Different Breeds, &c.
On Mueller and Trump; when a war is a war; ‘post-liberals’ for Orbán; a cultural dilemma; and more
As you know, Robert Mueller has died at 81. He had a long, varied, and ultimately controversial life. A graduate of Princeton, a Marine Corps officer, a Vietnam War hero. For twelve years, the director of the FBI. Special counsel in the matter of Russia and the 2016 election.
You saw how President Trump greeted his death:
Years ago, I wrote a fair amount about Mueller, as many of us did. One of the points I made was: You could hardly imagine two people more different than Donald Trump and Robert Mueller. In their backgrounds, their records, their values—the ways they have lived their lives.
“To each his own.”
When the “Mueller Report” came out in 2019, a lot of people around me considered it an exoneration of President Trump and his team. If that was an exoneration, I have never seen one more damning.
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Speaking of differences: The difference between Robert S. Mueller and Kash Patel is pretty great too, isn’t it? Two FBI directors. Two men who have led completely different lives and embodied radically different values.
You could say the same of Judge Webster and Patel too. Can you imagine Webster or Mueller behaving as Patel did at the recent Winter Olympics in Italy? (To recall it, go here.)
This is what Director Patel was doing before Trump made him FBI director:
Again: “To each his own.”
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“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” Who said that? Plato or Confucius? In any case, more than one sage has said it, over the millennia.
President Trump says that only Democrats call the Iran war a “war.” “They call it a ‘war’; we call it a ‘military operation.’”
Vladimir Putin calls his war on Ukraine a “special military operation.” It’s “special,” all right.
Here is a curiosity: The administration that insists on calling the Department of Defense the “Department of War” won’t call the Iran war a “war.”
In any event, I sure as hell hope we win. What would winning look like? That is a challenging question.
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It looks like Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea, is grooming his daughter to be his successor: the fourth dictator in the family. I wrote about this in an article last month.
Well, here’s the latest news: “Kim Jong-un sits on a tank with his daughter at a military exercise.” Yes, looks like grooming.
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Here is a report from the Washington Post: “To tilt Hungarian election, Russians proposed staging assassination attempt.” The subheading reads as follows: “To aid Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, a friend of Russia, in his election, operatives proposed ‘the Gamechanger’—a staged assassination attempt to stir supporters.”
Sure.
There is a curious alliance behind Orbán: Russia and the United States; the Kremlin and the White House; Putin and Trump. I wrote about this last week, in this article.
Our secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has campaigned for Orbán in Hungary. According to reports, Vice President JD Vance will go soon.
A few days ago, President Trump sent a video to the CPAC conclave in Hungary (here). From Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did the same.
From France, Marine Le Pen has arrived in Hungary—see her here. Les beaux esprits se rencontrent, as they say in her home country. (This means, approximately, “Birds of a feather gather together,” or possibly, “Great minds think alike.”)
Look, it’s all one, as I’ve outlined many times—here, for example. Trump, Putin, Le Pen, Salvini, Farage, the AfD … It’s one team, one movement. Indeed, Nigel Farage speaks of their “whole global movement.” He did so while campaigning for a U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama! Steve Bannon formed an organization in Brussels called “The Movement.”
They are very well coordinated, these guys. Advocates of liberal democracy should be half as well coordinated.
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Readers of my column are familiar with Conrad Kottak, the anthropologist. I wrote about him a few weeks ago, here. Professor Kottak has a Substack of his own, and his latest article is titled “Shared Culture, Then and Now.”
In America, shared culture, or “mass culture,” is disappearing. In its place is “segmental culture,” or “silo-ization.” Everyone curates his own media, in the realms of both news and entertainment (and sometimes news and entertainment blend). Everyone is looking at his own stuff on his own screen.
Is this good? Yes. (Viva choice! Viva individualism!) Is this bad? Yes.
“From shared screens to individualized media worlds,” writes Professor Kottak. “This is not a trivial change.”
This change, he continues,
affects how culture is transmitted, how common ground is established, and how social understanding is built
So the question remains: What, if anything, do we still share?
Is there anything today that functions as The Brady Bunch once did, providing a common cultural touchstone across lines of class, region, and background? Or has American culture become a mosaic of overlapping but largely separate worlds?
I ask my readers for help answering these questions.
So do I, actually. If you have any bright ideas, please let me know, either in the comments (for paid subscribers—thank you, by the way) or via e-mail (for anybody!): mail@jaynordlinger.com.
Last month, there were dueling halftime shows for the Super Bowl. Bad Bunny, at the game itself, and Kid Rock, in a Republican venue. Was Kid Rock a wholesome alternative to the bunny who calls himself “Bad”?
Well, wholesome is in the eye and mind of the beholder, I suppose. I have seen some of Kid Rock’s lyrics. (I did not see his halftime show.) It’s the usual fare—foul as hell.
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Speaking of hell: In my column on Sunday, I spoke of Hell, Michigan, which is not far from my humble hometown of Ann Arbor. I got a note from a friend, who writes,
When I was a Boy Scout growing up in Detroit, we would camp every month. Occasionally that would take us to Hell. Sometimes in the winter. The irony was not lost on us when the temperature, at night, would dip into the teens. In Hell.
There’s a town on Lake Superior called “Paradise.” But it was too far to do weekend camping.
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Maybe throw a little music at you, before knocking off? For a review of La traviata, by Verdi, at the Metropolitan Opera, go here. Several interesting issues arise.
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As regular readers know, I collect youth slang—and like it (usually). Sometimes I learn the slang just as it’s fading out. That’s okay. Better late than never.
Two young women were having a leisurely meal at a diner. Finally, one said, “In conclusion …”
I actually accosted the poor women about this—spoke to them about it, having overheard it. They were happy to explain. Yes. It’s a way of saying, “So, to wrap up …” It’s a way of saying, “Anyway, before we say goodbye …”
In conclusion—thanks for joining me, dear readers.
Pets and animals in general are unifying figures. It is a shared affection, shared sense of responsibility and stewardship, and a shared recognition of innocence that join us in a love of animals. Of course, there are exceptions (e.g., poachers and abusers) to this. We need to relearn how to properly manage a society the way people properly handle their pets. Respect, care, and discipline.
I was born in 1952 and grew up with television. Early on, there were only three American TV networks (some towns, like the one I grew up in, had only one, until cable TV made its appearance in the late 60s). News, aside from the farm report, was limited to thirty minutes each, world and local in the evening. Every Fall the new shows would come out, to much anticipation, and everyone talked about them. The most popular were watched by millions, and lines of dialogue from them entered common usage, recognized by all who heard them.
That's all pretty much gone now. Don't get me wrong, on-demand streaming is great! Used to, if you weren't present in front of the TV at a certain time and date, well, maybe you'd catch it in summer reruns. But as a pop-culture touchstone shared by the whole country, TV is not what it was. About the only subjects I hear being peacefully discussed by any substantial number of Americans are pets, sports, and the weather (if you can avoid climate change).