Alfred Lubrano’s father was a bricklayer in Brooklyn. As an adult, Lubrano became a newsman and author. In his book, Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams,[1] Lubrano comments that in the blue collar world, “… there was no such thing as an unexpressed thought.” In the blue-collar world, it’s common to call each other names, to use strongly disparaging language, to describe ideas one dislikes as stupid or idiotic. There are three acceptable responses – suck it up, throw insults back or a punch in the nose. What is not acceptable is weakness. One acts; one does not complain.
It’s clear that much of the blue-collar world recognizes that behavior in Donald Trump and it makes them feel that they are on familiar ground, as if Trump is one of them. Trump has insulted virtually everyone – women, gays, Muslims, the press – and there’s nothing mild about his language. To a blue-collar family, he calls it like he sees it, perhaps because there is no apparent filter in his language, or even any delay. So it sounds like honesty. His language certainly does not convey any sense of sober second thought. He just comes out with stuff or seems to. And that combination of unfiltered strong language seems very comfortable in the blue-collar world.
So it seems very surprising to realize that Donald is also a wimp. Listen to him objecting to criticism: “no politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or more unfairly.”[2] Interesting, that no politician, from Julius Ceaser to Abe Lincoln or John F. Kennedy, all of whom were assassinated, were treated worse, or from Andrew Johnson to Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton, all of whom faced impeachment were not treated worse. But what is more interesting, is that Donald Trump is a wimp. Poor Donald. He has been criticized. People disagree with him. The other party wants to defeat him at the next election. Nobody else has been treated so badly. And Donald wants us to feel bad for him. He wants to be a victim.
In the white collar world, where it is expected that one behave tactfully, speak accurately and show mutual respect, politics feels very rough and tumble. One has to handle criticism that would never be uttered in office politics. One’s statements are constantly twisted and taken out of context. A single procedural vote becomes a proxy for a carefully thought out policy and the bargaining that is part and parcel of the legislative process. But politicians rarely complain about how badly they are being treated – except Donald Trump. “No politician … has been treated worse or more unfairly.” Wow. Joe McCarthy kept charging the Truman Administration with disloyalty, but Donald has been treated worse. Reagan had to deal with charges of delaying the return of the hostages and hearings about his deal with Iran to fund the Contras in Nicaragua in order to get around a congressional ban. But Donald has been treated worse. Bill Clinton had to deal with a lengthy investigation of a clearly consensual sexual act and then an impeachment trial that was the result of a dismissed lawsuit brought against him so that he could be forced to answer wide-ranging questions. But Donald has been treated worse.
Poor Donald. May he find some place much more private than the White House to lick his wounds.
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[1] Alfred Lubrano, Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams (John Wiley & Sons, 2004).
[2] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/17/15654526/trump-politician-history-treatment.
Steve Gottlieb is Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law School and author of Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and the Breakdown of American Politics. He has served on the Board of the New York Civil Liberties Union, and in the US Peace Corps in Iran. Steve maintains a blog: constitutionalismanddemocracy.wordpress.com
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