The Most Fun President Ever
Over at my old haunt American Thinker, which a dear friend has aptly redubbed “The People’s Observer,” Sundays used to be reserved for items of a more theoretical nature, items by newer writers the editors were not sure would find a wide readership, and a regular “Week in Review”-style lead article by establishment-friendly columnist Clarice Feldman.
This week Feldman, a breathless Trumpette — if she had not joined the cult, she would no longer be featured regularly at American Thinker, believe me — contributed a piece with the fan-clubbish title “Is Trump the Most Fun President Ever?”
Perhaps you did not realize the American presidency was supposed to be “fun” for the public. But think about it: What else was the meaning of Jefferson’s injunction, in the Declaration of Independence, that governments must derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed,” if not that the British monarchy just wasn’t fun anymore? The purpose of the presidency, then, being to provide politics-themed light entertainment for the masses (or at least the masses of one competing tribe), who better to assume the role (I choose that word carefully) than a real life reality TV producer and star?
And how, exactly, has Trump achieved this status as “Most Fun President Ever”? The teaser to Feldman’s article, right there on AT’s homepage, lets us in on his secret: “Bit by bit, Donald Trump is draining the left’s power, supply train, and prestige.” In other words, as the Dear Orange Leader Himself would certainly agree, this is all about winning — not winning on any principle or winning for the revitalization of a dying republic, but just beating one’s political opponent at the ballot box. Politics, for people immersed in the Washington establishment narrative, like Feldman, is just a pragmatic game of defeating one’s opponent, regardless of how victory is defined, or whether any broader good is being served. In that regard, Trump may, at least in the short term, be deemed “a winner.” Hooray.
In a sense, then, the fun of empty “winning” having been stipulated as the purpose of politics, Feldman is right that “Bit by bit, Donald Trump is draining the left’s power, supply train, and prestige.”
Of course, if you changed “the left’s” in that blurb to “the constitutionalists’,” the statement would be equally true; as it would be if you changed it to “America’s” — which only goes to show how true Feldman’s thesis is, since, while people of diverse interests and political views naturally define “fun” differently, Trump may easily be seen to be doing fan-service for all those different perspectives, both domestic and foreign. In other words, to restate and strengthen Feldman’s thesis without her somewhat limiting pro-Republican establishment slant: “Bit by bit, Donald Trump is draining liberty’s power, supply train, and prestige.” How much fun can one president produce!
Many U.S. Presidents may be called “the most X” president ever. Washington may be the most decent and principled ever. Jefferson may be the most worldly and polymathic ever. Madison may be the most philosophically astute ever. Lincoln may be the most oratorically gifted ever. Reagan may be the most willing to stand in defiance of the zeitgeist of his time in defense of the concept of individual liberty ever. Kennedy may be the most impervious to honest evaluation ever. Wilson may be the most overtly opposed to limited government ever. FDR may be the most fortunate in his enemies ever. Obama may be the most Marxist ever.
But the most “fun”? Who knew that was even a category? Well now you know.
