I don’t know why I waste my time trying to hope that Peggy Noonan has wakened from her Rip Van Winkle slumber and now smells the coffee burning in D.C.
She got me again last week with her column titled “How Trump Lost Half of Washington.” I thought for a split second she might have realized he had lost the phony Washington elites by refusing to inhale their swamp gas, but no, she had already written them off apparently. She was instead talking about the other half of Washington elites, the ones who still had hope of co-opting Trump and transforming him into a swamp dweller.
“Trump supporters have long held, and deeply believe, that none of the people in what they call the swamp were ever anything but unalterably opposed to him and meant, from day one, to remove him by whatever means possible.
“This was true of about half of official Washington. They were predominately Democrats, though there were Republicans too, and certainly the media were against him, overwhelmingly.”
We will overlook the misspelling of predominantly (it’s only the Wall Street Journal after all) and move on to her premise about that other half of Washington, the ones who were still pulling for Trump to succeed according to Dame Peggy.
“… the other half of official Washington, though to varying degrees disapproving of Trump, often for reasons that were almost aesthetic, was willing to be surprised. They were open to persuasion. They didn’t say this but they thought it. They’d give him time and watch events closely.
“I’m thinking of the old ambassadors, mostly men in their 60s, 70s and 80s. They’re woven into the town, solid citizens, friends of journalists, occasionally sources, and they know things. They’re mostly retired, and at lunch at clubs in town often begin sentences with “And so I told Zbig . . .” There’s a bit of lost glory with them, but they care about America, are personally invested in it, love it with an old-school love, and respect systems, knowing that creativity—in art, science and diplomacy—can only be born within a certain immediate order.”
Of course, with “And so I told Zbig” she gave away the game and showed that she herself is utterly incapable of understanding the Trump Revolution, the Swamp or the danger of a Deep State.
She is describing herself as well as Washington when she frets about how Trump’s trampling on the polite conventions of Old Foggy Bottom leaves the old guard aghast.
“One by one the ambassadors shut down and turned away. Their objections were not about policy, they were about behavior. What they feared was not extreme conservatism or extreme liberalism. They didn’t fear originality or a new synthesis. They feared Madness of King George-ism. They’d come to think the president was, irredeemably, a screwball.”
That also by extension describes what they thought of the people who voted for Trump and those who count on him to restore American greatness. Yes, we are the Deplorables, the huddled masses who are refugees from a century of paternalistic progressive coddling.
Nothing better codifies the gap between the Washington elites and the Deplorables than the Mueller probe, and Dame Peggy comes down squarely on the side of the swamp.
“[Mueller] was a patriot looking to finish a distinguished career with integrity. He hired killers, tough lawyers and investigators who were hunting the whale and intended to harpoon it. They did everything they could to get the story. What they produced is a more dreadful portrait of Mr. Trump than his supporters will know, because most Americans won’t read it.”
Nothing better captures the snobby disdain the swamp holds toward Trump’s voters. We are just too damn dumb to read the Mueller Report for ourselves. Or just perhaps we read it without the jaundiced eye of the high and mighty and saw for ourselves that the only thing Mueller proved is that Trump is Trump. Every bit of the obstruction folderol is simply Trump refusing to surrender to the Witch Hunt.
He fights back. That’s why we Deplorables love him and why the idiots in Washington hate him.
Frank Miele writes from Kalispell, Montana, at www.HeartlandDiaryUSA.com and is a columnist at Real Clear Politics. My new book is “The Media Matrix: What If Everything You Know Is Fake.” To support my work, please consider buying “The Media Matrix” or my “Why We Needed Trump” trilogy, which documents the downward spiral of the USA before Trump arrived on the scene. The books are available at Amazon in paperback or Kindle editions. Go here for a free sample: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/sitb/B07PDQBJM4
Isn’t she precious? Peggy from Fairleigh Dickinson, Rutherford. NJ, not Harvard? Like Elizabeth Warren from Rutgers not Harvard. Speaking about how Washington inner circles would watch Trump closely to see if he is worthy. How condescending. As though these career freeloaders were perfect. I could start my list with Scwarzenegger who has done his share of betrayal yet shows disdain toward Trump. Alec Baldwin? How is he morally superior to anyone especially Trump. There are so many more hypocrites that should not criticize about Trump’s personality and past unless they are pure. I hope Schiff, Maxine, and swalwell – don’t forget how Elizabeth Warren lied to your face – have their day in the court of public opinion. Your analysis of Peggy (and I loved her Reagan Speech at Normandy) is right on.
“She is describing herself as well as Washington when she frets about how Trump’s trampling on the polite conventions of Old Foggy Bottom leaves the old guard aghast.”. Peggy is, sadly, part of the swamp although she might prefer “old guard.”. How much more does Trump need to do to free the American people from the career politicians who have made it their life’s work never to make a definitive statement, love to live off the Americans who work for a salary, and refuse to get ANYTHING done. I hoped for something better from Peggy.
Sincerely,
Joe Morrisco
Bedminster, NJ 07921
You added some nice insights. I did enjoy Peggy from a purely literary point of view but she has wasted her intelligence in the service of the status quo.
I am still scratching my head over her comments. I have seldom read Noonan for the past decade and again I was reminded why. She certainly wants the elites in control. I guess they have better parties without deplorable entrance. She just seems so out of touch as she lives in the NY alternate universe. Strange!