… “the life blood of this and almost all other nations,” UD always refers her readers to its explanatory urtext, The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is the great American novel in part because it captures better than any other literary work the entirely engineered, shabby dreamweaver thing that is the modern self-made – or rather made-self – American.
If you cry for poor James Gatz/Jay Gatsby at the end of that novel, dead in his pool, spare a tear for Melanija Knavs/Melania Knauss/Melania Trump/Melania whatever last name she takes after Trump divorces her… because it’s not really her fault that she read a plagiarized speech written for her (she’s not well-educated — like Gatsby, who advertises himself as “an Oxford man” but who had only a glancing acquaintance with that school, Melania claims to have graduated from college when she did not) instead of an original speech written for her. F. Scott Fitzgerald already gave us her shiny bogus world, which she had every reason to believe was shiny and bogus all the way down.
Is there a scammy, crime-tinted, er, aspect to that world? Has her husband, like Gatsby, been a little less than legit in his dealings? Well he didn’t graduate from Wharton for nothing and it’s a big bad dirty world out there, etc., etc. etc. but the main thing is that it all looks good and no one’s floating in a pool. Keep the aspidistra flying. Brazen it out.
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Yes of course there’s an ugly under the pretty. Slave Michelle provides the labor; Master Melania and her Manipulators exploit it. But after all “the Obamas don’t really belong in the White House, i.e., they didn’t legitimately achieve their current status.”
Not everybody, in other words, gets to play the Gatsby game – like say if you were really born in Kenya.
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Has damage been done to Trump’s campaign, as some observers suggest?
No. Trump’s followers are people who do not mind that their candidate correctly characterizes them as “the poorly educated.” Melania would have done damage had she attempted to disentangle, in the minds of her listeners, Slovenia, Slovakia, Slavonia, Slobodan Milošević, and Lower Slobbovia.
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UD thanks Dave.
July 19th, 2016 at 12:35PM
This reminds me of a past student, who, when confronted with plagiarism in her paper, responded, “The people who wrote it swore to me that it was original work!” Probably the speechwriters made the exact same excuse (or would have, had they been caught) in college.
July 19th, 2016 at 12:37PM
I’m wondering if there was some deliberate sabotable involved, given the Rickroll.
http://uproxx.com/news/melania-trump-rickroll-rnc-speech/
Can’t imagine Melania coming up with that on her own.
July 19th, 2016 at 12:37PM
Sabotage, I mean.
July 19th, 2016 at 1:04PM
I liked Ben Carson saying that the overlaps in texts shows common American values, the mind reels…
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2016/07/ben-carson-on-melania-trumps-words-i-dont-think-that-they-were-plagiarized.html
July 19th, 2016 at 2:05PM
dmf: Some places I just don’t go. Ben Carson is one such place.
July 19th, 2016 at 3:50PM
I’m wondering if the GOP isn’t getting the last laugh though. We’re all talking about plagiarism by Melania rather than the authoritarian, anti-immigrant, racist, xenophobic, torture-supporting, foreign policy know-nothing, misogynistic hatefest that was yesterday. And I don’t just mean here — I mean all over the media, across the blogosphere, on Twitter. Of all of the awful things that came out of peoples’ mouths yesterday, this is the one upon which we’re focusing, and it plays right into Trump’s hands.
July 19th, 2016 at 4:15PM
Derek: I disagree. Lots of people are talking about the larger horror at the convention yesterday – the shouts of “Jail her,” etc., etc.
In line with this blog’s interests, I’ve focused on plagiarism; but I think that focus is simply one additional – and I hope effective – way of working to rescue the country from Trump. It doesn’t distract from or trivialize the larger cultural/political obscenity in that room; rather, it provides another point of entry into the sort of threat Trump and his worldview represent. It’s more personal, less abstract, and therefore for many people I think easier to hook onto in thinking about the situation. The hilarity of this “values” speech having been plagiarized from a woman whom Trump and his followers have been relentlessly demonizing as an amoral America-hater is just the sort of crazyass joke you get when a fraud runs for president. Let the laughter – as well as the horror – rip.
More on this.
July 19th, 2016 at 6:13PM
UD, didn’t F. Scott’s “The Last Tycoon” also have a riff on plagiarism? From memory, Fitzgerald’s perspective was that screenwriters provided the substance for the industry. But their work was pilfered and destroyed by men who had no ability to put pen to paper, despite being marketed as geniuses and visionaries.
If so, then what we’re seeing at political conventions is theater, where ciphers such as The Donald et al pose and deliver lines and promote themes written by someone else. Charles Isherwood should be doing the commentary, not those CNN hacks. This is all as grotesque as anything witnessed by Fitzgerald back in the 30’s….
July 19th, 2016 at 8:42PM
No, I get the blog’s interests, but the political stuff is very much in line with my own work and I’d bet that the plagiarism coverage elsewhere today surpassed all of the rest of the commentary combined.
July 19th, 2016 at 9:05PM
dcat: I’m sure you’re right that the plagiarism thing really dominated today… I guess it’s also troublesome that for many political commentators a combination of alarm, disgust, and disbelief is tending to emotionalize their coverage, so that dispassionate and clear analysis is at the moment rather thin on the ground.
July 19th, 2016 at 9:53PM
the plagiarism (and really the following justifications/denials/etc) is just a symptom:
http://www.today.com/news/chris-christie-93-percent-melania-trump-s-speech-differed-michelle-t100943
July 20th, 2016 at 12:21AM
@dmf, thanks for the link. It comes down to creating content for a 24/365 news cycle. Enterprise reporting is dying….
July 20th, 2016 at 6:50AM
yeah charlie it’s a fiasco, when 60 minutes and all fall into the trap of normalizing Trump and co. with interviews as usual we all suffer our own worst, click-baited, inclinations, electoral politics has always been a sort of gossip-world team sport and our good host here has given us many examples of what happens when everything is pumped up with media exposure and mega-money.
http://www.juancole.com/2016/07/stephen-people-civilization.html
July 20th, 2016 at 10:40AM
And let’s not forget Vice President Joe Biden too. It’s a political disease.
July 20th, 2016 at 11:26AM
FWIW-this election is still Hillary’s. Corporate money, party organization, standard-issue/comfort-food political rhetoric, better GOTV squadristas, the idea that Hillary is Bill’s third term, great ad shop, etc. (Truth in commenting: I’m a longtime Libertarian voter.)
Hillary’s late October ads will make Trump a George Wallace/George Lincoln Rockwell sort of dude. Hillary’s own peccadillos, mostly domestic, will seem like small beer, and probably endear her to a lot of folks.
July 20th, 2016 at 12:04PM
Trump IS a George Wallace/Lincoln Rockwell sort of dude. He advocates torturing and murdering the FAMILIES of alleged terrorists. He advocates exclusionist policies based on race/ethnicity. He believes Mexicans are rapists. His approach to women who challenge or disagree with him is loathsome. And Hillary’s domestic peccadilloes ARE small beer in comparison, by any definition of the word “peccadilloes.”
July 20th, 2016 at 3:25PM
Derek-there’s the worthless Ohio RNC delegate who, after 32 years of full-time government service, insists on looking for them thar’ private sector solutions to our woes.
Translation: wage-, salary-, and pension-busting for the lower orders, crony capitalism and preferences of all sorts for moneyed elites. Anyone who thinks America is a better place because a whole mess of skilled 50-year old workers are thrown on the day labor market has got more screws loose than a 1986 Yugo.
July 20th, 2016 at 7:08PM
Hey Jack/OH, I’ll see your RNC delegate and raise you an Orange County, CA republican nutjob. Remember Mary Kay Letourneau, the 34 year old teacher that had an affair with a 13 year old student? Well, her dad was John Schmitz, who was in the House of Representatives for years, then went to do the same job for the CA Senate. He courted the John Birch Society vote because, according to him, that’s where he could find moderate Republicans. Despite having once advocated the sale of public universities to private corps and railing against the horror of Federal government oversight, he had been a Marine Corps pilot and taught at the non-profit and very public Santa Ana Community College prior to becoming a politician. By my math, that’s four paychecks underwritten by taxpayers, not to mention a few pensions as well.
His downfall began when he called any woman who advocated for abortion rights as “a bunch of bull dyke lesbians.” The problem was that he had gotten one of his students pregnant and the child had been physically abused by the mother. Hard to be a pillar of family values and a virtuous life if you’re waylaying a student here and there. And it seems that the OC is where you can find this kind of pol, the equally odious Bob Dornan was in the HOR at the same time Johhny was skulking about. I haven’t the energy to get into that guy’s CV, you’ll have to do that yourself. Oh well, if you insist, during a speech on the House floor, Dornan called Soviet functionary Vladmir Posner ” a disloyal, betraying little Jew.” He later admitted he was wrong, Posner was over six feet tall….
July 20th, 2016 at 9:53PM
Charlie-Vaguely recognize the Schmitz name, definitely Mary Kay. Republicans and this year’s RNC present a target-rich environment, all right.
Maybe someone with the right chops can look at the upcoming DNC, which looks to me more and more like a fringe party trying bravely to look mainstream.
July 21st, 2016 at 12:50PM
The DNC looks like a fringe party? Trying to look mainstream? This is the party that has won the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 elections? What on earth is “fringe” about the Democrats? I’m especially interested in this answer as the accusation comes from a self-proclaimed Libertarian whose party’s advocates are practically tumescent over the idea that they might just crack 15% in national polls for the presidency and have zero members of the House or Senate (and how many seats your home state of Ohio?). Projection is for more than movie theaters, I guess.
(I have no idea what comment #17 has to do with what I wrote.)
July 21st, 2016 at 4:10PM
Derek-you’ll get President Clinton 2.0 nominated from the party that will have the transvestite seated next to the Teamster in some peaceable kingdom. Afterwards, those constituents will be ignored, except for gestural rhetoric.
“Where else are they [organized labor] going to go?” said President Clinton while he was pushing the anti-union NAFTA. Indeed.
“[S]elf-proclaimed Libertarian”? I mentioned that–don’t recall a proclamation.
I’m a registered Democrat, voted for Bernie, vote Libertarian whenever possible. But I don’t think nuanced political thought and nuanced political behavior in a not-so-good political system is your strong suit, is it? Thanks for your reply.
July 21st, 2016 at 5:58PM
Yeah, I’m the one who doesn’t understand nuance about politics. Uh-huh. I
You have thus far written a succession of only vaguely coherent comments that have had all of the nuance of, well, most of the Libertarians I know. (By the way — you are a Libertarian who voted for Bernie, who wants far greater state imposition on the private sector than anything we have now? You really don’t understand Libertarianism, do you, big guy?)
You wrote that the DNC looks like a fringe party. That’s not lacking in nuance. It’s just stupid. And reveals an utter lack of understanding of the word “fringe.” Again: 5 of the last popular votes for the presidency. That may be lots of things that we can discuss, and you can edify me with your strong sense of nuance and your mastery of politics. And good PhD in political history that I am, I’ll take notes while you wow me with your insight. Then we can talk about how words have meaning and that a word like “fringe” doesn’t just mean “what JackOH, noted politics expert and master of the non-sequiter thinks it does.”
July 21st, 2016 at 7:40PM
dcat-With that “good Ph. D.” you probably already guessed I live in an overwhelmingly Democrat area, that party primaries apply to only the two major parties, that the winner of the Democrat primary is almost surely the winner of the general election, and for a citizen to maximize his participation within those confines, well, he needs to be a registered Democrat. Plus, he needs to make judgment calls on what he wants his vote to mean.
Damn, you’re good. BTW-when you’re finished dripping hauteur, you may want to tidy up those typos in your comment. Thanks for your reply.
July 21st, 2016 at 8:30PM
Well actually Derek/dcat, what Dems are you referencing? New Deal dems, Great Society dems? Or are you referring to Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Democratic National Committe dems, you know, the ones who backed a bill which would have gutted pay day loan regulation? Maybe you can tell us how ‘mainstream’ it is to not have oversight of that kind of ripoff? You think that Debbie sponsored that legislation because ‘mainstream’ Dems reflect that kind of political sentiment? Seems fringe to me, but then, you’ve got that PH.d and all. Just to keep things in context, Debbie is the chair of the DNC, making her the head of the Democratic Party.
I would suggest that anyone who wants a fuller appreciation of the mechanics of Democratic politics read Robert Reich’s “Locked In The Cabinet.” It’s a memoir of the former Labor Secretary’s time in the Clinton administration. He tried to get certain programs, such as job training, passed but they went nowhere. He was told by Marty Sabo, Chairman of the Budget Committee and a Dem, “We’re owned by them. Business. That’s where the campaign money comes from now. In the 1980’s, we gave up on the little guys” I thought the little guys made up the mainstream, but seeing that I don’t have a Ph.d in whatever it is you have, then I guess I’m not nuanced enough.
But Reich was more like me and though that maybe those little guys were the mainstream and deserved some help, because, you know, they’re who the DNC is suppose to represent. But he was told by his boss, Pres Clinton, that “Bob, you don’t understand. We’re Eisenhower Republicans here.” So much for mainstream.
And I strongly suggest that you not use voting stats as a measure of political awareness. It turns out they don’t mean much. For example, Owsley County, Kentucky residents are 99.22% white, have the highest usage of food stamps in the country, and are 95% Republican. Nearly every one of the those that have a political affiliation in Owsley County vote against their own interests. That ain’t a singular situation. But, then again, you have that Ph.d in something you were telling us about. Carry on….
July 24th, 2016 at 2:31AM
JackOH — Oooh. Picking on typos, are we? The undeleted “I” I’m guessing? This really is the internet!
Hey — what did your Libertarian, Democrat-registered soul think of the vast majority of Libertarians booing Johnson’s hypothetical support for the Civil Rights Act at the party’s national convention? (And is it somehow the Democratic Party’s fault that the Libertarians chose to have a national convention without holding primaries to ascertain the will of the voting populace of the states? That seems, well, rather fringe behavior. Party primaries are only limited by the party’s willingness to hold those primaries. That you didn’t have them in your little niche in Ohio would seem to be the fault of Libertarians. By the way — that party’s presidential and VP nominees have only ever held elected office as Republicans. You vote Libertarian “wherever possible” and it’s going to be possible this year. You know the party’s supporters oppose the Civil Rights Act. I’m curious what you do.)
charlie — I haven’ the foggiest idea what you are actually arguing. Did I at some point defend Debbie Wasserman Schultz? Are you trying to impress me with some particular policy stand or other? Like, did I at some point support payday loans when I was not aware of it? None of that changes the fact that there is nothing “fringe” about the Democratic Party. There is plenty to disagree about within the Democratic Party, largely because it’s a big, non-fringe party. And that people vote against their self-interest is no revelation. Hey, I’m a liberal Democrat — I’ve been arguing as much for years. Why you think that argument, or the quotations from Reich, aimed at me means much is a bit bizarre. What possible policy issue have I proclaimed here that makes you think I’m hostile to anything you are trying to advocate? I get that you are climbing all over yourself to jump on me for the very audacity of mentioning that I have a Ph.D. But you grinding your political axe that isn’t actually at all contrary to anything I’ve said and pretending that you are being strongly oppositional isn’t really at all germane to the conversation. The Democratic Party is not a fringe party in the United States. That’s my assertion. Address it concretely or don’t – I don’t care. (And I’m leaving any typos so that Jack can get tumescent. Then you guys can get back to spouting poli-sci 101 truisms and bringing up policy issues that no one has disputed.)
And by the way, Barack Obama is the de facto head of the Democratic Party, as the President always is of his (or, I hope, her) party, irrespective of who sits as the head of the DNC/RNC. But that comes at the second exam of politics for dummies. You guys will get there, assuming you can steer clear of your deep and abiding attractions to non-sequiters and bizarre desire to change the definition of the word “fringe.”