Vice signaling among the Tumperati
One prominent feature of the Donald Trump presidencies and of the Republican Party for which he stands is the degree to which avarice, tawdriness, and a gnawing hunger for power define them.
We often call it projection when they accuse opponents of unethical behaviors that they themselves revel in. But what looks like whataboutism really is public display of a twisted world view that rejects morality and virtue as the pursuit of fools. Or posers.
Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic reported that during a 2017 Memorial Day visit to Arlington National Cemetery, Trump shook his head at the sacrifice of fallen Americans buried there:
He was accompanied on this visit by John Kelly, who was then the secretary of homeland security, and who would, a short time later, be named the White House chief of staff. The two men were set to visit Section 60, the 14-acre area of the cemetery that is the burial ground for those killed in America’s most recent wars. Kelly’s son Robert is buried in Section 60. A first lieutenant in the Marine Corps, Robert Kelly was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan. He was 29. Trump was meant, on this visit, to join John Kelly in paying respects at his son’s grave, and to comfort the families of other fallen service members. But according to sources with knowledge of this visit, Trump, while standing by Robert Kelly’s grave, turned directly to his father and said, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” Kelly (who declined to comment for this story) initially believed, people close to him said, that Trump was making a ham-handed reference to the selflessness of America’s all-volunteer force. But later he came to realize that Trump simply does not understand non-transactional life choices.
It wasn’t a one-off comment. Goldberg again reported that Trump in 2018 refused to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris, blaming the cancellation on rain that did not prevent other dignitaries from attending:
In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
Trump cannot conceive of anyone both in or out of public service living by a code of ethics that might forestall grabbing as much wealth for themselves as possible by any means necessary, legal or illegal. Anyone behaving as though driven by a higher calling is virtue signaling. They are secretly frauds like him, and thus detestable. At least he’s honest about being dishonest.
Dear Leader is imparting that warped world view to those around him.
Prem Thakker comments this morning at Zeteo on the proliferation of “vice signaling” in this second Trump administration:
There is no more perfect embodiment of vice signaling, and its embarrassingly hollow cowardice, than Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – an alleged serial drunkard and sexual abuser working for Donald Trump, a man found liable for sexual abuse and former friend of the world’s most infamous pedophile – posting memes about attacking boats in the middle of the ocean, and then pinning it all on a subordinate when the going gets tough.
Much hay has been made about “virtue signaling” over the past decade (often, ironically, by some of the most unvirtuous people in public life). A disorienting panic, given how much of US politics in recent years has brought unseen levels of vice. And what was sometimes hidden before is not just out in the open, but winked and nodded at daily.
In one sense, it’s refreshing for the villainry festering in the swamp to be expressed more honestly. On the other hand, they think there’s an appetite for this.
Watching Hegseth, AG Pam Bondi, DHS Secretary Krist Noem, and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lie, evade, and deflect with sneering contempt should turn Americans’ stomachs. Trump’s White House believes that rather than evoke revulsion, there are enough Americans of the MAGA persuasion to help them power through criticism of criminality and self-dealing. Trump in fact proudly displays his avarice in festivals of conspicuous consumption at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Pam Beach, Florida.
In the post-apocalyptic “Lucifer’s Hammer,” a remnant Army unit, the “New Brotherhood Army,” resorts to cannibalism. Initially, it is to survive. Later, committing that unspeakable act, one from which there is no turning back, becomes a bonding ritual for new conscripts. Watching cabinet members ritually debase themselves for Trump in front of cameras serves a similar purpose. That puts an ironic twist on Thakker’s observation that Trump and company believe “there’s an appetite for” vice signaling.
Happy Hollandaise, everyone!