The Art of Giving a Damn
On Sunday, a day after the mass-shooting tragedy in El Paso, Texas, a reporter asked the Democratic presidential candidate and El Paso resident Beto O’Rourke whether there was anything President Donald Trump could do “to make this any better.” It was not a very good question. O’Rourke answered it like this: “Uh, what do you think? You know the shit he’s been saying. He’s been calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. I don’t know.” O’Rourke threw up his hands. “Like, members of the press: What the fuck?”
It is a common theme in the politics of the moment: Some things are so obvious, so outrageous, that the only reasonable response to them is profanity. Some things—in fact, so many things—are more important than mere politeness. On the Monday following the bloodshed in El Paso and in Dayton, Ohio, read from a teleprompter about the evils of racism. In response to that speech ,Cory Booker’s presidential-campaign manager an ostensibly private text message from the candidate: “Listening to the
