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From Abraham Lincoln to Andrew Carnegie to Elvis Presley, the archetype of the self-made man emerging from poverty to prominence, wealth, and influence has been powerful throughout American history.
Contemporary politics, particularly on the left, is going in the opposite direction. Being born into wealth and privilege and squandering it seems to be a path to influence, fame, and, perhaps, power. It started shortly after the re-election of President Trump, when Luigi Mangione, alleged assassin of health insurance executive Brian Thompson, became a pinup boy for a certain class of leftist. Hunter Biden, looking for relevance after the ignoble end of his father’s presidency, began giving interviews about the imagined mistreatment of his family and opened an account on the Source of All Wisdom. Finally, in what was once the Democrats’ best chance to flip a Republican Senate seat, Graham Platner became their presumptive nominee. He's the grandson of a prominent architect and son of a prominent lawyer who got bored with the oyster farm his parents bought him and questionable disability checks, becoming a darling of the online left until it was recently revealed that his socialist disdain for private property extended to his then-girlfriend’s apartment.
The most essential characteristic of the political failson is ingratitude — the less justified the better. After the Democratic Party elevated his father to the presidency and closed ranks around him for four years, Hunter Biden was shocked that the party refused to destroy itself out of loyalty after he embarrassed himself in his rematch debate with Trump. Graham Platner’s appeal is based on his sense of victimhood over Susan Collins’s vote to support the Iraq invasion. This vote apparently forced him not only to enlist in the Marines two years later but also to work as a defense contractor afterward. The Marine Corps gave Platner the only full-time job with adult responsibilities he’s ever had, and he will never forgive them for it. Luigi Mangione is the scion of a wealthy Maryland family and an Ivy League graduate. Ironically, his victim, from small-town Iowa, has a better claim to being a man of the people.
The actual political program of the failson has room for flexibility, as long as the personal sense of grievance is front and center. Graham Platner got the endorsement of gun control activist David Hogg despite opposing an “assault weapons” ban, supposedly Hogg’s signature issue. Hunter Biden appeared on Candace Owens’s podcast to sympathize with her bizarre conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk and posted opinions on fiat currency that wouldn’t be out of place among the more excitable Ron Paul supporters. Hate billionaires, hate Israel, bend the knee to trans kids, amplify your personal grievances, and you’re in.
Which brings us to everyone's favorite graduate of the La Jolla Country Day School. After parlaying his connections into a pundit career, Tucker Carlson lost his position at Fox News and retreated to podcasting. Unrestrained by legacy media prerogatives, he’s transitioned from a MAGA conservative to a doomer featuring a rotating lineup of conspiracy theorists, most frequently his own drunk brother. The commotion led to a final break with Trump, who, whatever his own faults, actually has to govern. His new project is creating a third party for the disgruntled podcast right. It remains open whether it will be a strictly right-wing affair or whether he’ll reach out to leftists aggrieved by whoever the Democrats nominate in 2028. In addition to the aforementioned meeting between Candace Owens and Hunter Biden, Tucker Carlson has expressed interest in interviewing Graham Platner (at least until the Late Unpleasantness with his campaign), uniting the podcast right and the dirtbag left around a politics of victimhood.
The old ideal of the self-made achiever was a hopeful aspect of American culture, inspiring symbols of a people seeking to take responsibility for their own lives and improve the world around them. The current vogue for underachieving children of prominent families speaks to a desire to be comfortable in our own weaknesses and shortcomings under the guise of “authenticity.” It points to a nihilistic politics of self-pity and entitlement.
Discussion (11)
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At least vogue on the internet, which I keep reminding myself is a very small group of people. Ingratitude and entitlement are a deadly brew, often but not exclusively bred by wealth.
Great post
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The examples abound, don’t they? One he left out that really competes for tops on the Misery Index is Harry, FKA Prince. He’s a non-achieving son consumed by (maybe) his wife’s envy of his brother’s job prospects. His own poor kids have no chance.
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It is, indeed, bizarre that the Left has reached a point where it desperately seeks to appeal to "deplolorables" by rounding up or embracing entitled male scions of privilege and presenting them as the voice of, or as those struggling to emerge from, the working class.
Whereas the Right has men like Marco Rubio, Thomas Sowell, Ted Cruz, Tim Scott, Steve Scalise, and Clarence Thomas (among many others), whose stories actually ought to inspire admiration, even for those who might not agree with their politics.
Maybe (stop me if you've heard this before) it's all Donald Trump's fault. After all, few scions have had more privilege. And yet Trump often manages to speak and act with the authentic voice of Everyman. He's grateful for his life. He loves his country, and he loves talking about its success stories, most of which--contrary to popular opinion--do not involve himself. He'd rather go to McDonalds than the French Laundry. And although he's reputed to be quite fond of opera, he loves nothing more than flat-footedly "dancing" around, in public view, to the Village People or Lee Greenwood. Then, there's the whole "Fight! Fight! Fight!" business, just after a bullet meant to explode his head on live television "merely" whistled by, and took a small piece out of, his right ear.
And, almost alone on the national stage, this past weekend, he delivered a speech celebrating America's 250th without any qualms, any throat-clearing, or any defensiveness.
I bet that drives the Left up the wall. And perhaps explains their aspirational goal, even if they can't ever seem to get it quite right.
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I've seen comments during this campaign season that Trump is a poor person's idea of a rich person and Graham Platner is a rich person's idea of a poor person. Since 2015, much has been written about Trump's ability to connect with the Everyman while being one of tremendous means. Most politicians try to adapt to the audience being spoken to. The biggest example that has stuck in my mind is John Kerry arriving in rural Ohio in fresh-off-the-rack hunting clothes and asking, "Is this where I get a huntin' license?" Rush played that clip a lot. Trump showed up everywhere in his suit and yet could connect with his supporters.
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Most definitely not to be left unmentioned alongside the above is this gentleman with an extraordinary, "Only in America" type life trajectory:
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