It’s hard to imagine that there would have been snarky jokes and memes during the assassinations of John F. Kennedy or his brother Robert. Making light of the tragic event in Pennsylvania over the weekend was something I was surprised to see on my social media, where the feed is dictated by my political leanings.
Since Saturday evening, it’s been a history lesson in the news, recounting the failed or successful assassination attempts of Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, George Wallace, Ronald Reagan, Martin Luther King, Abe Lincoln, and all our other historic leaders.
And the frequency of political violence has escalated: former Congresswoman Gabby Griffords (2011), Congressman Steve Scalise (2017), the kidnap plot of Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan (2020), the attack of Paul Pelosi (2022) and, of course, Jan. 6 and the chants to hang Vice President Mike Pence (2021). President Biden just gave a “ballots not bullets” address to America as I type this.
This was, to be sure, the culmination of years of disturbing developments in this country, the perfect storm of a growing mental illness problem, a toxic gun culture and unprecedented political rhetoric. I say unprecedented because never has there been such media reach, along with this volume of possible personal social media engagement.
Everyone is able to get stage time and it’s killing us. Adding gasoline to all of this? Humor. Everyone today is told they are funny. It’s the one thing this country has a surplus of now, confidence. Everything is an open mic, and everyone is told they are wildly funny. Kids make toasts and work a room like a seasoned comedian.
That’s all fine but now humor is a weapon. It used to be our medicine. It’s what got us through these times. But now we are living through one gigantic polarizing comedy roast. Nightly, late night hosts jibe candidates. Candidates think they have to insult colleagues. Something not ever discussed is how large a role humor has been responsible for why we find ourselves where we are, where the country is so divided, where we can’t even agree what’s funny.
I make a living as a humorist and I also make cartoons, some of them political. I am part of the problem. I get politically charged and have literally taken it out in my essays, gag cartoons and many op-eds, making fun of those in the public eye I think are a threat to the public. Granted, I don’t have the influence or pull I once did. That is because everyone is doing what I do now. Everyone is on stage. All the while the world is laughing at us, watching us implode, calling us a laughingstock.
All roads go back to man’s immature obsession with being adored (and this falls mostly on men). We all love the adoration a comedian gets from an audience, even if it’s a campaign rally. Being funny achieves that. Funny is power. Everybody wants to be loved, no more so than politicians.
Many accounts say it was President Barack Obama’s monologue at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where Donald Trump was the butt of many of the president’s jokes, that fueled Trump’s initial run to the White House.
A stand-up comedian I know played golf with Trump when he was a real-estate mogul. He explained Trump was a fun guy and a lot of laughs. He contends basically he, like some many men, really just wanted to be a stand-up. Not literally, but just an observation, that like so many politicians, it’s about the stage. Trump went on to guest host “Saturday Night Live,” twice (George Santos claims he was the musical guest, both times.).
Certainly, it will be interesting to see how the late-night hosts handle the assassination attempt against Trump this week. I hope they follow Biden’s cue and take a break from this perpetual comedy roast that is not swaying anyone one way or the other as to who they will vote for.
What once provided comic relief, has just felt like piling on the past few years and has been convincing me to consider living abroad after the election. And for those out there who still don’t know who at this time who they will vote for, I applaud you for being able to keep yourself away from all the crazy political rhetoric all this time.
Eckstein is a New Yorker cartoonist and New York Times bestselling author. His new book is “Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums.”
