Mean by Default

June 25, 2017

Was it last week when the Donald called the House healthcare bill mean? I think it was. I recall thinking it weird at the time. Back in May, he threw a party to celebrate that bill’s passage and now calls it mean? Odd, but we’ve all become somewhat oblivious to the odd, here in Trump times.

So, today, Trump took issue with Barack Obama referring to the new Senate healthcare bill’s “fundamental meanness” – not because it wasn’t true, but because “mean” was Trump’s term. He used it first, so it’s his.

Trump complained, “He used my term: ‘mean,’ That was my term, because I want to see — and I speak from the heart — that’s what I want to see. I want to see a bill with heart,” when asked about the bill during a Fox (go figure) interview this morning.

Typical of any Trump statement: it assumes credit, offers nothing specific and has one or more embedded cliches. Also typically, we are left with no clue as to how the Donald feels about the original topic. We’re forced to guess, with what we know. We know: Trump called the house bill mean, Obama called the Senate bill mean, the bills are mostly the same, and Trump really wants credit for the term mean.

Is that enough to discern if the Donald thinks the Senate bill is mean? A bill he’s been selling hard. A bill that’s potentially the big first legislative win for Team Trump. Selling a bill he thinks is mean seems, once again, odd.

But, maybe not…

If we step out of the normal and stop assuming that we all feel mean is bad, then the mystery resolves. If Trump and his buddies are okay with mean, then celebrating a mean bill isn’t strange at all. If the Donald thinks mean is a good thing (when applied to the right people) then selling a mean bill, focusing on it’s virtues, is the right thing  to do.

Maybe, we should be taking Trump more literally, stop looking for symbolism or nuance. Hell, he claimed the election was rigged and we ignored his claim, but it was true – just not the way he implied. Now, he’s told us the Republican healthcare bill is mean, but he’s still gonna sell it. It may be vile, but he’s okay with that.  We should believe him.

Two-hundred-twenty-nine days since the election, and things appear meaner – it’s becoming the default. Hence, from the heart, the republic doesn’t understand Team Trump’s complaints about symbolic, but bloody, Trump heads, Shakespearean Trump lookalike stabbings and assassination comedy. Did they really expect to hoard all the mean as if it were money? Dumb asses!

In Justice,
osv