From the last Morning Jolt of the week:
May of Us Love the ‘No Apologies’ Style, Until We Think We’re Owed One
Over on the NRO home page, I take a look at the “no apologies” personas of Donald Trump and Ann Coulter.
American culture is of two minds when it comes to apologies. George Washington expressed regret for the way he treated his slaves; Abraham Lincoln wrote formal letters of apology. In 1997, Miss Manners wrote, “the apology is a wonderful thing, indispensable for soothing if not raging feelings in a volatile society.” But Americans have also periodically applauded the refusal to apologize, sensing the admission of fault to be un-masculine or soft. In the 1949 film She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, John Wayne declares, “Never apologize. It’s a sign of weakness.” Jethro Gibbs, the zen master of masculine toughness on CBS’ top-rated NCIS, echoes Wayne’s line as one of his rules. Barry Goldwater’s most famous quote can be interpreted as a refusal to apologize for his stances: “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Neither Donald Trump nor Ann Coulter speaks in a vacuum; their give-no-quarter style reflects the era. Americans have endured much worse than hurt feelings in recent years, with nary an apology. No one on Wall Street or the financial world apologized for the housing bubble or Great Recession. The president never apologized for not delivering on his promise to “lower health insurance premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year” and Chuck Todd had to pull teeth to get the president to express contrition for his many loud pledges that Americans who liked their plans could keep their plans.
“I am sorry that they, you know, are finding themselves in this situation, based on assurances they got from me,” the president shrugged.
Confronted with his early assessment of ISIS as the “JV team”, Obama didn’t apologize for the bad judgment but instead implausibly insisted he was referring to other organizations. The previous Secretary of State never apologized for a silly “reset button” ceremony that was followed by new levels of Russian military aggression against neighboring Ukraine.
No one at the State Department ever apologized for turning down Ambassador Chris Stephens requests for additional security in Libya. No one at the Office of Personnel Management apologized for a breach of 22 million personnel records.
Occasionally, after egregious, high-profile failures, administration officials like Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized – almost literally the least they could do, considering the scale of the failures on their watch.
The eternal refusal to admit fault can be infuriating in a presidential candidate. But the mentality is far worse in an administration, with so many more far-reaching consequences.