Last week, Pittsburgh Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison became de facto spokesman for millions of parents everywhere, including me, when he said that kid “participation trophies” are nonsense, and that he didn’t care whether he hurt anyone’s feelings by saying so.
“I’m sorry I’m not sorry for believing that everything in life should be earned,” he said. “And I’m not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they are entitled to something just because they tried their best.”
Harrison was blunt and unapologetic, and for that alone he became a minor folk hero. (He gave his kids’ “Best of the Batch” trophies back. Harrison for president!)
All of this may ring faint bells for pundits still scratching their heads and GOP consultants wringing their hands over Donald Trump’s ascent from gasbag also-ran to gasbag front-runner, to say nothing of his ability to hold a lead. For now, voters don’t seem to care about Trump’s character, hair, vacillations, opportunism, toxic personal affairs or past bankruptcies, to name a few of his problem areas.
To the surprise of experts everywhere, none of this seems to be turning GOP voters off, at least not very many and at least not yet, mostly because Trump speaks with the clarity and intuition of someone who actually believes the words coming out of his mouth. How refreshing!
Whatever Trump’s appeal, his volume and arrogance have pierced the fog of Beltway talking points, and GOP primary voters, exasperated and weary of Boehner-McConnell-Romney-Bush ennui, are heading toward the light. The rest of the candidates are white noise, like parents who pretend to think participation trophies are a good idea. What a bore.
Whether Trump’s merely an anomaly or can hold permanent appeal to GOP voters’ psyche, millions seem willing to test their luck. Trump’s big-talk and hyperbole have limits, but he hasn’t overstepped them yet. And more importantly, whether or not the electorate has reached a “turning point” with Trump, as Mark Halperin said last week, it remains to be seen whether another GOP candidate can muster a counter punch to Trump’s James Harrison-like perch as a “populist” antidote to conventional Beltway nonsense.
And then there’s Hillary Clinton, the dynastic queen of convention. Assuming she withstands Democrats’ realization that they’re on the bad end of an arranged union, the Left’s fling with Bernie Sanders, and the many varietals of Clinton scandal new and old, she’d be facing an electorate that’s been exasperated enough with establishment jib-jab to elevate Donald Trump, of all people, to the role of semi-permanent Joe the Plumber.
Hillary’s the participation trophy of the 2016 race: We’re all supposed to think we’d be achieving something just by electing her, but really she’s what you get if you barely pay attention and stand around plucking blades of grass out of the ground and picking your nose while the game goes on around you.
Hillary’s the candidate of ennui and haze. She’s a lousy — epically lousy — retail politician. And forget “cringe-worthy.” I get the feeling even Huma Abedin has done face-palms with some of the boss’ new splats (Snapchat, wiping her hard drive “like with a cloth or something,”etc.) Washed up Gen-X-ers like myself may simply cringe, but millennials can’t come up with derisive hashtags fast enough.
That’s one problem with being “inevitable” for the better part of 15 years. After a while, like kids who’ve piled up a dozen or so kid-doing-Pele soccer trophies who finally see the difference between “Everything is AWESOME” recognition and actual achievement, we know there’s something better. James Harrison gets it, and so do Donald Trump and lots of GOP voters. Who’s next?
Bill Lalor is an attorney in New York City and freelance political consultant. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
