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These are the times that try cynics' souls

Gary Abernathy

By Gary Abernathy The Washington Post

Published April 19, 2019

 These are the times that try cynics' souls

HILLSBORO, Ohio - If age alone is not enough, journalism and politics are professions guaranteed to lead to a case of chronic cynicism. Having spent a 30-plus-year career almost evenly divided between those two pursuits, it's difficult for me to view politics, particularly in Washington, with anything but jaded eyes.

I recognize that such relentless skepticism is unhealthy, so the occasional chance to speak with high school or college students - who still exhibit hope and optimism about government and politics - is a much-needed elixir. They help recalibrate my attitude, at least briefly.

But then comes a spectacle such as Attorney General William Barr's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, where I watched practiced masters ply their well-honed thespian skills, giving credence once again to Shakespeare's observation about the world and the players on its stage.

Democrats brought varying degrees of commitment to their assigned roles during Barr's guest-starring turn on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California offered a convincing portrayal of a prosecutor, a part she essayed earlier in her career, complete with knowing nods and dismissive asides.

Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii had the juiciest lines, but she was curiously still on book, reading her part with little conviction. Calling a U.S. attorney general a liar should be done with more than the casual air of someone commenting on the weather. Barr's performance was unsteady as he waited, often in vain, for his cue to emerge, but Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has his "outraged and offended" routine down pat.

Some newspapers must be tempted to assign their theater critics to cover such farces while saving their news reporters for more serious events. There is irony in the fact that while President Donald Trump was once a TV star, his appeal for many is that he alone seems forever off script. His spontaneity and impulsiveness, reckless as they often are, place others' rehearsed recitations in even starker relief.

Why were Democrats furious with Barr for his four-page summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report and Barr's pre-release news conference? Because he set the narrative. They wanted to set the narrative! They wanted to write the script! How dare he steal their thunder.

The New York Times recently reported, "As Speaker Nancy Pelosi urges caution on impeachment, rank-and-file House Democrats are agonizing over the prospect of trying to oust President Trump, caught between their sense of historic responsibilities and political considerations in the wake of the special counsel's damning portrait of abuses."

I read the story and laughed out loud, falling victim again to my acute pessimism. The notion that anyone in Congress is "agonizing" over "their sense of historic responsibilities" was comical to me.

Try as I might, I detect no authentic outrage over the Mueller report by seasoned Democrats such as Pelosi of California, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California or House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York, whose feud with Trump is personal and goes back decades. There is simply applause to be earned from a grateful Democratic base.

When it's their turn, Republicans will be just as happy to switch roles, as will happen in the coming months when more interesting details arise about the genesis of the Trump-Russia probe. Republicans are no less driven by the temperature of their base. Trump-hating commentators often ask what it will take for Republicans in Congress to abandon the president. The answer is, most will dump him in a heartbeat if his poll numbers among the GOP faithful go south.

But then I stop and chide myself. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe my cynicism runs too deep. I remind myself that I personally know members of Congress who are sincere and do good things for their constituents. I try to tell myself that maybe the Democrats' outrage over Trump, Barr and the Mueller report is real. Maybe Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff and Nadler have no motive other than an altruistic, patriotic desire to defend the Constitution from the evil that is President Trump.

Before long, though, my cynicism owns me again. I try to exorcise the demon, but it materializes with every congressional hearing, every Washington news conference, every campaign stump speech. What I see is not good government, just poll-tested show business.

Still, we can't all be cynics. Politicians need the trusting and the innocent. Perhaps this is why the parties target the youth vote, and some even want to lower the voting age to 16, before pessimism takes root.

Democratic partisans and Never-Trumpers will naturally cheer the coming hearings on obstruction of justice and other Mueller report matters. But I particularly envy the true believers, the non-jaded Americans who will watch the proceedings believing they are witnessing history unfold. In their eyes, Democratic members of Congress will be rising to meet their "historic responsibilities."

I'll watch the same hearings and seeing nothing more than the latest chapters of the "Trump-Russia Collusion and Obstruction Show," a Partisan Political Production that was almost derailed when the attorney general exercised script approval over last month's blockbuster finale. No worries.

It's been renewed for additional episodes - with a guarantee through 2020.

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(COMMENT, BELOW)

Abernathy is the former publisher and editor of the (Hillsboro, Ohio) Times-Gazette.



Previously:
04/19/19 Mueller report is out. The other shoe may drop soon
04/16/19 It behooves serious journalists to delve into a story that might actually be worthy of Watergate comparisons
04/09/19 Get ready for Mueller report 'bombshells'
03/26/19 Trump Country's reaction to the Mueller report: 'So what?'
02/14/19 Things are going well if these stories are considered big news
01/22/19 '%#&@ --- Trump found something to bash us with yet again!'
01/14/19 The wall is Trump's 'read my lips' pledge
01/10/19 Dems risk misreading the meaning of the midterms
12/24/18 Is arming teachers a good idea? Depends on where you live
12/11/18 The partisan media still doesn't understand us
11/23/18 Prez honoring Elvis? It's about time
10/03/18 The Kavanaugh accusations were just what the doctor ordered for Trump Country
08/21/18 America can't stop watching
08/07/18 To the GOP's base, Trump can do no wrong
07/31/18 Will the media's anti-Trump fever ever break?
07/24/18 The media's martyr complex
07/18/18 What got Trump into hot water regarding Putin was not what he said
06/14/18 One lib pol's careful playing of the Trump card
06/13/18 Roseanne's twisted tweet was horrible. Its consequences will be worse
05/08/18 America's charitable instincts know no political divide
05/01/18 Millions of women voted for Trump, and didn't need a man to convince them
04/05/18 'Roseanne' is not pro-Trump; it's pro-civility
01/09/18 Trump is right to bully America's enemies
12/11/17 Abandon Trump? Oh, absolutely not now!
11/10/17 Please, Big Media, come visit us in Trump country
10/12/17 The left does not out-care the right
08/15/17 An honest conversation about race is not allowed
08/02/17 Why people like me still support Trump

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