Mostly, they are treated favorably because of the norm I noted in my earlier post that we don't speak ill of the dead, but some are feted more than others. John McCain was a long-serving Senator, a presidential nominee, a veteran who withstood years of torture when he could have been released from his captivity as a POW had he been willing to betray his country for VC propaganda, and a favorite of the media (did that count as a dig?). His death is a more notable event than some others. How we talk about politicians' deaths, though, is interesting.
Even I, legitimate heir to the title of "Mr. Warmth," can find something nice to say about John McCain. I simply did not feel the need to do so in Saturday's post. Unlike a politician, to borrow from Army of Darkness, I ain't leadin' but two things around here. Jack and shit. And Jack left town.
There is something to be said for having people who behave in conspicuously empathetic ways, but there is also something conspicuously affected about performative virtue. John McCain, as will be the case with many long-serving public figures, had many friends, and their mourning is real. His eulogies will be given by Barack Obama and George W. Bush, and there is symbolism there, but I think that their sentiments will be real, as are many of those expressed by people like Joe Biden, a Democrat, no less.
And then there's Donald Trump. Donald Trump couldn't muster a single positive thing to say about McCain, the man himself. Not even his military service. Why not? Well... history. That's precisely what Trump, the cowardly, draft-dodging sack of shit so conspicuously insulted about McCain. Of course he can't say anything nice about McCain. Two observations about Trump, then. First, the one thing anyone should be able to praise about McCain-- his ability to hold up to torture in Vietnam-- is off-limits for Trump to praise because he'd have to back off from the hole he dug for himself a few years ago. Second, Americans have a bizarre expectation that the head of state serve this kind of function. It isn't in the Constitution, and it isn't a formal duty specified anywhere. Trump's inability to signal virtue or console anyone, which is a problem intrinsic to his sociopathy, isn't intrinsically a problem for the constitutional duties of the presidency.
People just expect it. And they can't get it from Trump.
