In Praise Of Villains, Adulterers, Con Men, And Liars - Life Would Be A Thudding Bore Without Them

It is no surprise that the most memorable characters in Shakespeare are villains.  Richard III, Iago, Goneril, Regan, Tamora, and Dionyza have no equals when it comes to sheer immoral chutzpah.  King Lear's daughters take his knights, his palace, his retinue, his living and send him cold and alone to die on the heath.  Tamora, out of vengeful spite against King Titus Andronicus encouragers her sons to rape and mutilate his daughters.  Dionyza, jealous of the beautiful, graceful, and appealing Marina, daughter of Pericles, left in her charge while he is away, engages a murderer to kill her, thus ridding her own plain and uninteresting daughter of a competitor. 

 

Iago is a man of unmitigated, innate evil; and he plots to destroy Othello, seeding him with doubts about his wife, Desdemona's fidelity.  For no reason other than he can, Iago emotionally corrupts the great man until beside himself with jealousy and hate, murders her.  Richard III is no different, and without a second thought murders anyone who might stop his ascendancy to the throne. 

We may root for the good, but fall for the bad.  The Devil in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov tells Ivan that without him the human race would fall asleep.  I am saving you from a life of rectitude, Holy Mass every Sunday, doing good and the right thing day after day, he says.  I am not an evil being but a vaudevillian, bringing challenge, opportunity, and amusement to the world.  

Which is why Donald Trump is so appealing.  No politician has been so outrageous, so dismissive of cant, propriety, and sanctimony as he.  Everyone is in his sights, no one immune from his ridicule, no absurdity left to lie.  He is a tummler, a vaudevillian, a carny barker, a circus performer, and a lion tamer.  Lives of predictability, rectitude, and received wisdom have no relevance, purpose, or validity. Afuera! as Javier Millei, libertarian President of Argentina shouts as he tosses one useless government department after the other into the political dustbin.  Afuera! shouts Donald Trump as his phalanx of DOGE paramilitaries wipe out bureaucracies up and down Independence Avenue. 

There is nothing temperate about the man, nothing prim and proper, and absolutely nothing that can intimidate him.  Take it or leave it, get over it, he says as his juggernaut rolls on, upsetting one apple cart after another, upsetting the Left to apoplectic hysteria, but providing a jamboree, a great, hilarious show to half the country, his faithful, the legions who have loved every bit of his ridicule, nastiness, dismissiveness, and beleaguering display of insulting power. 

Who was more appealing - the young, handsome, irresistible John F Kennedy, or the dour, dark, and morose Richard Nixon?  The wild sexual antics of LBJ or the cardigan sweater Christian propriety of Jimmy Carter?  Bill Clinton's trailer trash and intern escapades or Joe Biden's buttoned up, feminized obeisance? 

 

We love former President Sarkozy of France for sleeping with his mistress in the Elysees Palace, or Francois Mitterrand seen openly in public with his mistress and illegitimate daughter, or Vladimir Putin who has made no secret of his eagerness for female company.  We may say that we prize sexual reticence and good behavior, but only because we lack the means and the opportunity do we stick with our doughy wives. 

Trump is photographed with starlets, arm candy, delightful blonde things while Biden surrounded himself with diversity - the most unappealing, unattractive menagerie he could possibly assemble.  He would do right by gays, lesbians, transgenders and every black person under the sun, while Trump was off to Mar a Lago with his blue-eyed beauties, trophy wife, and handsome coterie.  

Trump is the Left's villain not because of his fiscal policies, his determination to cut the government bureaucracy, close the southern border and drill in national parklands but because of his total indifference to the right thing - diversity, inclusivity, equity, and identity, a more verdant, healthy climate, and world peace.  There are too many problems in the world to have fun, and that's exactly what Trump is doing. 

The absolute chutzpah of Rudy Kurniawan was a thing to behold.  This young Indonesian scammed millions from credulous, self-important, self-appointed wine connoisseurs.  He duped them, fooled them, played them like a violin and salted away the wealth of Croesus through his schemes.  He bought inexpensive, excess, barreled wine from Europe, aged bottles, corks, and labels and sold it as aged, exclusive, rare vintage offerings.  He knew that the johns would never drink his wine, thus exposing his fraud, but buy, keep, and sell it as an investment.  He cultivated his own sophisticated persona of a real wine expert - he had exquisite and uncanny taste - and snookered thousands. 

You've just got to love this guy, admire his ingenuity, and bald confidence.  The very idea of doing what he did!!! Incredible. 

Bernie Madoff was no where as appealing as the young, dynamic, attractive Rudy; but he accomplished the same thing - duping thousands to invest in a Ponzi scheme worth absolutely nothing.  It takes a genius to do that, to so understand human credulousness and naivete and to care so little about giving them exactly what they want that they will turn over the keys to the treasury to him. 

You've simply got to hand it to Jim and Tammy Bakker, televangelist con artists bar none who took millions from their faithful and built luxurious mansions with it; or Jimmy Swaggart, philanderer, scumbag, blubbering, apologizing preacher imploring his flock to follow Jesus' example, and forgive him. 

 

We are a nation of snake oil salesmen, tricksters, con artists, fraudsters, and imposters and have been since the early days of the Republic.  'A fool and his money are easily parted' said Thomas Tusser in 1587, and that has been adopted as the unofficial meme of the American experience.  We are not alone in this enterprise of course - every country has its off-market schemes and scams.  Hindu priests dun mourning Hindus at the burning ghats for their last paisa, Muslim imams know a good thing when it presents itself and every businessman in China and Korea is figuring out ways to make an easy buck; but it is here in America, the motherlode, where conning has become an art form. 

The amazing chutzpah of politicians to stand before the public and lie through their teeth is something to behold.  The governor who said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail while he was actually in Buenos Aires with his red hot Argentine lover; or the Congressman who paid off an aide to announce the paternity of his, the politician's child; or the Senator who was squiring his mistress around the Caribbean while his wife was dying of cancer.  

Unconscionable? Unforgiveable? Perhaps, but the storyline is irresistible.  The sheer chutzpah, the unmitigated gall of these men is riveting.  We might shake our heads in disapproval, but when we look around at the stale toast, the doughy wife, the car payments, and overdone pot roast, we would like to be them.  OK most of them get caught, but what a ride.  A real statement of identity.  

Nietzsche famously wrote that the only validation of the individual is the expression of pure will, beyond good and evil; and that's why we aspire to nasty things.  It's one thing to be found out, but the ride, the heady ambition, the sheer delight is another altogether. 

 

The conservative Right understands this and understands it well.  The Left is always miserable because of people's bad behavior and all they can do is hector, preach, and dun.  History - no matter whether world, national, or personal is always the same.  Dirty tricks are part and parcel of the human experience, a rough edge on self-interest and ambition but there nonetheless.  Time to embrace it.  It is us after all.