In late September, during the first presidential debate, former Vice President Joe Biden reminded the American people that mere months ago, Donald Trump had suggested injecting bleach into a person’s body as a possible method for fighting COVID-19.
The President’s response? “That was said sarcastically—you know that.”
Trump’s presidency has reminded the world that a politician can lie, and lie, and lie, and then lie even more, and come out relatively unscathed.
Trump’s sarcasm cop-out is nothing new. Indeed, the President and his staff have made a habit out of qualifying Trump’s more questionable comments in the face of public backlash. For example, according to White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, Trump’s assertion at his June 21 rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that slowing down COVID-19 testing would be in the nation’s best interest was completely “tongue-in-cheek.”
It wasn’t, as the President himself acknowledged. “I don’t kid, let me just tell you, let me make it clear,” he said.
Even as a candidate, Trump used the humor ruse to deflect criticism over his insane claim that Obama is the founder of ISIS. “THEY DON’T GET SARCASM?” he asked via Twitter. That same day, in addressing his followers at a rally, Trump unclarified his point: “Obviously, I’m being sarcastic—but not that sarcastic.”
While Trump’s sarcasm-in-hindsight sham isn’t particularly funny (sad!), it fits in with how, in general, the President wields humor both to slip out of tight spots and to maintain his popularity. He has made a policy out of joking around to deflect, to belittle, and to escape, with varying degrees of success.
When confronted by Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly during a 2015 Republican candidate debate with the litany of insults (“fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals”) he has hurled against women he doesn’t like, for example, Trump insisted that these insults pertained to “only Rosie O’Donnell.” She immediately called him out: “For the record, it was well beyond Rosie O’Donnell.”
Rather than apologizing for his deplorable comments, Trump shifts the focus to their target—and not without success, judging by the crowd’s laughter.
Trump’s use of humor plays into the persona he has carefully crafted: that of the proud non-politician. He jokes around. He has fun. He’s himself. Isn’t this a fresh change of pace from the typical gravitas of stiff politicians?
Thus, for Trump’s followers, those objecting to these quips are nitpicking charlatans with nothing better to do.
Yet the frivolous appearance of the President’s humor and sarcasm can mask troubling realities concerning his method of leadership. Trump’s duty, first and foremost, should be to serve the American people. It is his moral obligation to communicate honestly and openly with the citizens he represents, to put their needs above his own.
But this is simply not how the forty-fifth President operates. Rather than elucidating the truth, his language actively obscures it. This was exemplified by the bleach-injection fiasco.
As the video of this low point in the President’s mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis clearly shows, Trump turns towards Dr. Birx, head of the coronavirus task force, and asks his ludicrous questions in the least sarcastic tone imaginable. Despite this, he later claimed that he had asked that question “just to see what would happen.”
In other words, Trump claimed (after the fact) to be pranking the reporters, while discussing a virus that has now taken the lives of more than 210,000 Americans, with no end in sight.
The takeaway from these embarrassing cop-outs is that Trump prioritizes his own ego and self-image over the welfare of the American people. The President neither admits to nor learns from his mistakes; he repeats them ad nauseam. And with his trusty sarcastic subterfuge, he attacks his opponents—implying they are stiff, hyper-literal idiots too stupid to recognize a joke when they hear one.
“Come on now,” said Peter Navarro, claiming the President was just kidding about his call to slow down testing. “That was a light moment for him at a rally.”
For Trump and his affiliates, the media are much too literal (and liberal) to fairly portray what the President means, when it differs from what he says. This plays neatly into the notion that everyone is out to get Trump. The cards are stacked against him. The left cannot handle an occasional joke. Poor Donald is attacked for anything he says. Woe is he.
Thus isolated from accountability, Trump can continue to embarrass himself and his staff. The President is gaslighting the left, the media, and everyone else who is unable to pick up on his ever-so-subtle irony. When he speaks, fair is foul and foul is fair. And whether or not he makes it into the White House for another term, he has laid out a viable strategy for other politicians, future Presidents, and all leaders everywhere, to get away with saying outrageous things.
Trump’s presidency has reminded the world that a politician can lie, and lie, and lie, and then lie even more, and come out relatively unscathed. “After awhile,” Albert Camus writes in The Stranger, “you could get used to anything.”
Democracy depends on open communication and a commitment to truth. Slowly but surely, the President of the United States is eroding that foundation, normalizing dishonesty, and dividing the country for personal gain. When he speaks to the nation, no one knows whether he is being honest or coy, sincere or sarcastic, truthful or tongue-in-cheek—because neither does he.