In the middle of a 3,500-word Newsweek profile of Betsy DeVos—the philanthropist and education reform crusader Donald Trump has nominated for education secretary—The Scrapbook spotted this trenchant observation:
Since when does a tweeted bit of ad hominem scatology from an obscure comedian pass for noteworthy insight? But the best part is that precious little aside, where the author acknowledges the abuse is “unfair, perhaps.” Newsweek senior writer Alexander Nazaryan clearly knows what he’s done is low, not of course that—unrepentant, perhaps—that’s going to stop him. But it does oblige him to make an—unconvincing, perhaps—attempt to strike the journalist’s pose of objectivity. Still, trafficking in the image of dumping excrement all over a bunch of 6-year-olds is rather nasty-minded—unbecoming, perhaps—for a fellow with an Ivy League degree in English literature.
The gross-out attack on DeVos is just a proxy for the real target. And when it comes to treatment of Trump, all pretense of civility has long since—unabashedly, perhaps—been abandoned.
