Trump and the Common Man
Peggy Noonan rarely misses the mark. Yet in her column 'Republican Sleaze, Democratic Slump' (Declarations, June 7), she writes that a video plea made by Antoine Massey, a prison escapee, and addressed to President Trump and two other rappers, betokens 'a connection between the common man and president the likes of which I don't know we've ever quite seen in our national political life.'
Indeed, we still haven't, because Mr. Massey isn't a 'common man.' Fugitives know who their allies are, and Mr. Trump has shown his reckless disregard for the rule of law, evident on Jan. 6, 2021, and after, with his pardons for rioters. Ms. Noonan clearly appreciates this, but she fails to make the connection in marveling over the president's 'hold on the public imagination.' That hold is akin to the shock and fascination we feel over a 20-car pileup. The difference is that a spectacular accident is exactly that, an accident, not a prolonged and embarrassing wreck of our collective moral sensibility.
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