Impromptus

Blurting it out, &c.

By
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie speaks at a town-hall event at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester, N.H., June 6, 2023. (Sophie Park / Reuters)
On the GOP presidential race, an ultra-American documentary, touchy audiences, immortal lyrics, and more

Back in the 1980s, we Reaganites had a certain kind of joke. Say you tripped and skinned your knee. You might say, “How could this happen in Reagan’s America?” Say it rained, and you weren’t able to play your ballgame or something. “Don’t they know Reagan is president? How can this be happening?”

We were joking, mind you. We were poking fun at our own admiration of the president, and at the idea that a U.S. president determined life (although the job is important, to be sure).

Here is a tweet:

Now, I realize this is political pablum — a particularly dumb dose of such pablum. But people should beware an overestimation of politics, and an overestimation of presidential powers. No president can affect the course of every sparrow. Politics is not the be-all, end-all.


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Furthermore, we should distrust politicians who say, “If you vote out Smith and vote for me, Jones, instead, your life will be golden.”

Sheer demagoguery (to borrow one of Reagan’s favorite phrases). Pure snake oil. Blech.

Have you been happy during presidencies of men you disliked? Have you been less than happy during presidencies of men you liked? Of course — this is life. This is normal.

• A headline from last week: “Speaker McCarthy supports expunging Trump’s impeachments over Ukraine and Jan. 6.” (Article here.) As I see it, this is dishonor. Bald, rank dishonor.

• Another headline: “Jan. 6 rioter who electroshocked Michael Fanone shouts ‘Trump won’ after he’s sentenced to 12½ years.” (Article here.) This cult will be studied for decades to come, by people who may remain bewildered.

• I remember where I was when I learned that Chris Christie had endorsed Donald Trump for president — in February 2016. I was walking through an airport. I saw Christie, with Trump, on a TV screen. I was astonished. At the time, conservatives were trying to keep Trump from winning the Republican nomination. Christie was the first major figure to go over to him.

Eventually, everyone would. Virtually the entire Right would go Trumpite, ditching or muting the “old” conservatism. But February 2016 was pretty early.

Christie continued to support Trump, throughout the Trump presidency. He was an “enabler,” if you will. He would often say, “When it comes to supporting Trump, the line forms behind me.” Yup, he was the first.

And now he is perhaps Trump’s most open critic among Republicans. He is dropping truth-bombs, day and night. Does he have any standing to do so? Is he pulling an Emily Litella?

(She was the Saturday Night Live character, played by Gilda Radner, who would say, “Never mind.” She would be abashed about what she had said before — and say, “Never mind.”)

This is the way Christie talks now: “We can’t pretend that Donald Trump is a man of character. This is a guy who paid off a porn star. This is a guy who has regularly lied.” Listen to him:

Here is some more Christie — showing why a lot of us admired him in the early 2010s:

At a CNN “town hall,” a College Republican asked Christie, “What is your message to the people in the Republican Party that still believe the election was stolen?” “Look,” answered Christie, “my message to them is: Just show me the evidence. It’s the same thing that I said to Donald Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election — show me the evidence. If I see the evidence, I’m happy to support fighting all the way to the Supreme Court, and beyond. But there’s no evidence.”

He is almost poignant, in his answering. This kind of talk, from Republicans at large, would have done tremendous good, from November 2020 onward.

It is late, very late. And maybe Christie is a hypocrite. Maybe he is just a maneuvering pol. But what is true is true, and Christie is telling it — the truth.

I think of Emilia, who is Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s maidservant. As A. C. Bradley says, she is the most gratifying character in literature. Why? Because she blurts out the truth in the end — and everyone in the audience has been dying for the truth to be blurted out. True, it’s late — Othello has already killed Desdemona. And Emilia herself will be killed, by her husband, for telling the truth. But, by gum, she tells the truth.

Chris Christie is kind of an Emilia among Republicans.

• An abrupt change of subject:

Some 20 years ago, I had a talk with Donald Rumsfeld, who was then secretary of defense. We had both seen the documentary Spellbound, which is about the National Spelling Bee. He said that, if he had to show a single movie that encapsulated or expressed America, it would be that.

Wonderful, wonderful film. I think I saw it three times. I kept wanting others to see it, and went with them.

• All right, something else:

Now, that’s pretty funny.

In my 30 or so years of writing in public, I have heard from many, many readers: right-wingers, left-wingers, orchestra people, chamber-music people . . . The touchiest of them all, however, have been opera people. There was once a book of opera anecdotes called “Demented.” A fitly chosen title.

But I must say: In recent years, the political people have caught up with opera people.

When I addressed this subject on Twitter, Jim McCarthy responded with — well, check it out. Classic stuff.

• A beloved figure in Ann Arbor, Mich., my hometown, is Lloyd Carr, who was the coach of the University of Michigan football team. I am privileged to know Coach Carr and his family. Mitch Albom, the famous writer, aids Haitians (who need it). He took Coach Carr on a trip to Haiti and wrote it up: here. A memorable story.

•Here is another story that I am impelled to share: “In Iran, a restorer brings back to life famed Cadillac Sevilles once assembled in the country.” Now, that is unexpected. (To read the article, go here.)

• Oh, geez: “Harvard Scholar Who Studies Honesty Is Accused of Fabricating Findings.” (Here.)

• Sheldon Harnick has died, at 99. For the New York Times, Robert Berkvist has done an excellent job with the obit. The obituarist himself died earlier this year. I’ll tell you what will not die: the songs of Fiddler on the Roof, whose lyrics Harnick wrote.

• Wanna laugh? Okay. In the pages of Norway’s leading newspaper, Aftenposten, there was an article about Francis Fukuyama, the eminent political theorist. As you can see in the picture, he is sunny. Behind him is a grumpster, who admires him.

(Le grumpster, c’est moi.)

• Here is the war memorial in Arlington, Va. It started out as the World War memorial, honoring local boys who fought and died. Then there was a second world war. And Korea and so on.

• Something lighter? I think that’d be all right. Here is a campaign sign in Arlington. I think Josh should run for dog-catcher.

• Don’t you think the below establishment is . . . a little incongruous?

• These blooms were in New York City, near the Hudson River. They were fragrant, and they were buzzing with bees. The bees were having a field day, buzzing their lil’ heinies off.

• This is what Lincoln Center Plaza is lookin’ like these days — psychedelic (as we said in the ’70s):

Hope you’re having a fine week. Thank you for joining me. Talk soon.

If you would like to receive Impromptus by e-mail — links to new columns — write to jnordlinger@nationalreview.com.

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