Steve Benen on Maddowblog is upset over Sean Spicer’s satiric appearance on the Emmy Awards last night:
My point is not to begrudge Spicer for an unnervingly successful public-relations campaign. Rather, my concern is over the emerging set of incentives: if officials, particularly in Trump’s White House, realize that they’ll face no public penalties for their misdeeds, they’ll have no reason to act responsibly.
And I can see his point. But it also occurs to me that a primary part of the American mythos is the theme of redemption, that we can regret our willful mistakes and try to do better. It’s one of those parts of America that makes it a great place – and has it perpetually teetering on the edge of being a mark, a victim of the repeat scammer.
Spicer certainly does not have a serious reputation left, given his repeated lies and outré behavior in his position as White House Press Secretary. But is he regretful of his behavior? Beats the hell out of me – I haven’t tried to keep track of him since his departure from the White House in humiliation over the hiring of Scaramucci, nor did I watch the Emmy show last night. He may be trying to finesse his way to a better public standing through willing self-parody. I’d prefer the traditional full public apology (and none of this “if anyone was offended”, which puts the responsibility on those lied to – I’ve discussed this before) to this new-fangled self-parody approach, but perhaps that’s the best the morally defective right-wing extremists can offer these days.
And Colbert? I keep in mind that he’s a comedian/commentator, an entertainer, and the entertainer who’s not exploring the edge of the art is not going to be leading edge. I don’t know if the offering of Spicer was successful – but it’s in keeping with the tradition of being on the edge.
