.
Because civility. Because politeness. Because we are supposed to shake hands at funerals. Because we have to respect the office, even if we have differences with the man.
Mother Pence said to hell with that. And her decision was perfectly normal in our abnormal world.
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For the moment, let’s set politics aside, and pretend that we are dealing with real people in real life in the real world. In that world, there is no expectation that any one of us needs to stand up and shake hands with someone we think is a rapist; or someone who has spread malicious rumors about our family. Good manners do not require us to chat amiably with someone who slammed a baseball bat into our head or called our children ugly racist slurs. Business etiquette does not require displays of civility to someone who stabbed you in the back, threatened to destroy you, or defrauded you.
There are lines that even Christian charity does not cross, especially when the perpetrator shows no remorse at all. In real life, there are insults, assaults, crimes, and injuries that simply cannot be glossed over. Every society has those lines and stigmas. Beyond them, lie shunning and ostracism.
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So what is the normal reaction to a man like Trump?
Do the normal rules of civility extend to him because he won the election? Are we now supposed to observe the normal rules for a man whose behavior is so far from normality? Do we pretend that this bigoted, mendacious, uncivil man, deserves to be treated with the decency that he denies to others?
ICYMI, former GOP chairman Michael Steele asked the same questions on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” in a lively exchange with the hosts.
“Take your civility argument, you like to say 78 million people voted for Donald Trump, well 82 million people voted for Joe Biden and he didn't get that civility that you're talking about from Donald Trump in those four years."
"So now the expectation is, because he has won again and he's got 78 million people, we all have to be civil to Donald Trump, well okay, I'm prepared to be civil ––.
"But, my main point is, everybody is looking at this from a one-way perspective; how we need to approach Donald Trump, how is he approaching us? The man wants to lock up citizens, the man wants to turn the government against them, how are we supposed to respond to that? Are we supposed to be civil?"
The question is a timely one.
On Monday, politicians who have been telling us for years that he is an existential threat will be sitting behind him, applauding. They will shake his hand. Exhange pleasantries. Pretend to believe that the oath he is taking is not somehow a cruel joke.
But as Karen Pence reminded us, none of that is normal.
On this week’s “Talking Feds Podcast”, I had a chance to ask NBC’s Ali Vitale and former senate candidate Jason Kinder about Karen’s Choice.
“I don’t know how you could look at it any other way than this is a woman who remembers a mob being leveraged against her family — nooses being outside the capital for her husband,” Vitale said. “We look at these people as politicians and we always should… But they are also human and we have to view them that way, and it made complete sense for her not to want to shake the hand of the man who was, at best, ambivalent and, at worst, urging on that mob of people.”
Kander was blunter:
I mean the gall for him to even look at her.
If you try to kill my spouse and you’re going to try to shake my hand, I'm going to be like, motherfucker, what are you talking about?….
[So] good for her. She's living in reality, which is like “Motherfucker, you tried to kill my husband — don't try to shake my hand. You're lucky that I didn't come here to kill you.”
Thank you, Jason, for the clarity we all needed.1
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The First 100 Hours
Speaking of January 20, my latest for MSNBC’s First 100 Days newsletter is a warning about the "shock and awe” headed our way:
We are devoted to covering the first 100 days of the Trump 2.0 presidency because that has been the traditional metric for looking at incoming administrations. But special attention needs to be paid to the first 100 hours.
On day one — presumably within the first eight hours or so — Donald Trump plans a campaign of “shock and awe” that will include as many as 100 executive orders on issues ranging from the cultural wars to the economy, energy and the border.
Indeed, next Monday — Jan. 20 — will be the Mother of All News Dumps, and Trump intends to overwhelm both the media and political opponents with the sheer volume and audacity of his agenda. And he may well succeed, because neither the media nor the political establishment seems prepared for the storm that is about to hit them.
But it should not come as a surprise. During the campaign, Trump made dozens of promises about things he would do on that first day.
His pledges to end “birthright citizenship” and mandate voter IDs are of questionable constitutionality. But he will also try use the trappings of the presidency to impose billions of dollars in new tariffs and dramatically expand drilling and fracking. He may pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement by the close of business Monday.
On the very first day, Trump may launch an attack on the “deep state” by firing nonpolitical staffers throughout the government. Even if he does not fire anyone, on that first day he is expected to revive a 2020 executive order known as “Schedule F,” which would strip job protections from tens of thousands of federal workers and create a vast new pool for MAGA patronage. The threat of being fired may be enough to push some to cater to his whims.
But that may get lost in the spiraling news cycle. As usual with Trump, there will be distractions within distractions, as the most controversial strokes of fear and favor will be buried in the avalanche of appointments, firings, pardons and executive orders. Trump is expected to flood the zone with orders on vaccine mandates, DEI, critical race theory and school policies on gender.
In the first few hours, while Washington parties, Trump may even issue pardons for the rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and other MAGA cronies who have been restored to favor.
At the same time, he will launch his campaign of mass deportations. As Axios reported last month: “Watch out for a Day One photo op flexing the new administration’s deportation muscle.”
It is hard to know exactly which of the many measures Trump has promised that he will actually take in those first 100 hours. But knowing Trump, we can be confident that one of them will involve a photo-op.
Subscribe to Trump’s First 100 Days newsletter for weekly updates and expert insight on the key issues and figures defining his second term.
Nota Bene:
Liz Cheney’s reaction to the J6 report — and her challenge to the Senate Republicans now.
The Special Counsel’s 1/6 Report, made public last night, confirms the unavoidable facts of 1/6 yet again. DOJ’s exhaustive and independent investigation reached the same essential conclusions as the Select Committee.
All this DOJ evidence must be preserved. But most important now, as the Senate considers confirming Trump’s Justice Department nominees: if those nominees cooperated with Trump’s deceit to overturn the 2020 election, they cannot now be entrusted with the responsibility to preserve the rule of law and protect our Republic.
As our framers knew, our institutions only hold when those in office are not compromised by personal loyalty to a tyrant.
So this question is now paramount for Republicans: Will you faithfully perform the duties the framers assigned to you and do what the Constitution requires? Or do you lack the courage?
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MAGA’s latest scat fight
If you’re just catching up:
Bannon calls Musk 'evil' and 'racist' as MAGA civil war boils over
Steve Bannon calls Elon Musk an 'evil guy,' vows to stop his influence over Trump - USA Today
Steve Bannon vows to demolish Elon Musk’s political influence in a mission he says is ‘personal’ -Fortune
Trump ally Steve Bannon pledges to 'take...down' Elon Musk | Fox News
And just today:
At least the dogs are mellow
More clarity: “Good on Karen Pence. And the fact that this is the first time Mike Pence & Donald Trump have seen each other in four years is all on Trump. Trump tried to force Pence to defy the Constitution, and Trump almost had Pence killed,” former GOP congressman Joe Walsh, posted to X.
My gut is that Karen Pence and I agree on very few issues, but on this one, hell yes. I am team Karen Pence!
Ditto Michelle Obama, who had the good sense to stay in Hawaii.