How many, I wonder, of those who had been abusing President Trump on Tuesday for his violation of civilized norms during his debate with Joe Biden were the same people who, on the following Friday, were leaping for joy (like the actor Dominic West) at his diagnosis with covid-19—or, like Hillary Clinton’s former spokesperson Zara Rahim, wishing for him to die of it. Maybe publicly hoping for the death of your political opponent (or “enemy” as Mrs. Clinton herself prefers to put it) doesn’t count as boorishness on the same scale as interrupting him in debate, but I don’t think I’m the only one who was inclined to take the Trump haters’ over-the-top outrage at his debate performance with more than a grain of salt, even before his diagnosis with the disease.

Here, for instance, was John Harris in the next...

 
A new initiative for discerning readers—and our close friends. Join The New Criterion’s Supporters Circle.