With the passage of time, one can forget how deftly former president Barack Obama addresses a large crowd — the pauses, the ironic glances, the accelerating cadence, the laugh that says “You are in on the joke.” Had your memory dimmed, his speech in Pittsburgh on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and the rest of the Democratic ticket last week reminded us of his unique rhetorical skills.
“Mr. Obama largely made the case for Ms. Harris by delivering a searing takedown of Trump. He mocked Mr. Trump as unable to relate to everyday Americans — quipping, to jeers, that he has most likely never changed a diaper or a tire,” the New York Times reported. “The attacks turned serious, too, as Mr. Obama upbraided Mr. Trump’s response to the deadly hurricanes that have devastated Southeastern states.”
Obama recounted felon and former president Donald Trump’s unhinged antics. (“Ranting and the raving about crazy conspiracy theories. The two-hour speeches, word salad, just — it’s like Fidel Castro. Just on and on. Constant attempts to sell you stuff. Who does that?”) He mocked Trump’s “whining” and his bumbling. Obama pointed out that the former president, who said “So what?” when he heard his vice president’s life was at risk on Jan. 6, 2021, could not possibly care about ordinary Americans. (“If Donald Trump does not care that a mob might attack his own vice president, do you think he cares about you?”)
As amusing, insightful and stinging as those comments might have been, the most powerful portion of his remarks came toward the end after he reiterated Trump’s cruel, irresponsible and deliberate stream of lies in the midst of a natural disaster. Obama shared that although he did not grow up with a father, he had role models and family who helped him develop character. But now we have a presidential candidate who lies, bullies and wreaks havoc. “When did that become okay? Why would we go along with that?” Obama asked, his voice revealing equal measures of disdain, incredulity and disgust. And yet when “Donald Trump lies, cheats or disregards the Constitution, when he calls POW’s losers or fellow citizens vermin, people make excuses for it.”
In short, Obama acknowledged that people may be frustrated with government and want to shake things up. But he confessed that he “cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania.”
In denouncing Trump for his reprehensible conduct, Obama was putting voters — not to mention the media — on the spot. How have they disregarded or normalized or ignored utter disdain for basic values, norms and truth? It’s not an easy query. You wonder whether millions of Americans have become cruel and despicable — or so cynical they treat politics like a game in which fundamental rules of behavior have no place.
This shift in public opinion has largely gone unremarked upon by the media. (Perhaps they fear the wrath of MAGA voters if they do.) So we turn to social scientists for answers. The data show us that Republicans, heavily dominated by White Christian evangelicals, stopped caring about character in their leaders.
In 2011, the think tank Public Religion Research Institute found that “60 percent of white evangelicals believed that a public official who ‘commits an immoral act in their personal life’ cannot still ‘behave ethically and fulfill their duties in their public and professional life.’” But Trump changed all that by 2016, when the number plummeted to 20 percent. The party of character and personal rectitude had changed its tune.
The organization’s CEO Robert P. Jones explained:
Trump’s campaign — with its sweeping promise to “make American great again” — triumphed by converting self-described “values voters” into what I’ve called “nostalgia voters.” Trump’s promise to restore a mythical past golden age — where factory jobs paid the bills and white Protestant churches were the dominant cultural hubs — powerfully tapped evangelical anxieties about an uncertain future.
Put differently, as White evangelicals slipped into the minority and came to view themselves as victims, they tossed character aside in favor of a champion bully, someone who could destroy their enemies and arrest the slide into racial and religious pluralism. As I have written, that group of Americans overwhelmingly dominates the Republican Party.
As Peter Wehner, an evangelical conservative, has written: “Politics became drenched in grievances and demonization, almost always aimed at liberals and Democrats, especially Democratic presidents. Evangelical leaders set the tone.” Obama said that “freedom” for Trump is “getting away with stuff”; “freedom” for the base of the Republican Party, sadly, has become the right to redefine America as a bastion for White Christianity in which their own place of dominance is secure.
The unpleasant answer to Obama’s question — when did this become okay? — is that a frighteningly large percentage of Republicans are more interested in finding a strongman to defeat their enemies, restore a bygone era of White power, legitimize misogyny and prevent non-White immigrants from “poisoning” our blood, than they are in finding a decent, honorable person to lead the country and set an example for our children.
The question for the country in this election has therefore boiled down to whether that sentiment represents a majority of the electorate (or enough for an electoral vote majority) or whether decency, honesty and empathy still matter. I am betting that MAGA remains a distinct minority. That means the majority of Americans must show up to vote if they want to demonstrate that character still matters.
