Anthony Trollope opined that “it is the distance which [democrats] feel to exist between themselves and the throne which makes them covet the crumbs of majesty, the odds and ends and chance splinters of royalty.” This may have been true a century and a half ago, but it is far from today’s reality. Now, radical egalitarians gladly associate themselves with celebrity because the separation between them is a distinction without a difference.
For relaxation, I have been reading the novels of Trollope. I say “relaxation” not “escape” advisedly, for although the stories are set in 1860s and 1870s England, they deal with many of the same obsessions that grip Washington in 2022 — political intrigue, corruption, moral compromise, fatal social opprobrium, and the worth or otherwise of the ruling class. Diving into these 19th-century narratives offers no escape.
One gem that particularly struck me was Trollope’s comment that democrats “have a servile deference for the very nail pairings of royalty. None feel so wondering an awe at the exaltation of a crowned head. None are so anxious to secure to themselves some shred or fragment that has been consecrated by the royal touch.”
One could capitalize the D of “democrats” and apply it to Washington right now. For Trollope was referring to the radical egalitarians of his day, and radical egalitarian ideas embraced by today’s Democrats also are identical to those of America’s royalty. As Dominic Green writes in his Washington Examiner magazine cover story, celebrities are our royalty. And the politics of the Left bind celebrities and Democrats inextricably together.
Hollywood is both the locus and mass manufacturer of America’s most extreme left-wing ideas. To make the connection clear, Hollywood awards ceremonies start with a parade of the gorgeous along the red carpet and proceed to a parade of cheap virtue from winners as they collect their awards. America’s royalty, desperate to be always glittering, looked at, and listened to, uses its celebrity to support every leftist fad.
In return, elected officials of the Democratic Left treat successful entertainers with groveling deference. Their relationship is symbiotic. Celebs are invited to testify on Capitol Hill because they draw attention and lend glamour to congressional hearings that are performative rather than fact-finding efforts. Some celebrity gilt rubs off on the pols. In return, Congress confers a patina of authority and serious-mindedness on people whose fame is due not to their wisdom but to their talent for acting and singing, or simply to their beauty.
Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, noted that people are not persuaded by facts, statistics, and logical arguments but believe what is told to them by people they like. Thus, celebrity and politics flow together. Politics is about getting people to like you enough, or at least admire you more than the other guy, so they will hand you power in elections. Celebrity is about getting people to like and admire you enough that you may accumulate riches, and then people like and admire you even more.
