John Wayne, the FBI, and the Right’s Hypocrisy on Law and Order

Schaudenfreude - Enjoyment Obtained from the Trouble of Others

Have you seen that meme on Facebook that compares men today to John Wayne? The basic gist is that men today want safe spaces, are effeminate, and all around just not like a real man like John Wayne. Let’s leave aside the fact that Wayne was a very racist and antisemitic (Read his interview in Playboy in the 70s). It also minimized the fact that John Wayne was an actor, one played a character in all of his Westerns.

As someone who grew up fairly conservative, it also made me think of what I’ve been taught. I think one of the healthiest things anyone regardless of their upbringing is to question how you are brought up not out of malice but so you can think and process what you end up believing.

Over the past few years, what’s been prominent among most people from my hometown area is to Back the Blue or to say “Blue Lives Matter” or “All lives matter” when someone else says that Black Lives Matter. To them, they say stuff like this because they watch Fox or Newsmax or OAN and hear people on that channel.

Side note: I’ve worked at fox two different times both pre and post Roger Ailes and Donald Trump. I’ve also worked at ABC News and CNN. I’ve interacted with people on all sides which is where this post is coming from.

Over the past couple of days, however, my friends on the right are so outraged at law enforcement arm can go into a private citizens home and “raid” his house. They claim political witch-hunt and blame the deep state. They posts flags in distress. In all, it’s reminded me of something I’ve thought throughout 2015 to now as someone conservative: they’re going to bat for THIS guy?!? The immoral New Yorker who’s been both morally and financially bankrupt. The man who’s taxes have been audited for seven straight years, a conman who doesn’t even know how to say 2 Corinthians, who cheated on all of his wives including the former First Lady while she was pregnant with his youngest. The guy who was also friends with Jeffrey Epstein. That’s who they’re going to bat for?

Anyway, schaudenfreude is a weird feeling. One my old coworkers from CNN is @KFILE. If you know anything about politics or buzz feed, you’ve seen his work. He’s a nice guy, but my favorite part about him and his wife (a Wall Street journal reporter) is the advocacy they’ve done for pediatric oncology in the wake of their late daughter Beans battle with brain cancer at one years old. I mention all of this to ask you to look up Beans’ story and join #TeamBeans. I also write about this to also personalize him. Sure he works at CNN, but he’s one of the most genuine people I know. If you consider yourself conservative, I want you to know that the person behind those tweets is a person too.

Andrew has some great tweets. He uses old tweets by people of a party and then retweets them when salient. some examples:

Why am I saying all of this? Well, I remember a certain POTUS who talked about Law and Order and about supporting law enforcement. I remember that same person who said that claiming the Fifth Amendment was an admission of guilt and ask why people don’t just be honest if they’ve done nothing wrong. I remember POTUS firing James Comey for being “disloyal” but then appointing the current the leader of the FBI. I remember his former AG’s all doing their duty whether it was that Alabama who let the Russia Probe begin or that AG who resigned in late 2020 because he couldn’t convince his boss that he had lost fair and square. Never mind, that the records that were reportedly taken never belonged to him (they belong to the people) and never mind that same people who signed off on the raid had real concern that this POTUS would try to flush those papers down the toilet.

Yesterday, I asked my dad if his house had ever been raided by law enforcement. He said no. I asked my mom the same thing. She said no. I wish I had the ability to ask Breonna Taylor that same question. Unfortunately, I can’t do that.

I saw a lot of tweets and posts that posited that if this could happen to a former president, then this could happen to anyone. I agree with that. No one should be above the law. Not Bill Clinton when he tried to assert executive privilege to hide his dalliance with an intern and certainly not Donald Trump.

It brings me back to schaudenfreude and the one question I’ve thought about since 2015.

This Guy?! Y’all are going to bat for HIM of all people?!