Abnormal Is the New Normal

And that ain’t great for America.

By
283
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a campaign stop. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images)

Hi,

In this “news”letter of all places, I don’t think I should be required to demonstrate that I have a soft spot for weirdness, eccentricity, and unconventional ideas—and neither does the life-sized replica of Tito Puente landing on the moon I’ve made out of marzipan and luncheon meats that I spend most of my day talking to in Esperanto. (Ĉu ne ĝuste, Tito?)

I bring this up in part because, much like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I too have creatures eating my brain. At least I think that’s what’s going on up there. They make a slight rustling sound, and I don’t mean like cattle-rustling with the hootin’ and hollerin’ as they ride up on my medulla oblongata. I mean like the soft susurrating sounds of very specific cranial termites devouring every trace of anyone named “Todd” from your long-term memory.  

More to the point, when normal Americans said they wanted an alternative to choosing between a doddering and indecisive incumbent president and a decadent and deceitful one with a fondness for despots, what they didn’t have in mind was a loony conspiracy theorist recovering from a bad—and not entirely metaphorical—case of brain worms.

This content is available exclusively to Dispatch members
Try a membership for full access to every newsletter and all of The Dispatch. Support quality, fact-based journalism.
Start Your Free Trial
Already a paid member? Sign In
283
By
Comments (283)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Bill Nelson

    The classic film “Life of Brian” has the classic scene where Brian is speaking to the horde of new followers outside his mother’s home. He is trying to convince the crowd to not blindly follow him or anyone else and he says”you are all different” and the crowd repeats his words “yes, we are all different”. Except for one lone follower who says “I’m not” as a single lone and sad voice. The new normal.

    Collapse
  2. Joseph.Molluso

    Great piece. If you see every issue as a struggle between victim and oppressor then boring institutions become obstacles instead of vessels.

    Collapse
  3. Imackenzie56

    I know this won't go over well, but Ron DeSantis is hugely popular here in Florida because he consistently defends normal. He isn't trying to remake Florida into some vision--he's just trying to make it run normally. Forget the bluster and look at the actions and results. Too bad you have to be abnormal, senile, or way better looking to become President these days.

    Collapse
  4. Brian The 2nd

    If you saw a poll that said 20% of Americans support the KKK would you believe it?

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    Citizen60

    I just had to respond to Jonah’s line that gay marriage is a settled argument. “And I like settled arguments.”

    I know Jonah didn’t miss the Dobbs decision—where the “settled argument” for women of over 50 years was instantly unsettled. And he can’t be oblivious to the numerous comments by Supreme Court Justices and elected officials about their fervent desire to “unsettle” the gay marriage argument again.

    I like settled arguments, too. But think we will see more “unsettling” ahead. Buckle your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Bill Nelson

      Dobbs did unsettle the abortion issue which had been incorrectly settled by a decision by a previous court who had created a “right”. The issue has always been bound to be overturned as there was not a strong legal basis.
      Abortion will end up being legal as a choice because the majority of people do not agree that a fetus is a person unless the mother chooses to make it one.
      I believe that your view of gay marriage is incorrect, there are not a pack of justices waiting to make gay marriage something which is illegal. But that is different from abortion because marriage is not a “right”.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Citizen60

        Marriage is not a right, but recognition of all legal marriages for federal benefits is now.

        Obergefell was decided on the same Constitutional precept as Roe v Wade. That why Thomas specifically mentioned it as having the potential for “review” in what he wrote on the Dobbs decision. Interestingly , the same precept was used in the Loving decision (mixed race marriage), but Thomas did not mention Loving.

        Collapse
  6. Tom Johnson

    I, too, have a soft spot for normal politicians. But it might take some unconventional folks to galvanize and effectively channel citizens' righteous contempt for politics-as-usual and to disrupt it in a lasting way.

    Even though Kennedy is odious on too many counts to get my vote, I love that his candidacy has put the two-party establishment and its media acolytes on notice. The DNC feels so entitled to anti-(R) voters that they can't process the real possibility that a non-(D) might actually be better positioned than their guy to defeat Trump in a two-way contest (in which case #bidenisthespoiler).

    Trump v. Kennedy sans Biden is a hypothetical that most pollsters have avoided, reinforcing Team RFK's grievance of an un-level playing field. Now Kennedy has turned the tables by calling on Biden to join him in commissioning nationwide polls come October to determine who at that point should drop out in order to deny victory to that singular menace to American democracy--which is paramount, right?

    But assuming it will ultimately be a three-way race, I surmise that losing votes to Biden is seen by Trump as more of a rebuke than losing votes to Kennedy. This alone will motivate me toward Biden.

    On the other hand, it's worth considering that if Kennedy were somehow to defy the odds and win, at least Trump's B.S. claims of a rigged election wouldn't have as much resonance with MAGA.

    Collapse
  7. Mark Holmlund

    Amen and amen.

    Collapse
  8. Michael.Mcchesney

    I'm not sure I agree that there is nothing we can learn from Russia or Venezuela. At the very least, those countries can certainly teach us what not to do. Danny Ocean's point that having a conflict of interest doesn't mean your advice is wrong reminds me of the way I feel about hypocrisy. Many people see hypocrisy as a serious character failing and it often is. But my father, who smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day until shortly before he died at the age of 59, told me many times when I was young to never smoke. That advice might have been hypocritical, but he certainly;y wasn't wrong.

    Collapse
  9. Lee Vollrath

    This may be the most “on the nose” bit of political commentary I have seen in a long time.

    At least I hope it is. I sincerely hope the vast majority of people are still normal. But it is increasingly hard to sure.

    Collapse
  10. Dawn of Destruction

    Would that this country could find its way back to normal. I despair of it at the moment.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Bill Nelson

      You and the populations of many past generations. I remember how my parents talked about politics in the 1960s.

      Collapse
Load More