Call and Response

"I’ll leave you with this. Eventually I’ll figure out why GOPers are so confident he’ll thrash Biden in the debates, but it won’t be today." via @allahpundit https://t.co/6Jwne3Hf6N

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 7, 2020

It's the favorite internet meme about Trump.  Trump says something stupid, and the sky doesn't fall on his head.  Proof positive people don't care about the stupid thing Trump just said.

Here’s a hilarious example. You can imagine how a Republican politician who *is* versed in Christian belief would have framed this attack. It would have started with the fact that Biden and the Democrats are pro-abortion, would have pivoted to the left’s crusade to use antidiscrimination laws to force Christian bakers and florists to cater gay weddings, and would have landed on the double standard practiced by Dem governors in locking down churches over COVID but not anti-racism protests. He can’t be bothered to make the effort. He goes straight to the subtext. “Yeah, anyway, here’s some stuff for the Christians. Biden wants to hurt the Bible, he wants to hurt God too, and also take the guns, all the stuff you people like. All right? Let’s go have lunch.”

It’s Christian conservatism as a second, or maybe even third, language. How would one “hurt” a Bible, exactly, let alone God? What he’s offering here isn’t an argument or even a thought, properly understood. It’s just pairing random threatening verbs with things Christians find sacrosanct, a la mad libs. “Biden wants to [sinister verb] the [sacred figure].” “Biden wants to vandalize the Holy Spirit.” “Biden wants to rape the archangel Gabriel.”

It doesn’t have to make sense. He’s just checking the box. Again, Christians don’t seem to mind.

There's a certain amount of "Blacks don't seem to mind" in that final sentence.  True, Christianity is not a "race," not an inherent quality we assign to people in order to categorize them.  But Kanye West is also speaking the quiet part out loud:  that with Trump, it's always about racism:

As spoiler strategies go I feel like "I'm Ralph Nader, and I want you to vote for me and this agenda" is more effective than "I'm literally running to re-elect Trump, please step onto this part of the floor and ignore the button I'm about to push." https://t.co/JCqbhPiIex

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 6, 2020

So, you know, "blacks" all vote as a block, and "Christians" all like Trump and "don't seem to mind" when he says something patently stupid and offensive.

Set aside the vague and glittering generalization of the category error, and look at the faulty causal analysis.  What are "Christians" supposed to do about Trump's tarmac statement yesterday?  Rush to their phones to call their pollster to register their outrage in a poll?  Hasten to find a microphone they can get in front of so they can bluster and rage at this offense?  Take to the streets en masse and immediately?  Flood "Christian Twitter" with their anger?  (Is there a "Christian Twitter"?).

How are Christians supposed to reflect that they "mind" what Trump said, within 24 hours?  Within 2 hours, for that matter?  What he said was reported on Twitter (did the NYT or WaPo front page it today?).  I didn't hear about it on the news this morning (NPR) or on local news last night.  Sure, he said it, but is tout le monde on Twitter or it doesn't exist?

Yes, basically.  The internet is the largest navel-gazing society on the planet, and Twitter is its Temple and apotheosis.  But really, some of these memes are just tiresome.