If you’re looking for a great political observation that
frolics with imagery and animation while delivering a scorching portrait of its
victim Mike Pence, look no farther than George Will’s opinion piece in the May
9th Washington Post.
Entitled “Trump is no longer the worst person in government,”
the essay is a spot-on vocabulary lesson reminding us all that the call to
Washington in Trump’s climate is synonymous to the call of dark creatures to
Tolkien’s Mordor in Lord of the Rings. Amusing and terrifying – and only an
impeachment away.
George Will's Opinion:
“Donald Trump, with his feral cunning,
knew. The oleaginous Mike Pence, with his talent for toadyism and appetite for
obsequiousness, could, Trump knew, become America’s most repulsive public figure.
And Pence, who has reached this pinnacle by dethroning his benefactor, is
augmenting the public stock of useful knowledge. Because his is the authentic
voice of today’s lickspittle Republican Party, he clarifies this year’s
elections: Vote Republican to ratify groveling as governing.
“Last June, a Trump Cabinet meeting
featured testimonials offered to Dear Leader by his forelock-tugging
colleagues. His chief of staff, Reince Priebus, caught the spirit of the
worship service by thanking Trump for the ‘blessing’ of being allowed to serve
him. The hosannas poured forth
from around the table, unredeemed by even a scintilla of insincerity. Priebus
was soon deprived of his blessing, as was Tom Price. Before Price’s ecstasy of
public service was truncated because of his incontinent enthusiasm for charter
flights, he was the secretary of health and human services who at the Cabinet
meeting said, ‘I can’t thank you enough for the privileges you’ve given me.’
The vice president chimed in but saved his best riff for a December Cabinet
meeting when, as The Post’s Aaron Blake calculated,
Pence praised Trump once every 12 seconds for three minutes: ‘I’m
deeply humbled. . . .
‘ Judging by the number of times Pence announces himself ‘humbled,’ he might
seem proud of his humility, but that is impossible because he is conspicuously
devout and pride is a sin.
“Between those two Cabinet meetings, Pence
and his retinue flew to Indiana
for the purpose of walking out of an Indianapolis Colts football game, thereby
demonstrating that football players kneeling during the national anthem are
intolerable to someone of Pence’s refined sense of right and wrong. Which
brings us to his Arizona salute last week to Joe Arpaio, who was sheriff of
Maricopa County until in 2016 voters wearied of his
act.
“Noting that Arpaio was in his
Tempe audience, Pence, oozing unctuousness from every pore, called Arpaio
“another favorite,” professed himself ‘honored’ by Arpaio’s presence, and praised
him as ‘a tireless champion of . . .
the rule of law.’ Arpaio, a grandstanding, camera-chasing bully and darling of
the thuggish right, is also a criminal, convicted
of contempt of court for ignoring a federal judge’s order to desist from
certain illegal law enforcement practices. Pence’s performance occurred eight
miles from the home of Sen. John McCain, who could teach Pence — or perhaps not
— something about honor.”
Read the entire
essay at the Washington Post’s site below
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