Is America an abused, abandoned child in search of a kind uncle? Listening to pundits talk about the first presidential debate and dueling town halls, it certainly seems that way. On the one hand, you have the “crazy uncle” as “Today’s” Savannah Guthrie implied when President Donald J. Trump disavowed the reality of Seal Team Six getting Osama bin Laden under Trump archrival former President Barack Obama. (You have to love the waggish posters who call Trump’s armed, overweight white nationalists “Meal Team Six.”) On the other hand, there’s “Uncle Joe” Biden’s avuncular style on display in his town hall with “Good Morning America’s” George Stephanopoulos, with the former vice president offering to meet with questioners afterward for further discussion — and then actually doing it.
It’s ironic: The masked Biden is actually much better at intimacy, while the unmasked president — eternally in search of an audience, which is not the same thing as wanting a relationship — would seem to be a natural social distancer. Biden’s warmth is, of course, particularly evident in his attitude toward his family — as are his temper and other emotions when his family is attacked. Whereas Trump’s talk of his family is curiously affectless and distant. Listen to him mention “Barron Trump” having tested positive for the coronavirus, using both names as if his youngest child were some junior executive come in from Dayton for the quarterly meeting.
This lack of empathy is par for the course in narcissism. But it’s something voters are growing increasingly aware of. Recently, a couple who are not necessarily Biden fans independently told me that they were appalled by Trump dismissing the virus among the elderly with “it is what it is.” Yet why would they be surprised? This is the person whose administration cares nothing about the hundreds of children who remain separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border with little hope of being reunited anytime soon.
The question is not one of Trump or of his followers. They will never change. The questions is whether people like my friends will be moved to vote against him.