Tweedledum And Tweedledumber

by Fran Withrow 01.2023

Andy Borowitz is an American author and comedian whose new book reveals how our country’s politicians have become dumb and dumber in the last fifty years. “Profiles in Ignorance” made me laugh—but also feel alarmed—as it traces the slippery slope leading from our more intelligent leaders to the “nightmare” of Donald Trump.

Borowitz sees a steady decline in “what our most prominent politicians didn’t know” over the past fifty years. He divides the waning intellectual prowess of legislators and aspirants into three stages: ridicule, acceptance, and celebration.

The first stage, ridicule, covers the era of Ronald Reagan and Dan Quayle. How many of you remember Quayle telling an elementary school child how to spell “potato?” (For you youngsters, Quayle wanted the student to spell it “potatoe,” which spellcheck is having a hard time letting me type.) I remember people chuckling and observing the then vice president with scorn. Imagine having a vice president who couldn’t spell!  If we had only known then what we know now.

George Bush and Ronald Reagan don’t come off much better. Borowitz sees them as intellectual lightweights whose talents overshadowed their lack of knowledge and who bungled their jobs, setting us up for the next stage, acceptance. 

George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas despite his limited cognitive skills. He confessed publicly that “I don’t like long meetings” (or long books). Yet he observed that “if you teach a child to read…he or she will be able to pass a literacy test.” Amazing. Instead of hiding his ignorance as people in the first stage tried to do, Bush brushed his lack of intellect off. Pat Buchanan said that not “only does he not know a great deal, he’s defiant about it.” 

At the same time, people like Al Gore were seen as eggheads or nerds. These more intelligent politicians were viewed as not “cool” enough to serve in the government. So politicians began to act dumber than they were in order to get elected. 

Politicians might purposely appear dumber, or be truly clueless. Sarah Palin falls in the latter category, as her “toxic brew of ignorance and grievance” opened the door for the entrance of Donald Trump.  His extremely weak grasp of history, geography, and the English language itself would never have passed muster fifty years ago.

Yet here we are, with Trump as the epitome of the third stage, celebration. As President, Trump repeatedly demonstrated his lack of knowledge about the workings of Congress, foreign policy, science, and a host of other things critically important to the running of the country. Trump really did seem to revel in his lack of knowledge.

You might end up laughing at all the buffoonery in Borowitz’ book while at the same time wondering what is next for our poor bruised country. Borowitz concludes his book by acknowledging, “we can always go lower,” but that this path is not a given. He advises getting involved in local politics to halt the country’s descent into ignorance. Vote, support our local legislators, and listen to one another with respect. We can still change direction.

Let’s do it.