Very few people have the luxury of being freely obnoxious. Most people have to watch what they say for fear of offending their bosses and colleagues. Others resist saying anything that might make them unpopular.
But, in every society, there are a few rare souls who rise above subservience, insecurity and concern. Each morning they take their own abrasive urges out for parade. They are so impressed by their achievements, so often reminded of their own obvious rightness, that every stray thought and synaptic ripple comes bursting out of their mouth fortified by impregnable certitude. When they have achieved this status they have entered the realm of Upper Blowhardia.
Actually, David Brooks could be talking about any of a number of Republicans and even a few Democrats. It's not just about people who are rich enough to untether themselves from society and not pay the consequences -- not lose their job, their access to the clubs, and their real ability to use others to their own ends. It's probably another symptom of attention deficit disorder -- the kind where you think you aren't getting the attention you deserve.
Many people regard Trump as a joke and his popularity a disgrace. But he is actually riding a deep public fantasy: The hunger for the ultimate blowhard who can lead us through dark times.
He is riding something else: The strongest and most subversive ideology in America today. Donald Trump is the living, walking personification of the Gospel of Success.
Wait a minute! Is Brooks talking here about the Trump pathology or an American pathology when it comes to defining success? I haven't been following Trump lately but he's not someone I'd call a "success." A celebrity, yes. A success, no, not unless you call "success" a pile of money. And if you do you are, in the view of many on the saner side of America, suffering from your own pathology.
Now he spouts birther nonsense and calls Obama the worst president in American history. Now he leads rallies that make Michele Bachmann events look like the League of Women Voters. Even angry American voters want some level of seriousness, prudence and self-control.
But I do insist that Trump is no joke. He emerges from deep currents in our culture, and he is tapping into powerful sections of the national fantasy life. I would never vote for him, but I would never want to live in a country without people like him.
I would. I think he's as good an example of what's gone wrong as anything we've got.
