Embracing the silliness in politics

Politics aren't a game ... but talking about them sometimes is

Welcome back to the This Day In Esoteric Political History newsletter. Each week, a member of our team (or a friend of the show) gathers together bits of America’s past and attempts to find a throughline that might add a little understanding to our current moment.

Here’s what happened over the week ahead in American history…

July 25

• 1861: The Crittenden Resolution is passed in Washington, D.C., stating that the Civil War is to be fought to preserve the Union and uphold the Constitution, not to abolish slavery.

• 1898: The U.S. invades Puerto Rico

• 1952: Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.

July 26

• 1775: The U.S. Postal system is established.

• 1948: President Harry Truman issues Executive Order No. 9981 to desegregate the U.S. armed forces, directing "equality of treatment and opportunity" in the military.

• 1952: Adlai Stevenson accepts the Democratic nomination for President after previously declining to run.

• 1995: Former President George HW Bush gets stuck neck-deep in a Canadian bog while on a fishing trip.

July 27

• 1816: U.S. troops destroy Fort Apalachicola, a Seminole fort, to punish Indians for harboring runaway slaves.

• 1904: Speaker of the House Joseph Cannon (IL) goes to the Capitol dining room expecting to have a nice hot cup of his favorite, bean soup, and is met with an unfortunate surprise

• 1962: Martin Luther King Jr. is jailed in Albany, Georgia.

• 1967: In the wake of urban rioting, President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of the violence

July 28

• 1917: The Silent Parade, conceived by James Weldon Johnson, consists of 10,000 African-Americans who march on 5th Ave in NYC to protest against lynching

• 1992 : “Morris The Cat,” the feline spokesperson for Nine Lives cat food, is in the heart of a stunt presidential campaign.

July 29

• 1958: NASA is created after President Dwight Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 into law

• 2008: Bruce Ivins commits suicide and is later declared the culprit for the Anthrax letter attacks

July 30

• 1863: President Abraham Lincoln issues an "eye-for-eye" order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black Union prisoner shot

• 1902: Anti-Jewish rioters attack the funeral procession of Rabbi Jacob Joseph in New York City

• 1945: After delivering the Atomic Bomb across the Pacific, the cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine I-58. 880 of the crew died, many after being attacked by sharks, the inspiration for a scene in the movie Jaws.

• 2009: The beer summit takes place at the White House

July 31

• 1914: The New York Stock Exchange closes due to the outbreak of World War I (trading doesn't resume until December).

• 1920: Senator Warren G. Harding begins his front porch campaign for the Presidency with an address to 2,000 factory workers

• 1972: Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdraws from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment.

• 2012: On the campaign trail, a reporter shouts a question at Mitt Romney: “What about your gaffes?!”

In which we take the above collection of events and find themes, throughlines, rabbit holes and more. This week is Jody Avirgan’s turn at the typewriter.

Hey there, it’s Jody. It’s the dog days of summer, we’re coming off three of the most insane weeks in our political history… I’m not gonna lie: my brain is kinda mush. But it’s my turn to write an essay for the newsletter, so I dutifully scrolled through the list of stories above to try and find a meaty theme to riff on, or a fascinating rabbit hole to dive down into.

I continue to find the Kerner Commission to be one of the most interesting stories in American history; the Anthrax letters are always worth revisiting; the “beer summit” is such a rich moment… but nothing is jumping out at me. 

And then, there, right at the end.

2012 :  On the campaign trail, a reporter shouts a question at Mitt Romney: “What about your gaffes?!”

There it is! Listeners who heard our episode on this know that it is, hands down, one of my favorite tidbits in modern political history. I find the question “what about your gaffes” to be the perfect distillation of 21st century political journalism. Cut out the substance, cut out the middle-man, forget about policy… cut right to the chase. Pure punditry. It’s so dumb and silly. Honestly, it’s almost art.

I’ve also been thinking, in the last few days, about whether we will ever have lightness and silliness and plain-old-weirdness return to our politics. As much as I use the “what about your gaffes” moment to point out how broken our political coverage is, I also do kinda love what it represents. That the way we talk about politicians can be a place for vapidity and virality… that we can make fun of dumb reporters and their dumb questions. That, in some way, we don’t have to take it all so seriously. Look, I don’t think politics is a game, but I like when we have some perspective about the way that we talk about politics; it is, often, a dumb game.

A little of that has come back in the wake of Joe Biden dropping out of the race and Kamala Harris rising to the top of the doomscroll. I’m seeing a little more of the meming, a little more fun, a little more enthusiasm and joy and even a little perspective.

And ultimately, I think that translates back to politics itself. It’s a cliche, but people care as much about how they feel than what they think. And, if they are having fun, if they are enthusiastic, if they feel the weight lifted off their shoulders… gosh, if they feel like they can close their laptop and go out into the real world for a few hours… it almost gives me hope.

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A Bit More Esoterica

• Jody was on Fake The Nation this week with Negin Farsad, and floated an idea. Join us.

• If you’re looking for an Olympic read, we recommend The Other Olympians, which shows the Games have always been political & introduces characters who deserve larger places in our collective sports history. And it moves at a sprinter's pace!

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