Editor’s note: The following first appeared in The Play Typer Guy, Stephen’s newsletter.

Convicted felon Donald Trump has absolutely no heroic qualities. He’s a bully and a coward. There’s no doubt that he’d use a baby as a human shield like Martin Sheen in The Dead Zone. However, a specific demographic of Americans — “dummies” — still admires him.

The Times ran an article Tuesday titled ‘Antihero’ or ‘Felon’: 11 Undecided Voters Struggle With How to See Trump Post-Verdict. These geniuses, on which our democracy hinges, aren’t quite sure how to view a man convicted of 34 felony counts and who, a jury determined, repeatedly defamed the woman he sexually assaulted. The word “criminal” seems an ideal descriptor, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

When asked “after the Trump verdict, what word best describes how you feel about Donald Trump,” John, a 58-year-old white man from Pennsylvania, said “martyred,” because he apparently didn’t get enough love in his childhood. Wendy, a 57-year-old Black woman from New York, said “unpredictable but memorable,” which is how I describe the woman I dated in 2004, who claimed she’d been abducted by aliens.

This is gonna be one of those focus groups, isn’t it?

From the Times:

The idea of voting for a felon for president was unacceptable, un-American or too unreal for several of our participants, including some of those who gave Mr. Trump credit for managing the economy. Others thought Democrats pushed these felony charges to help Mr. Biden politically, saying that the Biden campaign was trying to exploit the verdict.

Seems like the whole point of a journalistic enterprise is to correct obvious misinformation. There was no political motive behind Trump’s prosecution. He just kept committing crimes in broad daylight, and America at least tries to have a reasonably fair criminal justice system. (Yes, I know it’s hard to read the last half of that sentence without laughing.) But the Times isn’t in the business of telling people they’re wrong. That’s where I come in.

James, a 53-year-old white man from Iowa, complained, “they’ve been going after Trump since he was elected in 2016.” (Because Trump is a criminal.) “Democracy is supposed to be about the will of the people. I don’t really think the majority of the people in this country wanted to see him prosecuted on these charges.” (Most Americans agree with the verdict and believe Trump was guilty.)

Jorge, a 52-year-old Latino man from California, said, “I think Donald Trump would never have a fair trial in New York because, like many people said, most of the jury was probably Democrat. It’s like if we have a trial for Biden in Houston.”

Trump’s legal team agreed to the jury that returned the guilty verdict. Also, Houston is in Harris County, which Biden carried 56 to 42 percent. If he were to falsify business records in Houston to cover up payments to an adult film star, he’d first need to set up a business in Houston. Once he’s done that and shamelessly cheated on his wife and coerced the adult film star into sex, he’d probably get a decent shake in Houston, but that sounds like a lot of work.

Defaming Tony Soprano
The Times advises that we “check out the feisty exchange in the group about Tony Soprano,” who some voters in the focus group compare to Trump. It was once a dealbreaker when presidential candidates reminded voters of famous fictional gangsters, but in Trump’s case, it’s giving him too much credit.

Jonathan, a 37-year-old Black man from Florida, said, “Trump is not a moral compass to a lot of his supporters. He’s the bad guy that’ll do things on our behalf. He’s the Tony Soprano or the Walter White —”

Ben, a 42-year-old white college adviser, responded, “Don’t bring my Sopranos into this.” That’s a fair point. I should clarify again that Tony Soprano is a gangster and a murderer. Walter White from Breaking Bad is a drug kingpin and a murderer. These characters both have entires in the Villains Wiki. Ruthless killers aren’t ideal models for a US president, but maybe I’m as naive as Kay in The Godfather.

Jonathan insisted that Trump’s an “antihero,” leading an exasperated Ben to literally invoke Joe Biden: “Come on, man!”

The ironically named Hillary, a 55-year-old white social worker from California, said, "Jonathan, when you brought up The Sopranos, I got it. He’s the antihero. And that’s why I cast a vote in 2016 for him, though I did expect at the time that a lot of the shtick was just shtick and that once elected, if elected, no grown 71-year-old man would comport himself in the way he did.”

It’s bad enough that Hillary Clinton didn’t sweep the “Hillary” vote, but this Hillary actually went with the Tony Soprano candidate instead? And even after Trump didn’t live up to her very high New Jersey gangster standards, she’s still willing to consider him again in 2024? This is too absurd for even Camus.

Hillary goes on:

“What does that portend, though, for a democracy if we have nothing but antiheroes, going forward? That these people, these complicated, murky, ambiguous, morally ambiguous people, are the models? And maybe that’s putting it mildly and gently. What does that portend for our system of government?”

These are certainly compelling questions … that an idiot would ask. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Joe Biden are “antiheroes.” They’re just normal Democrats who also aren’t psychopaths. It’s not great TV, but I prefer to keep my Emmy-winning psychopaths safely inside the TV and not in the White House.

Antiheroes in fiction are defined by their lack of idealism, courage and morality. That’s great for film noir, but it’s not a good look for the commander-in-chief of the world’s most powerful military. The key difference between an antihero and a traditional villain is that the antihero tries, at least initially, to do the right thing, but goes about it in destructive ways. I’ve seen no evidence that Trump has ever possessed positive motivations. He’s a two-dimensional villain.

People often confuse antiheroes with villain protagonists. Henry Hill in Goodfellas is a straight-up villain. He’s somewhat sympathetic and far less sinister than most of the other characters in the film, but he only ever does the right thing when his life literally depends on it and he still regrets it.

Antiheroes tend to feel helpless in a world over which they have no control. Think the narrator in Fight Club. Jonathan likely considers himself the antihero in the show no one would watch. Trump appeals to him as the strongman Tyler Durden of his imagination. He says:

You have to remember why Trump is the choice of millions of people. Trump represents a shock to the system. His supporters don’t hold him to the same ethical standards. He’s the antihero, the Soprano, the Breaking Bad, the guy who does bad things, who is a bad guy but does them on behalf of the people he represents.

The MAGA cult is convinced that Trump gives a damn about them. He doesn’t. Trump does possess the selfishness, cynicism, ignorance and bigotry of most antiheroes, but he isn’t in the same league as Tony Soprano or Walter White. However, I wouldn’t mind if he shares their fate.

Americans think the economy sucks and while the Democratic response of “nuh uh!” is technically correct, it’s probably not politically viable. People historically vote based on their wallets, so it’s a serious problem for the incumbent president (that’s Joe Biden) if a majority of Americans wrongly believe we’re in a recession. A recent Harris poll for the Guardian detailed these upside-down sentiments:

55% believe the economy is shrinking, and 56% think the US is experiencing a recession, though the broadest measure of the economy, gross domestic product (GDP), has been growing.

49% believe the S&P 500 stock market index is down for the year, though the index went up about 24% in 2023 and is up more than 12% this year.

49% believe that unemployment is at a 50-year high, though the unemployment rate has been under 4%, a near 50-year low.

A whopping 58 percent of Americans blame the Biden administration for the economic horror show they’ve imagined. These numbers are usually fatal, because as I keep saying, people don’t vote like Vulcans. They’re more like civic-minded Klingons who cast ballots based on how they feel. Democrats have dazzled us with graphs, charts and all sorts of data, but they’re obviously not putting voters in the right mood. During the next press conference about the economy, Biden could try dimming the lights and playing some Barry White. Desperate measures are needed.

This situation is not unique to America. Almost every incumbent leader and their party are in a political free fall. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is doing even worse in the polls than Biden, and Trudeau is young and minty fresh. He has more time than Biden to turn things around, but he’s currently on track for a colossal wipe out from the Conservative Party and what Politico calls its “firebrand populist leader” Pierre Poilievre. (Yeah, that’s not good.) On the upside, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Party are also doomed.

Biden still has a fighting chance precisely because economic conditions are better in the US, and his administration is responsible. Nonetheless, there’s still a chance the unhinged psychopath, coup plotter, confirmed rapist and now convicted felon could win. At least he was only an unhinged psychopath when he beat Hillary Clinton. Do we need to pull out more graphs and charts?

Why is everyone so grumpy about the economy?

Aside from avoiding an actual, real-live recession, Biden has capped the price of insulin, forgiven significant amounts of student loan debt, and expanded access to health care. Yet his approval ratings have buckled under the weight of what Kyla Scanlon dubbed a “vibecession.” Fortunately, Scanlon isn’t a political candidate, as voters usually don’t appreciate having their personal experiences dismissed, even when based in fundamental misperceptions. Biden can’t try the “I feel your pain” approach, because unlike Bill Clinton in 1992, he’s the sitting president. Voters want to see more action than empathy.

Consumer confidence is rising, yet why does it seem like most people I talk to complain about rising prices? If you work in publishing and the arts, you’ve probably heard countless people tell you they simply can’t afford to pay for content right now. We don’t call them deadbeats. We just try to tempt them with subscriber discounts.

It’s been noted that Americans are pleading poverty even as Memorial Day travel rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. People apparently drowned their economic woes with increased tourism. Yes, more people get their news today from social media, which amplifies discontent. Also all the influencers seem happier and more successful than you. The lady in the Homeworthy video talks about “sourcing pieces” to decorate her fancy New York apartment, and you’re so broke you can only “buy things” like a chump.

Lower-income Americans are supposedly richer than ever, but they’re also on the front lines of rising food prices and skyrocketing housing costs. Since 2019, housing prices have ballooned 54 percent, which literally hits people where they live. Mortgage rates have stabilized, but are still high enough to prevent people from buying a home. You might consider that a “first world problem” if you’re a tone-deaf jerk, but for many people, the “American dream” is closely associated with homeownership.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) determined that goods and services are technically cheaper than they were in 2019. This is because wages have grown faster than prices. Unfortunately, people rarely make this calculation when complaining about the price of eggs. The sticker shock phenomenon is real. People want prices to visibly decrease, but that will never happen, and if it did, it’s the result of deflation, which is what actually happens during a recession. That’s why rent prices dropped in major cities during the pandemic.

The Post ran an interesting story this week about how housing costs are affecting voters in Nevada. Biden won the state in 2020, but Trump is currently leading in far too many polls. D. Carter, a Black woman, paid $1,525 for rent, cable and wifi for a one-bedroom apartment before her monthly rent was jacked up to $2,100. No, she did not also receive a 40 percent raise.

Unwilling and unable to pay the new rate, Carter, who spoke on the condition that her first name not be used, considered buying but quickly realized that with interest rates hovering around 7 percent, she was priced out. She found a new apartment in a decent part of town after months of searching, but said still pays up to 50 percent of her fluctuating $50,000 to $70,000 income from her banking job for rent.

The economy has improved enough after the pandemic that landlords can charge substantially more in rent. That might make sense to people priced out of their homes and neighborhoods, but it doesn’t make them feel jolly. According to the Nevada chapter of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the Las Vegas metro area is short on housing for about 312,000 people. Construction of affordable housing is a nationwide problem — a combination of those high interest rates plus well-meaning building requirements in many progressive cities like Portland, Oregon.

Catherine Ayres, a 73-year-old with a fixed monthly income of $1,451, has struggled with housing for decades, but during the past four years, she’s shared a studio apartment with two other people.

Minority renters also suffered more during covid because their landlords were more likely to evict them or charge onerous fees if they fell behind in their payments. Landlords in predominately white neighborhoods were more forgiving and even decreased rents. An eviction in your rental history makes it extremely hard to find housing even when your finances improve.

Perception is political reality

What’s interesting is that Biden and many mainstream Democrats do recognize that perception is political reality, at least when it comes to crime. The White House performed the “I Told You So” dance when Portland’s progressive District Attorney Mike Schmidt decisively lost re-election to “tough-on-crime” prosecutor Nathan Vasquez.

“I am committed to ending the open-air drug use, to ending the open-air drug dealing that we have suffered from as a community,” Vasquez said on election night. “I am also committed to restoring that idea that it is OK to hold people accountable and do it in a compassionate manner.”

Technically, Portland experienced a significant drop in homicides and shootings last year, but that reality didn’t save Schmidt. A Biden official said, “Particularly right now, Americans don’t want to feel like things are out of control. Well-meaning ideas have gone too far, and we need a sensible approach.” That approach involves cracking down on immigration and increasing spending for law enforcement.

An anti-crime message in 2022 helped Republicans flip several House seats in New York and possibly ensured their narrow majority. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has since promoted a “tough-on-crime” agenda, dismissing bail reform and even sending the National Guard into the New York subway system. Homeless encampments in major cities don’t sell Americans on a booming economy either. It looks like a Steinbeck novel.

Democrats nationwide have embraced Republican rhetoric about the border rather than pointing out that there is no “border invasion.” Democrats clearly prioritize feelings more than facts regarding these issues. Perhaps the economy is different because the Biden White House fundamentally believes it’s doing the right thing, regardless of voter “vibes.” But “vibes” don’t care about political agendas.

Economist Alex Williams has a good argument about what’s likely fueling economic discontent:

“The economy sucks because, where workers gained leverage, their employers tended to push the cost of that leverage onto customers, which intensified a vicious cycle of service workers and customers getting mad at each other” is my most compact explanation of any “bad vibes.”

Biden and Democrats could acknowledge that the economy is a problem and just blame Republicans for it. It’s literally the approach they’ve taken to crime and the border, but so many liberals are opposed to any economic message that’s not Ricky Martin’s "Living La Vida Loca" at high volume.

“Trump got us in the mess. We’re making it better. Trump and his goons will make it far worse” is both simple and true.

The Times reported somewhat late that an upside-down American flag had flown outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, less than two weeks after the January 6 Capitol attack. The so-called “Stop the Steal” movement adopted the inverted flag as a symbol in its war against democracy. Insurrectionists had brandished that symbol when storming the Capitol.

Concerned neighbors took photos of the shocking display, which the Times obtained more than three years later. It’s unclear what took so long. Did the neighbors use 1991 camera technology, where you have to drop the film off at a local CVS and then promptly forget about it? Obviously, Alito lives in a predominately white neighborhood where no one is a Black Twitter power user. Viral videos on social media have taken down countless racist “Karens” since 2021.

It’s not a surprise that Alito is a far-right maga hack, but flying an upside-down flag is a bit outré for a Supreme Court justice. When asked to comment, Alito told the Times, “I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

I’m not sure what’s worse: That Alito callously blames his wife for this mess or that he doesn’t take an active interest in his wife’s home decor choices. Mrs. Alito went to a lot of trouble flipping the flag to flip off the neighbors. He probably never notices all her hard work in the garden either.

Alito spoke directly with Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream about this — not the best move when you’re trying to appear an impartial jurist and not an embattled Republican politician who needs help from Fox’s rapid response special maga victims unit. He claims that a neighbor on their street had a “F—k Trump” sign within 50 feet of where children wait for the school bus. Donald Trump himself is a confirmed sexual predator who shouldn’t be within 50 feet of children, but I don’t think a “F—k Trump” sign will damage them emotionally.

Also public schools weren’t open yet in January 2021. They’d switched back exclusively to online learning in November 2020 and wouldn’t start phased reopening until March 2021. However, if you’ve read any of Alito’s jurisprudence, you’d know that he doesn’t let facts get in the way of his opinions. Anyway, Martha-Ann Alito brought up her concerns for the kids, and, Bream writes, “things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan 6th attacks.”

Justice Alito says he and his wife were walking in the neighborhood and there were words between Mrs. Alito and a male at the home with the sign. Alito says the man engaged in vulgar language, “including the c-word.”

This is really unbelievable, by which I mean I don’t actually believe it. Someone really called Mrs. Alito a “cunt” (presuming that the “c-word” Alito means)? It’s like they’re living in a production of Glengarry Glen Ross. I’m not sure flag-trolling is the best response to someone who’s this angry and potentially unstable. Although, hanging a flag upside is traditionally considered “a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”

Following that exchange, Mrs. Alito was distraught and hung the flag upside down “for a short time.” Justice Alito says some neighbors on his street are “very political” and acknowledges it was a very heated time in January 2021.

Alito doesn’t deny that the flag was purposely hung upside down or pretend he’s unaware of the larger political message. He says that his neighbors are “very political” without acknowledging that he’s extremely political himself and publicly expresses those opinions. In November 2020, he called covid-19 mitigation measures “unimaginable” restrictions on individual liberty (he’d later impose far worse and permanent restrictions on individual liberty when he overturned Roe v. Wade.) He whined some more about the marriage equality decision that he argued made everyone unfairly malign anti-gay bigots as, well, bigots. Yet proving this point, he later sold Bud Light stock during the anti-trans Dylan Mulvaney boycott.

It’s revealing that the Alitos thought adopting the “Stop-the-Steal” standard was a suitable response to their “very political” neighbors. If someone had called them Nazis, we can assume they wouldn’t have defiantly flown a Nazi flag. They clearly weren’t ashamed to associate themselves with the very people who’d sieged the Capitol or even with a movement that undermined faith in our electoral system. This was a year before Alito petulantly stated that mere citizens even questioning the court’s integrity crossed “an important line.”

Alito claims the period after January 6 was a “very heated time,” but that’s only if the Alitos still supported Trump, even after his coup attempt. Most liberals during this period would have commiserated with Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Mitt Romney or former Trump supporter Michael Fanone — all of whom had rightly rejected him. I doubt even Ann Romney would have objected over a “F—k Trump” sign in January 2021. She might’ve been tempted to put up one herself.

Democrats put on their stern faces
Democrats seem very shocked and disappointed over Alito’s flag mishap. Senator Dick Durbin, chair of the Judiciary Committee, said, “That upside down flag was a symbol of the Big Lie. The attempt to steal the election and not admit that Joe Biden was elected. It’s time for him to do two things. First, a clear explanation of what happened and secondly, recuse himself from any case involving President Trump and his immunity from prosecution.”

Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries agreed: “Samuel Alito should apologize immediately for disrespecting the American flag and sympathizing with right-wing violent insurrectionists. He must recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election and former President Donald Trump.”

This is not simple partisan maneuvering. Alito admits that the flying the flag upside down, no matter how briefly, was an overt political statement, a clear violation of ethics rules. Justices are supposed to avoid “even the appearance of bias.” Of course, justices aren’t robed gods. They do have political opinions, and while it’s certainly more polite not to broadcast them, at least you know where you stand.

Trump’s crackpot Kraken lawyer Sidney Powell, who’s since pleaded guilty to coup-related crimes, had suggested that Alito would play a key role in helping overturn the election. “We were filing a 12th Amendment constitutional challenge to the process that the Congress was about to use under the Electoral Act provisions that simply don’t jive with the 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Powell said in 2021. “And Justice Alito was our circuit justice for that.”

However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi literally saved democracy.

“She got notice when we made our filing because she wanted to file an amicus brief," Powell said. “And everything broke loose and she really had to speed up reconvening Congress to get the vote going before Justice Alito might have issued an injunction to stop it all, which is what should have happened.”

It’s a wonder that Alitos didn’t fly their flag at half-mast.

There’s a comforting narrative that Donald Trump hijacked a noble Republican Party and empowered extremists such as Marjorie Taylor Greene. However, the truth is more that Trump radicalized an already corrupt institution. Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush nominated the two worst justices on the Supreme Court — Alito and Clarence Thomas. Both men are on board the Trump train. Thomas’s wife, Ginni, actively urged White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to do whatever it took the steal the election from Biden and keep Trump in office.

I think many mainstream elected Democrats struggle to accept this reality. They rightly condemned the January 6 insurrectionists and the “Stop-the-Steal” conspiracy theorists, but they probably never fully realized how far the rot went. Mainstream Democrats probably never imagined that Cheney and Kinzinger would be outliers after January 6. Democrats likely assumed that even Alito and Thomas were as horrified by Trump’s lawless coup attempt as they were. That was not the reality.

Alito isn’t going to resign or recuse himself from Trump-related cases. The Supreme Court remains unaccountable. However, Democrats still control the Senate and could hold hearings or investigations that would make Alito and Thomas uncomfortable. A mild private disagreement with a neighbor triggered the Alitos, so we can only imagine Alito’s response to a more public rebuke. However, Durbin is a chump, so it’s unlikely he’ll do anything more serious than issue a stern letter. There’s a special sort of learned helplessness on display when you see sitting Democratic senators on social media venting about the Alito situation like they’re two schmoes at a bar complaining about their boss.

We also shouldn’t wait around for Alito’s colleagues on the Supreme Court to speak out, even the liberal members who perhaps most of all hold tight to the fantasy that the Supreme Court is an impartial branch of government and not simply an extension of the GOP’s political will.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke this week at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies’ Legislative Leadership Summit and offered some spirited advice for the young people present.

“We have to know that sometimes, people will open the door for you and leave it open, sometimes they won’t. And then you need to kick that fucking door down,” Harris said, as the audience went wild. Laughing she added, “Excuse my language.”

All the resulting press has focused on the vice president’s language. People were apparently confused: Was this a political speech or a David Mamet monologue?

This felt very 1990s when there was no cursing on primetime TV. If you had HBO, you could hear Samantha on Sex and the City say “f—king.” You could also see her f—king. Now, though, it seems every streaming series is like a Richard Pryor routine. The word just doesn’t seem that shocking anymore. It’s exactly what an almost 60-year-old vice president would say and was far less profane than shooting puppies.

Watch a video clip of Harris’s remarks here. Parental guidance is not suggested.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked by a reporter to comment on the vice president’s “language.”

“I’m not going to repeat that language,” he said. “I don’t use that [language] publicly.”

Jean-Pierre said it was “up to you” if he wanted to say “fuck” in public. The guy’s still living in the Hays Code. Harris only said “fucking” once (and not in the context of sex), so that’s good enough for a PG-13 rating. This wasn’t Martin Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street, which uses the word 569 times at a rate of 3.15 time per minute.

“Was this a one-off,” the very serious reporter asked, “or can we expect similar language from the vice president going forward?”

Why do so many men assume that everything a woman politician does is calculated? She’s a normal human being who probably uses the word “fuck” when excited or angry (it’s a very flexible word). It’s obvious to anyone with a brain that she slipped up and used the word in public. She even immediately apologized. Move on.

Kamala Harris has been the vice president for more than three years and has spoken publicly quite often. Her “fuck” average is nowhere near Wolf of Wall Street’s. The word is used more often in the “Don’t fuck with Mr. Zero” scene from When Harry Met Sally.

A YouTube commenter posted, “I am glad my parents are not still around to hear what comes out of the mouths of people leading this country. So disrespectful and unprofessional. Justifying using vulgarity to defend killing preborn humans would be on course for these people. Pretty sick.”

Of course, this person is probably voting for Donald Trump, who’s often used the word “f—k.”

Trump went full Tarantino during a 2011 speech to Republican donors in Las Vegas. CNN reported at the time:

“They (OPEC) want to go in and raise the price of oil because we have nobody in Washington that sits back and says you're not going to raise that fucking price, you understand me?” he said.
And when it came to Iraq, Trump said, "we build a school, we build a road. They blow up the road. They blow up the school. We build another school, we build another road, they blow them up. We build again, in the meantime we can't get a fucking school built in Brooklyn.”

Trump has said “f—k” multiple times in public, both before and after his presidency. Yet Jesse Watters at Fox News freaks out over the “foul-mouthed Momala.” However, Harris isn’t a man or white.

Past political potty mouths

During a 2012 Rolling Stone interview, President Barack Obama suggested Republican Mitt Romney was a “bulls—ter.” He said, “You know, kids have good instincts. They look at the other guy and say, ‘Well, that's a bullshitter, I can tell.’”

Republicans were, of course, very offended. Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer said people shouldn’t get “distracted” by the word, but instead “focus on the issue” — Romney’s overall untrustworthiness.

Rolling Stone also ran “A Brief History of Presidential Profanity” that documented examples of non-family hour language from political leaders.

Richard Nixon’s Watergate tapes were filled with “expletive deleteds.” Nixon said in 1990 that “millions were shocked” by his words because “neither I nor most other presidents had ever used profanity in public.” He added, “I have heard other presidents use very earthy language in the Oval Office.” This might’ve included Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy, who both dropped the f-bomb in conversation.

There were quite a few public profanities, but usually after an interview had ended or when a politician failed to notice the green light was still blinking. When Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in 2008’s South Carolina Democratic primary, Bill Clinton directly linked Obama to Jesse Jackson. After a contentious interview, Clinton was overheard saying, “I don't think I should take any s—t from anybody on that, do you?”

During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush described New York Times reporter Adam Clymer to his running mate Dick Cheney as “major-league asshole.” Four years later, Cheney would reportedly tell Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy to “go f—k [himself].” Cheney would later claim, “That’s sort of the best thing I ever did.”

It probably was.

When Jess McIntosh, vice president of communications for EMILY’s List, joined the 2016 Clinton campaign, there was a lot of faux rightwing outrage over McIntosh’s liberal use of “f—k” in her tweets. She was Mamet-level creative with the word. She tweeted in 2013 that she “ate the f—k out of a bagel.” Breitbart observed that McIntosh “used the word to describe her movement around Washington, DC, and other places in the country in 2013.” (She fucked around the city, etc.)

McIntosh wondered if anyone would make such a fuss about her tweets if she were a man. It’s a legitimate point, considering Bill Clinton was filmed saying “f—k” during a card game.

Current President Joe Biden publicly called the passage of the Affordable Care Act a “big f—king deal.” Biden said in 2010, “I’m embarrassed as hell by it, but apparently we’re selling t-shirts and making hundreds of thousands of bucks.” He shouldn’t have beat himself up. He was caught on a hot mic, but here’s how Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry explained his Iraq vote to Rolling Stone: “I voted for what I thought was best for the country. ... Did I expect George Bush to f—k it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did.”

Everyone protesting the Iraq War f—king knew.

Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego did not seem embarrassed when he used “f—k” in a public tweet to Ted Cruz — a man so odious his official title is “f—k,” as in “F—k Ted Cruz.”

“F—k you @tedcruz,” Gallego wrote, “you care about a fetus, but you will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are worthless.”

When most people exclaim a variation of “f—k,” they are expressing anger, frustration or outright sexual aggression. That’s not what Harris did. She wasn’t talking about that “f—king” Trump but the “f—king” door that stands in the way of progress.

You might recall that in September 1976, Norman Mailer interviewed Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter for the New York Times. This is a particularly apt passage:

“The real answer is to get those of us who are running the government going right” You see, Carter went on to say, he was not looking to restore the family by telling people how to live; he did not wish to be president in order to judge them. “I don't care,” he said in his quiet decent voice, as if the next words, while not wholly comfortable, had nonetheless to be said, “I don't care if people say —,” and he actually said the famous four‐letter word that the Times has not printed in the 125 years of its publishing life.

Yes, the Times insisted on missing the point even back in 1976. The uncensored line carries a great deal of weight and reinforces the man Carter was and still is: “I don’t care if people say f—k.” If Carter doesn’t, neither should we.

Last week, Harris discussed defending reproductive rights with Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph. No “f—ks” were said or given. You should watch in full.

Editor’s note: The following essay first appeared in The Play Typer Guy, Stephen’s newsletter about politics and the arts.

Sunday was Easter. You could tell from all the eggs. It was also the International Transgender Day of Visibility, which has been observed on March 31 since 2009. These simultaneous events were the result of the lunar and solar calendars colliding — in other words, a coincidence. However, MAGA doesn’t do coincidence, so President Joe Biden was accused of cancelling Easter and rebranding the holiday as a drag queen brunch celebration.

Daily Caller writer Megan Basham posted on social media, “The Biden White House has declared Easter Sunday ‘trans visibility day.’ No. It is resurrection day. We will not bow to the new gods of your new religion.”

Sunday was a lot more than just mythical resurrection day due to botched crucifixion. Actors Shirley Jones, Rhea Perlman and William “KITT” Daniels were born on March 31, and they’re still allowed a birthday cake. This reaction is bizarre. Actor Nicole Maines, who’s trans, is awesome, but she’s never demanded ritual sacrifice, only basic respect. No bowing required.

Desperate Republican Caitlyn Jenner celebrated her own visibility by demanding that others like her remain invisible. She posted, “I am absolutely disgusted that Joe Biden has declared the most Holy of Holy Days — a self-proclaimed devout Catholic — as Transgender Day of Visibility. The only thing you should be declaring on this day is ‘HE is Risen.’” (In return, Christopher Rufo deadnamed Jenner.)

Paul A. Szypula whined on Elon Musk’s blog, “Biden has now essentially canceled Easter by renaming it and not allowing Christian religious symbols at the White House. I wonder what the 63 percent of America that’s Christian thinks about that.”

The supposed Christian majority is decreasing rapidly — probably because of all the obnoxious witch-burning bigots — and could become a dwindling minority within a few decades. That might explain why they’re lashing out at vulnerable people who’ve done nothing to them other than exist, but their actions are still repulsive.

White Christian nationalist House Speaker Mike Johnson joined the hate parade. “The Biden White House has betrayed the central tenet of Easter — which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” he posted. “Banning sacred truth and tradition — while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day’ — is outrageous and abhorrent. The American people are taking note.”

First place, Biden didn’t cancel anything. The Easter Bunny’s still free to make off-color jokes at the Chuckle Hut in southwest Florida.

Parker Molloy at the The Present Age pointed out that these presidential proclamations are numerous, and what Johnson sneeringly called “Transgender Day” wasn’t alone in sharing space with Easter Sunday. It was also Cesar Chavez Day.

It wasn’t just MAGA creeps attacking the Transgender Day of Visibility. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who supported Dean Phillips during the Democratic primaries, declared in fluent concern troll, “Putting aside whatever views one may have on transgenderism, why would you overshadow one of the holiest Christian days of the year to promote another ideology/movement of any kind?”

Trans people don’t exist in conflict with Christianity. Many trans people are Christians themselves and celebrate Easter. They are people, not an “ideology.” However, Ackman continued his separate but equal tirade:

Aren’t there already other days on the calendar acknowledging/celebrating transgenderism?

Why are our state and federal governments launching new holidays that overlap with major holidays of other religious organizations?

Aren’t there other open days on the calendar?

Why isn’t this just going to lead to more divisiveness in our country?

Please deliver us from the white moderate.

We need the eggs

If you think treating marginalized groups like human beings is a political liability, you’re no better than the trolls.

Inveterate liar New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik wrote on Saturday, “Joe Biden declares that Easter Sunday is transgender visibility day while he bans Christian symbols from the White House Easter egg roll. Disgraceful. Easter will forever be the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.”

“Biden is banning religious symbols from Easter celebrations at the White House, while flying the trans flag and declaring Easter Sunday to be 'Trans Visibility Day,’” Donald Trump Jr posted on what was once Twitter. “This is the left’s new religion. They want people worshiping the trans flag instead of God. They must be stopped.”

On Easter Sunday itself, Trump Jr posted an offensive, hateful meme suggesting former First Lady Michelle Obama is a man. Petty bigotry has always been Trump Jr’s true religion, and it has nothing to do with God.

This is a lot of false witness for an Easter Sunday. Michelle Obama is a beautiful Black woman, and Biden didn’t ban religious-themed eggs from the Easter Egg design contest, despite what so many Republicans claimed. They’re all liars. Yes, overtly religious egg designs aren’t permitted, but these weren’t Biden’s guidelines. They’re the American Egg Board’s and have been in effect since 1976, which means there were no religious egg designs during the Trump presidency. Apparently, eggs must remain neutral.

Emily Metz, president and CEO of the Egg Board, told Politico, “The American Egg Board has been a supporter of the White House Easter Egg Roll for over 45 years and the guideline language referenced in recent news reports has consistently applied to the board since its founding, across administrations.”

It’s not a shock that Republicans would lie, but this is such an obvious, easily spotted lie. It’s like lazy parents who put minimal effort into hiding their kids’ Easter eggs. (I am one of those parents.) If Sen. Tommy Tuberville had any honor, he’d apologize for calling Democrats a “Satanic cult” for reasons that are completely false, but I just explained why he won’t.

Trump’s Easter blessing

Republicans beating up on trans people for short-term political gain is horrific yet perfectly in character. However, their pious bigotry was less absurd when their leader wasn’t a diseased maniac like Donald Trump.

Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, said the Transgender Day of Visibility was part of “the Biden Administration’s years-long assault on the Christian faith.” This is easy to say when you lie as easily as normal people breathe.

“We call on Joe Biden’s failing campaign and White House to issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only — the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” she said. (It’s also typical of white evangelicals to consider Catholics different from “true” Christians.)

Biden actually attended religious services on Easter. There’s no evidence that Trump left his house. Biden’s first message on Easter wished everyone a happy holiday. Trump’s first message smeared retiring GOP House Rep. Mike Gallagher. Later, he offered this all-caps rage diarrhea:

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL, INCLUDING CROOKED AND CORRUPT PROSECUTORS AND JUDGES THAT ARE DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO INTERFERE WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2024, AND PUT ME IN PRISON, INCLUDING THOSE MANY PEOPLE THAT I COMPLETELY & TOTALLY DESPISE BECAUSE THEY WANT TO DESTROY AMERICA, A NOW FAILING NATION, LIKE 'DERANGED' JACK SMITH, WHO IS EVIL AND 'SICK,' MRS. FANI 'FAUNI”'WADE, WHO SAID SHE HARDLY KNEW THE 'SPECIAL' PROSECUTOR, ONLY TO FIND THAT HE SPENT YEARS 'LOVING' HER, LONG BEFORE THE GEORGIA PERSECUTION OF PRESIDENT TRUMP BEGAN (AND THEREBY MAKING THE CASE AGAINST ME NULL, VOID, AND ILLEGAL!), AND LAZY ON VIOLENT CRIME ALVIN BRAGG WHO, WITH CROOKED JOE’S DOJ THUGS, UNFAIRLY WORKING IN THE D.A.’s OFFICE, ILLEGALLY INDICTED ME ON A CASE HE NEVER WANTED TO BRING AND VIRTUALLY ALL LEGAL SCHOLARS SAY IS A CASE THAT SHOULD NOT BE BROUGHT, IS BREAKING THE LAW IN DOING SO (POMERANTZ!), WAS TURNED DOWN BY ALL OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES, AND IS NOT A CRIME. HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Lisa Boothe on Fox News claimed that having the Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter is “a clear effort and a coordinated effort to remove God from our society,” yet Republicans believe that God would voluntarily remain in a society led by Trump.

It’s not entirely incongruous, though. Bigots have long used religion to justify their own hatred, and Trump is hatred and viciousness personified. He’s the true representation of their faith, not a simple carpenter who preached love and tolerance. Trump’s cruel to the people they hate, and that’s what brings them to their knees.

Editor’s note: The following essay first appeared in The Play Typer Guy, Stephen’s newsletter about politics and the arts.

The Republican House majority is an absolute disaster. It doesn’t bother to govern and can’t even effectively run sham impeachments. Members are resigning, and now it’s facing the loss of its third speaker in two years. It’s an impressive record of rank incompetence.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene hurled a grenade at Republican leadership on Friday when she announced that she’d moved to replace Christian nationalist dreamboat Speaker Mike Johnson.

“I filed the motion to vacate today, but it’s more of a warning than a pink slip,” Greene told reporters who provided her the attention she desperately craves. “I respect our conference. I paid all my dues to my conference. I am a member in good standing and I do not wish to inflict pain on my conference and to throw the House in chaos.”

It’s unclear what Greene means when she says she “paid her dues.” She’s only been in Congress since 2021 and she attempted a coup on her fourth day. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy laughably described Greene yesterday as someone who cares about policy, but she’s sponsored no constructive legislation and has mostly just harassed Democrats and defended insurrectionists. Maybe she’s literally paid dues, as though the Republican caucus is a restricted country club. It’s honestly hard to follow anything she says considering that brain worms scurry out of her mouth whenever she speaks.

“But this is basically a warning,” Greene added without actually grasping the definition of the word, “and it’s time for us to go through the process, take our time and find a new speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats.”

Johnson offended Greene when he briefly aligned with Democrats to prevent a senseless government shutdown and passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill, which Greene soberly describes as an “atrocious attack on the American people.” She claimed that the bill prioritizes progressive policies, but in reality it funds Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security and other agencies. I suppose it is a progressive preference that government exists and actually functions while the far-right nihilist caucus would see it all burn down.

Greene had ranted Friday morning on the House floor that “this is not a Republican bill; this is a Chuck Schumer, Democrat-controlled bill.” It’s true that the bill only had support from about half the Republican conference, and that violates the child molester speaker’s rule about only bringing a bill to the floor if it has support from a majority of the Republican majority.

Greene hasn’t made her motion to vacate privileged, perhaps because the dues-paying House member doesn’t fully understand what that means, so it won’t be considered until after the Easter break. The current congressional recess ends on April 9, although it feels as if this entire congressional session has been one long recess at a pre-school for particularly unruly children.

More Republicans flee sinking, rat-infested ship

After Ken Buck from Colorado bolted the premises last week, the MAGA majority was just 218 to 213. Then Mike Gallagher from Wisconsin announced on Friday that he’s leaving before the end of his term. He wasn’t running for re-election anyway, but he’s chairman of the select committee investigating the Chinese Communist Party, and serves on the Intelligence Committee. It’s considered unusual for someone with such plush assignments to bail before the end of their term, but that just reinforces what a hellish environment the House currently is. It’s arguably worse for normal-presenting Republicans who have to work with perpetual rage machines like Greene.

“Normally, they’re trying to talk people out of retirement,” a House Republican told Axios. “Now we’re at a point where we’re trying to talk them out of leaving early.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had reported that Gallagher’s “future work will be in-line with his national security goals and focus on defense policy,” and Gallagher has just accepted a position with defense contractor Palantir. Gallagher is a “China hawk” who supported banning TikTok because China can “surveil its users,” but the Peter Thiel-founded Palantir is a US surveillance firm. That’s “America First” for you.

Gallagher was openly frustrated with the MAGA House and was one of the few Republicans, along with Buck, who voted against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The frustration is reflected in the timing of his departure. He’s set to bounce on April 19, well after the April 2 deadline to hold a special election to fill his seat for the rest of the year. That seems like a deliberate kick in the pants, or maybe there was a waffle party scheduled for April 18 that he didn’t want to miss.

Fox host Laura Ingraham was predictably furious over this setback and suggested that future House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries should send Gallagher a fruit basket because he “made an affirmative decision to give Democrats more power.” Ingraham was so mad she apparently forgot how to spell “pathetic.”

Greene demanded that Johnson, who she wants to fire him as speaker, immediately expel Gallagher so they can hold that special election.

“Speaker Johnson has also failed our majority,” Greene told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, “to leave Congress after the deadline date where his district can hold a special election and elect a new representative for the rest of this Congress. Mike Gallagher betrayed all of us, and Speaker Johnson, who’s responsible for our majority, praised Mike Gallagher on Friday after he announced his departure, saying he’s great and thanking him and praising him for his service in Congress. Speaker Johnson should be forcing Mike Gallagher to leave early so his district can hold a special election, and any strong speaker of the House would expel a member for leaving our razor-thin majority in such a delicate, delicate state.”

A consistent theme of this freak-show Congress is that MAGA believes it can achieve its aims through brute strength alone, even it doesn’t have the votes. A “strong” speaker can’t summarily expel a House member, no matter how much they flex their muscles. That requires a two-thirds vote in the House, and absolutely zero Democrats will help Republicans in this situation. Gallagher isn’t a crook like George Santos, and it’s in Democrats’ best interests to leave a reliably Republican seat vacant until the next Congress. Greene is a bigot, a bully and buffoon so she doesn’t appreciate that Johnson publicly flattering Gallagher is perhaps his best shot at convincing him to move up his resignation.

The MAGA House is an evil version of the 1962 Mets, but honest self-reflection isn’t a prominent right-wing trait. No, Republicans are going with “Democrats made us do it.”

Turning Points USA founder Charlie Kirk vented on social media:

More and more clear the collapsing GOP House position has been orchestrated by Democrats. They saw a slim majority and instead of giving up, they went to work.

They helped get rid of McCarthy as speaker.

They led the charge with the help of Republicans to remove Santos from Congress.

They pushed Ken Buck to go become a cable news contributor.

And now, someone is offering Gallagher a sweet gig to leave abruptly (but not TOO abruptly!) to effectively end the House majority.

This has been an op from Day One, they have sliced the GOP advantage by any means available. And too many Republicans were perfectly happy to help them.

I wish Democrats were so masterfully Machiavellian, but alas, this is a party with at least one Dick Durbin.

When House Republicans resume what passes for work next month, we’ll see if they move forward with Mad Marge’s motion to vacate the revolving-door speakership. So far, Johnson doesn’t appear worried that he’ll win the Kevin McCarthy Booby Prize. His spokesperson Raj Shah said, “Speaker Johnson always listens to the concerns of members, but is focused on governing.”

Sorry, but actual governance is the one unforgivable sin in the MAGA mad House.

Editor’s note: The following essay first appeared in The Play Typer Guy, Stephen’s newsletter about politics and the arts. –JS

Mitch McConnell announced on Wednesday that he was retiring from a lifelong career of constructive evil. He plans to complete his current Senate term, which ends in 2026 or after dark spirits pull him down to hell (whichever comes first), but his time as Republican Senate leader has finally ended, with America all the worst for it.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who was never a fan of McConnell’s and recently called for his resignation as leader, released this measured statement: “Mitch has had a long and honorable tenure as the Republican leader. I am grateful for his service. He made the decision that it was time to step down as Leader, and I certainly respect his judgment in that regard. He has many legacies, but none is more consequential than confirming hundreds of principled constitutionalists to the federal judiciary.”

Cruz doesn’t pretend that McConnell’s departure saddens him, and he correctly identifies his singular achievement — a federal judiciary stacked with far-right hacks who are actively rolling back every recognized freedom from the past 50 years.

It’s a stark contrast to Democratic President Joe Biden’s response when asked about McConnell’s third act villain exit: “I’m sorry to hear McConnell stepped down … I’ve trusted him, and we have a great relationship. We fight like hell. But he has never, never, never misrepresented anything. I’m sorry to hear he’s stepping down.”

If Biden enjoyed working with McConnell, that’s his business, but the rest of what he said ventures beyond the realm of personal opinion and into outright fantasy.

https://youtu.be/VJFscEL0ByY

MAGA doesn’t redeem McConnell

Mitch McConnell didn’t simply disagree with Democrats or liberalism in general. He was a cynical political operator who gleefully shredded every institutional norm as he made life worse for the very people Democrats expect to vote for them.

When McConnell obstructed Barack Obama at every turn, one might generously (and naively) chalk that up to hardball politics, but McConnell started reshaping the federal judiciary through trickery and deceit. He “calculated, correctly, that most of the most contentious issues in our society eventually wind up in the courts,” conservative columnist Mona Charen remarked in a 2023 interview. “It is critical, if you want certain outcomes, to be sure that you have the right mix of judges.”

So McConnell filibustered and often refused to even consider Obama’s nominees, holding open 100 vacancies for Donald Trump to fill. This included 17 spots on the US court of appeals, which hears tens of thousands of cases a year and often has the last word judicially.

He boasted in 2019 about his lasting impact on the courts: “Everything else changes,” he said. “I remember during the [2017] tax bill, people were agonizing over whether one part of the tax bill was permanent or not. I said, ‘Look, the only way the tax bill is permanent depends on the next election.’”

“What can’t be undone is a lifetime appointment to a young man or woman who believes in the quaint notion that the job of the judge is to follow the law,” he added. “That’s the most important thing we’ve done in the country, which cannot be undone.”

The past few years and certainly this week should’ve ended the lie that Republicans just want judges who’ll simply “follow the law.” This current corrupt and illegitimate Supreme Court is wholly McConnell’s doing. Trump picked names out of a Federalist Society catalog. You can train a monkey to do that, and McConnell probably would’ve preferred working with the monkey. McConnell was the one who blocked Obama’s rightful Supreme Court pick — disenfranchising the millions of American voters who re-elected the president for a full four years. He invented an absurd excuse for keeping the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat vacant until after the 2016 election and didn’t bother pretending that he’d obey his own rule if the situation occurred under a Republican president.

https://youtu.be/YqRJXVXcVeE

He killed the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, ensuring that his narrow majority could confirm reliable partisan actors who would otherwise never meet the former 60-vote threshold. Neil Gorsuch received stolen property. Brett Kavanaugh is a credibly accused sex offender. Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in a drive-through Senate hearing after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died just weeks before the 2020 election.

It’s probably technically true that McConnell has never “misrepresented” how terrible he is, but that’s hardly grounds for a sorrowful tribute.

McConnell’s legacy might eclipse Biden’s

Business Insider suggested that Biden might genuinely miss McConnell, pointing out that the two found ways to work together during his presidency. Of course, those deals were always under McConnell’s terms and the ones most likely to benefit other well-off white men. Yes, McConnell helped pass Biden’s infrastructure bill, which will build bridges and roads that women might have to travel in secret if they want an abortion wherever that’s still legal.

McConnell doesn’t deserve a Nobel Prize because he’s not a complete political nihilist who doesn’t think the US should default on its debts. White men’s stock portfolios aren’t immune from a senseless global recession.

According to all the frantic fundraising emails I receive daily, democracy is at stake in this election. McConnell has consistently proven an enemy to democracy. Putting the Supreme Court on the 2016 ballot arguably helped convince skeptical Republicans to vote for Trump, who remains an existential threat to national security and global stability. McConnell delayed acknowledging Biden’s obvious election victory in November 2020 because he believed pacifying MAGA would help Republicans win the January Senate runoffs and hold the majority. He bears responsibility for enabling the lies that led to January 6. Worse, McConnell refused to convict Trump in his second annual impeachment for his attempted coup. He had one last chance to do something decent, like Sen. John McCain casting the decisive vote that saved the Affordable Care Act. However, the consistent theme of McConnell’s career is that he never does anything decent. He only acts in what he perceives as his immediate best interest.

It’s usually white men online who defend Biden when he compliments Republicans, especially McConnell. They insist that this is how Biden won in 2020 — white swing voters apparently appreciate the treacly sentiment, but it minimizes the critical role minorities (especially liberal women) played in defeating Trump. They all rightly loathe McConnell. Democrats didn’t hold back a 2022 red wave because Biden whispered sweet nothings in our ears about Mitch McConnell. They came out in force in 2022 and every special election since then because they’re infuriated that McConnell’s handcrafted Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Biden could afford the luxury of generosity if McConnell were a vanquished foe, but he leaves the Senate having completed his life’s work, which we’ll all have to live with long after he’s dead. Roe fell during Biden’s presidency. That’s poor timing and not directly his fault, but he should still resent McConnell. Anyone for whom liberal policies and basic democracy mean anything should curse McConnell’s name, not praise him as a worthy sparring partner. Hell, Joe Frazier died hating Muhammad Ali and for good reason — Ali beat his ass. McConnell beat Biden and Obama’s asses, and America might never recover.