“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.”
— George Orwell
There probably isn’t a bigger cuttlefish in American punditry than former Sen. Rick Santorum. Mr. Santorum’s sin isn’t using long words. His preferred ink consists of the exhausted idioms and cliches of American exceptionalism and Christian nationalist myth.
Recently, Mr. Santorum spoke with characteristic glibness to a group of young conservatives about a subject no one knew he possessed any expertise on — the contributions of Native Americans to American life.
Sounds scary, eh? Here’s what he said in a moment of white supremacist hubris: “We [European settlers] came here and created a blank slate. We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes we have Native Americans, but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”
The ignorance on display at that moment is no surprise to the legion of Santorum critics. He has been able to remain employed by CNN for years despite gaffes on and off the air when the same latitude has been withheld from other CNN contributors fired after one infraction.
But because we live in such insincere times and because it is almost impossible to get people who have abhorrent views to fess up to them once they’re called out, Mr. Santorum’s office issued a statement to USA Today completely devoid of remorse or explanation: “I had no intention of minimizing or in any way devaluing Native-American culture.”
That’s it. He did not attempt to explain what he meant or apologize for what he actually said. The last time I looked, seeking forgiveness was considered a Christian virtue that an uber-Christian like Rick Santorum should understand. Instead, he issued a terse one-sentence statement in response to the controversy that is a lie that insults the intelligence of anyone who reads it.
Left unexplained is what he meant by such a cruel and a historical riff on American history. Is Rick Santorum really that clueless about the contributions of Native Americans to this country or simply incapable of thinking beyond the endorphin high he gets from generating a cheap laugh? I suspect it is a little of both.
Rick Santorum’s declaration that he didn’t intend to mock or demean Native-American culture is insincere. Of course he meant to insult Native Americans. He’s smart enough to realize the difference, but doesn’t want to incriminate himself by telling the truth about his intentions.
Watch the video of Mr. Santorum delivering that line with jokey slickness and you know in your bones he’s used that observation before, but had never been rebuked for it. It’s the kind observation that goes over well if you’re huddled with likeminded people who believe history only begins with the arrival of what more sincere racists call “white civilization.”
For folks who exhibit this mentality, the several millennia of Indigenous life in North America that preceded European colonization was just a prelude to the blessings of Judeo-Christian civilization embodied in the free exercise of one’s religion.
Conveniently left out of Mr. Santorum’s infantile history lesson was any reference to the massive land theft, human bondage and genocide that stamped the nation’s origins from the beginning.
Mr. Santorum valorizes those who fled European religious intolerance for the New World, but can’t bring himself to acknowledge the angel of death, destruction and discrimination that crossed the Atlantic with them.
This isn’t surprising. Many conservatives appear to be experiencing a crisis of insincerity these days as the distance between their least charitable [i.e. racist] opinions and microphones begins to shrink.
A few weeks ago, newly elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was forced to scrap her planned “America First” caucus after the group’s platform was denounced as a bit too racist.
The caucus’ founding document called for a return to “uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and a dramatic curtailment of mass immigration because “history has shown that societal trust and political unity are threatened when foreign citizens are imported en-masse into a country.”
The document even gets into the weeds of infrastructure initiatives by insisting that even new roads and buildings should mirror “the architectural, engineering and aesthetic value that befits the progeny of European architecture, whereby public infrastructure must be utilitarian as well as stunningly, classically beautiful, befitting a world power and source of freedom.”
This is the kind of doublespeak that many of the GOP’s most racially problematic members spotted immediately and were eager to pledge allegiance to just before the caucus was shut down ahead of its official launch. Ms. Greene blamed the wording of the document on staff and an intentional misreading of its goals by the liberal media.
But no one misread the document, including the Republicans who denounced it as not reflective of the party’s highest values. As outspoken as Ms. Greene generally is, even she feels the need to be insincere when confronted about her intolerance.
We haven’t gotten to the point where a naked embrace of racism is considered a net positive for Republicans, but we’re drifting quickly in that direction.
On the policy front, the GOP-led attempts to make voting and voting registration more difficult, combined with anti-trans bills and legislation designed to criminalize some aspects of the kinds of street protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd last year, are breathtaking in their lack of moral seriousness or sincerity. The proposed bills — many that have recently been signed into law — are overwhelmingly regressive. Of course its sponsors insist that every draconian bill, no matter how ridiculous, has been offered in good faith.
The inability of politicians to tell the truth about their intentions isn’t limited to conservatives, though they are the most prominent practitioners of this cynical art in politics today.
Entertainers are another story. Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson doesn’t bother hiding behind euphemisms anymore. He’s an advocate of white nationalist ideas and a defender of many of the worst people around, especially if he perceives them as the bane of liberals.
To list all of Mr. Carlson’s evil endorsements would be a waste of time because there’s a new outrage every night. Besides, everyone knows that despite his smirk, he’s actually the most sincere of trolls. He’s not going to insult your intelligence by faking a single egalitarian bone in his patrician body. Say whatever you will about him, but the smug guy you see on the screen every night isn’t acting. That’s the face of white supremacy in its purest form whining about all of the privilege it stands to lose if liberal Democrats have their way.
The latest culture war baby to insist he is the victim of a “misunderstanding” is “Jeopardy!” contestant Kelly Donohue. Four veteran contestants of the game show accused him of flashing a thumb and forefinger gesture popular with white power advocates on two occasions. It’s a weird gesture to make when holding up three fingers would’ve been understood instantly to indicate he won three games. Why risk a misunderstanding by echoing provocations racists are known for? Alas, insincerity is the inky water these cuttlefish swim in.
Tony Norman: tnorman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1631. Twitter @Tony_NormanPG.
First Published: April 30, 2021, 4:00 a.m.
Updated: April 30, 2021, 9:01 a.m.
