Fallon’s trumpery is lunacy
When Jimmy Fallon was nice to Donald Trump, he tacitly endorsed him.
Trump was in the news again, because Trump is the only news these days. I’m sure Kim Jong Un can’t believe the good PR run he’s having. The media have completely given up on him in favour of covering the only oompa loompa who made it out of the chocolate factory alive. This time, Trump was in the news for appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The two of them got along famously. They were like a couple of kids who met at camp last summer when both sets of parents were going through a divorce. They’d bonded over the good times and the sad times and now that it had been a year since they’d seen each other last, they could barely contain their excitement. Sure, Big Don had a kind of bad reputation at camp, but he’d always been nice to Little Jimmy. He looked after him like the little brother he’d always wanted, instead of the one he probably had at home. So when they finally got to be together again, Little Jimmy jostled Big Don’s hair and they poked fun at each other the way only good friends can. Safe in the knowledge that underneath the jibes there is love and trust and understanding. Fallon has since justified Trump’s appearance, saying he’s an entertainer, not a journalist. I guess it’s all a matter of framing.
Like as a kid, when I used to steal money from my parents’ bedside table and they’d call it theft, and I’d call it entrepreneurial. By declaring himself an entertainer only, Fallon was attempting to separate himself from the political debate. He’s attempting to make himself a neutral party. But Trump is a person who has revelled in his bigotry and sought reward for it. So outrageous is his cartoon villainy, if he were a fictional character in a book I’d be yelling to all those who listened ‘‘who’s writing this s***?!’’ and ‘‘isn’t it nice to have the time to read a book!’’ At a certain point every person has to take responsibility for the company they keep. To declare neutrality in the face of a person like Trump is to declare allegiance.
Ultimately, this poses a question about when your association with someone becomes an endorsement of the things they’ve done. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, is no doubt facing a similar dilemma. She’s a woman with a family who runs a company, a declared feminist who is socially liberal by all accounts, yet she also vehemently supports her father.
On the one hand, I support her loyalty. I’d like to think I’d stand by my family. Although, when my elderly grandma farted in a Kmart I immediately sold her out and loudly exclaimed, ‘‘poo, nan, you can’t fart in here.’’ It was more important to me that I wasn’t held accountable for her untimely fart, than it was to help hide her likely unwilling flatulence. On the other hand, by supporting him without critiquing him, she’s fundamentally endorsing his bigotry.
I think to some degree we all have to be comfortable with sharing an association with those with whom we associate. Recently, My Food Bag withdrew their sponsorship of the Chiefs. That money has instead gone to the Women’s Refuge. We’re always weighing up benefit gained versus the harm inflicted. I cringe every time I think about all the Woody Allen films I’ve watched after gaining knowledge of his chequered past. So recently, I’ve resolved that I won’t watch any of his new stuff, but I will illegally stream the stuff I’ve already seen. I’m not a martyr.
Often we’re more willing to compromise our core values when the people we’re called on to criticise are those who hold power, be it personal, professional, or philanthropic. Charities and even individuals make this compromise when they accept money from dubious benefactors. But they do so because they believe the good that money can do outweighs the bad it might perpetuate. Compromise is an essential and important part of life. But so is consequence. The benefit Fallon gains is the spike in his ratings and attention for his show. But he has to accept that in doing so he’s validated the type of opinions we should be dismissing as lunacy.