Oh, Trump defenders. Thank you for providing us with such wonderful instances of the worst sort of sophistry. I really wanted to write about something lovely, like soil microbes or pagan sex rituals, but I find myself irresistibly drawn back to this train wreck.<\/p>\n
The excuses are all so sad, I shouldn\u2019t have to point out how sad they are. It almost feels like cheating. But, here we go.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not electing a saint.\u201d<\/p>\n
Look, if your only two categories are \u201csaint\u201d and \u201cnon-saint\u201d \u2013 and if everyone who isn\u2019t a saint can just be lumped together in one group (kids who cheat on tests, moms who hit wine-thirty an hour early, hired assassins, convicted pedophiles) \u2013 then your moral framework is just plain laughable. Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas are rolling their eyes in paradise.\u00a0No, we\u2019re not electing a saint. But the traditional conservative understanding is that with great power comes great responsibility, that moral character is not just an attribute of some fragmented segment of the personality, but of the integrated person. We may not judge the hidden condition of a person\u2019s soul, but we may indeed judge the objective moral quality of his words and deeds, and on this basis determine the extent to which he is trustworthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that was eleven years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Are you saying he isn\u2019t the same person? Are you denying the enduring unity of the person over time? Or maybe you\u2019re implying he\u2019s changed. In which case, he ought to demonstrate it, as any great sinners of the past famously demonstrated it: through penance, solitary reflection, radical humility. And radical humility would involve not putting oneself forth as the best possible candidate for control of a powerful nation. A little sackcloth and ashes could go a long way here.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut abortion! Supreme court justices!\u201d<\/p>\n
First of all, do you realize how ridiculously easy it is to lure you folks in? All anyone has to do is say a few vaguely anti-abortion-sounding phrases, and you\u2019re ready to lick the soles of his boots. Anyone could run for president this way. I<\/p>\n
\u2018m pretty sure, all things considered, several have. But since every successful political career leaves behind it a trail of broken promises, you should be less gullible by now. You should be more severe in putting a candidate to the test, before accepting the whole vast package of shit that comes with a Trump regime, on the feeble promise of maybe some supreme court justices \u2013 the promise of a serial liar and cheater. Or, if you actually like the shitty stuff that that he\u2019s promised \u2013 to commit war crimes, to refuse help to refugees \u2013 I\u2019m afraid this is not an acceptable Catholic position. \u00a0Add to this the fact that alliance with Trump reveals that you don\u2019t care about Muslim life, or immigrant life, or poor life, or disabled life, or women\u2019s lives: it undoes all the good work many of us have achieved, in convincing secular feminists and activists to take a fresh look at the abortion question. Even if all you care about is virtue-signalling, this is a crappy way to go about it. The public face of the prolife movement is not, unfortunately, any of the grassroots activists, missionaries, or teachers out there actually helping women and children, and advancing a consistent life ethic. It should be. \u00a0But as long as you stay in bed with Trump, he\u2019s going to eclipse all the good that\u2019s happening, on a micro level.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s just ordinary locker room talk. Have you never hung out with men before?\u201d<\/p>\n
No, it really isn\u2019t. And yes, I have. I\u2019ve hung out with men who were cowboys, philosophers, truck drivers, bartenders, drug dealers, fantasy geeks, farmers, writers, and porn addicts. I\u2019m actually pretty vulgar myself, because I think good wholesome vulgarity is a gift from God. What Trump said\u00a0was not \u201cordinary locker room talk.\u201d It wasn\u2019t just crude guys being crude guys; it wasn\u2019t the sort of mistake we\u2019ve all made in our youth, and can now be happy there was no one around to record us. What he described \u2013 the family-values nominee, darling of Priests for Life, the new Constantine, what have you \u2013 was sexual assault. I\u2019ve heard guys talk like that on occasion, yes. And those guys were assholes, reprobates, sometimes spoiled coked-up frat boys whom I wouldn\u2019t trust to look after a puppy, or hyped up macho men drunk on their lust for violence. I\u2019m sorry if you think this is ordinary male behavior. If you\u2019re a guy and you think like this, get help. If you\u2019re a woman and you surround yourself with men who say such things, get away from them. This is actually incredibly insulting thing to think about guys.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Bill Clinton\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh yes. And I opposed him, and criticized him, at the time. Anyone else who did so must, in order to be morally consistent, do likewise with Trump. If you don\u2019t, it just sends a message that you never really cared about sexual abuse of women, but were just appropriating morality in order to make your opposing team look bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut King David\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
That was 3,000 years ago. The culture was violently militaristic, with all the sexism and violence that this implies. Rape of conquered women was common. Gruesome punishments were normative. I seriously doubt that many of you would feel comfortable in such a society. And yet even in that day, David was severely punished for his act, and sincerely repented, and did serious penance. Oh, and I still wouldn\u2019t vote for him (though he\u2019d be great in a novel).<\/p>\n
This is true of others who have had tempestuous and magnanimous characters inclining them either to great love or to great violence: the saints often appear as the wildest of reprobates, turned inside out, turning all their lust of rage into fervor for God.<\/p>\n
And even those who were not saints, the flawed heroes, what I love about them is their insatiable appetite for greatness, their questing spirit. with great error. Trump has none of this about him \u2013 none of the Aristotelian \u201cmagnanimous man\u201d with the great soul attuned towards the highest of goals. Such persons go forth and pursue excellence, sometimes to a dangerous degree \u2013 whether in science, arts, or athletics. This is, of course, a purely humanistic motivation, and it can be destructive, but there is still something about it that takes our breath away. Our Byronic heroes and fatal heroines are tempestuous, but often harder on themselves than on any other. These are the ones who labor late into the night pursuing impossible goals, who test themselves constantly, who allow for no frailty in themselves. They commit hubris, in the old stories. When they sin greatly, they repent greatly.<\/p>\n
We do not wish to imitate them, and as Christians we know there is a higher calling \u2013 we even know that really, beneath the swashbuckle, there is often fear, or an inability to be at peace.<\/p>\n