It started with Don Rickles insulting everybody on his show and on other celebrities’ shows that he appeared in, including the hosts.
“It’s so good to see you. I did not know that you were still on,” he insulted JOHNNY CARSON. An incredible thing to say to the king of late-night talk shows. But he got away with it. And it enhanced his reputation. People loved him. In the context of his field, it was amusing and acceptable.
When the TV celebrity Donald Trump rode down in his golden elevator to declare his candidacy for president of the U.S., the Don Rickles’ modus operandi was his strategy. He started insulting everybody. He publicly called his opponents by the debasing nicknames he gave to each and every one of them. Western civilization has a saying that you don’t hit a woman even with a rose. But that saying meant nothing to the Don. Her face to a woman, is the most sacred thing on earth as well as in Heaven. You don’t ever describe her face with any adjective other than beautiful. But the former president threw such unforgivable insult to his opponent in 2016, Carly Fiorina “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I would not lose voters,” he declared. Mindless boasting for sure, but that statement also reflected the then-candidate Donald Trump’s confidence in his celebrity strategy. That explained why he made 30573 false or misleading claims in over four years without a care that he would be labeled a liar. He told 162 distortions or lies in a press conference according to Peter Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, who marveled at the former president’s ability to physically do that and called it “the Olympics of lying.”
To the surprise of everyone, including MAGA Republicans, that strategy worked in 2016.
When you worked hard and found gold, you would be happy but also feel humble. But if by luck you dug up gold, you would be overjoyed and believe you were invincible. Thus, since 2016, MAGA started adopting Don Rickles-ism and insulting everyone. Insulting and smearing their opponents has become their national policy. The policy has its upside: the press will repeat your insult and analyze it to death for hours, even days, then try to get you on camera to “explain” what your insult means etc. Free face time on national TV.
With Senator JD Vance spreading his staff in football format on the tarmac walking toward the vice president’s aircraft for the optics, Don Rickles-ism has become MAGA’s MO plus a touch of Hollywood show biz publicity. The senator said, with a beard, sorry with seriousness that he just wanted to check out his future airplane.
You may think it to be lighthearted and fun until you remember the violent attack of the U.S. Capitol Building, the seat of Democracy.
In 2016, the voters were still enamored with another Hollywood product, Ronald Reagan and voted for a TV show host to be President of the U.S. But after four years of his presidency, we should see the differences and understand why one was a resounding political success and the other not a success by any definition.
We see the differences between the two presidents from the look, the manner, the character, the personality, the conduct to the experiences and the political skills. We see that, then we must come to the only conclusion.
Don Rickles-ism should never help us vote the right person to the White House. The job is tremendously hard. It requires the look, the manner, the character, the personality, the conduct, the experiences and the political skills of a helmsman to keep the national ship moving steadily and forward. The choice is clear in 2024.
JOHN P. LE PHONG, ESQ.
(you can read this article, and many others, on my blog site The Le Phong Journal, http://thelephongjournal.com, and on my Facebook).
