Political Scandal and American Pop Culture

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introductions and Definitions

Abstract

This chapter takes a brief look at the history of the intersection of political scandal and pop culture starting with the editorial cartoon era, with particular note of Grover Cleveland and the work of Thomas Nast. A definition of pop culture that focuses on transmission of an idea or symbol to a large audience via a contemporary mechanism is followed by a definition of scandal that dismisses ordinary corrupt behavior from the more narrow construction of scandal used to focus the discussion in subsequent chapters.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 2. Watergate and Its Legacy

Abstract

The Watergate scandal—the break-in and cover-up—is the starting point of the discussion as many observers of subsequent scandals seek to elevate or emphasize particular scandals by appending “gate” as a suffix to the scandal’s name. The events and “appeal” of Watergate are summarized and presented to demonstrate how the definitions provided in Chapter 1 can be applied to other scandals.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 3. Koreagate, Abscam, and Iran-Contra

Abstract

The first three “scandals” to follow Watergate are discussed in this chapter. Using summaries of the bad behavior by government officials the chapter examines whether or not these behaviors meet our criteria for scandals (they do not), yet they do get some credit for their cross over to pop culture. Koreagate is the first time the “gate” suffix is used in a national scandal and Abscam, many years later, gets its own movie—American Hustle.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 4. From Monkey Business to Monicagate: Hijinks on the High Seas, Whitewater, a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, and the Rise of FOXNews

Abstract

Gary Hart’s involvement with Donna Rice and his mishandling of the media firestorm following its revelation perhaps made it possible for Bill Clinton to get away with his bad behavior with respect to extramarital relations. Short summaries of the events surrounding Hart’s political demise and Clinton’s slide to impeachment help to identify these behaviors as scandals and make note of the many ways in which each contributed to our pop culture.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 5. Governors Gone Wild: Buying Sex, Selling Senate Seats, and Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Abstract

Client #9, Elvis’ impersonations, and a bad sense of geography highlight this chapter dealing with three governors who behaved badly. Two governors—Spitzer and Sanford—were guilty of sexual transgression and the third—Blagojevich—took the idea of “pay to play” to the highest level, trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat just vacated by President Obama to the highest bidder. All three qualify as scandals, but perhaps Spitzer and Blagojevich get much more credit for contributing to pop culture than Sanford and his poor attempt at covering up his affair.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 6. What’s in the Water on Capitol Hill?

Abstract

Congressman Charlie Rangel of Harlem in New York City was a powerful member of his Party and in his state, playing a large role in convincing Hillary Clinton to run for the U.S. Senate from New York. He also got involved in some bad behavior that earned him a censure by the House of Representatives, but his behavior did not meet our criteria for scandal and was more likely ordinary greedy politician behavior. Congressmen Eric Massa, Chris Lee, and Anthony Wiener, on the other hand, did engage in behavior, of a sexual nature, that did live up to the definition of scandal. It was most notably, the scandals of Massa and Weiner that contributed to our pop culture with the image of a “Tickle Me Massa” doll and the inevitable jokes playing off Weiner’s last name. Senator Larry Craig’s behavior following his arrest for solicitation of homosexual sex meets the criteria for scandal and gave us the “wide stance” defense.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 7. Clinton Scandals—Twenty-First-Century Version, but Not Bill

Abstract

Benghazi and “her emails” became mantras for the right wing during the lead-up to and during the 2016 presidential campaign. These two incidents are less scandal than poorly executed policy and bad judgment, but they raise the interesting proposition that Hillary Clinton’s prior celebrity and the animosity that came with it may have generated sufficient fervor to make these incidents appear to be scandals. Certainly, the prevalence of Republican rallying cries of “lock her up” has become a part of our pop culture and the analysis of YouTube clips containing references to the incidents in the chapter demonstrates their penetration into our pop culture.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 8. Drinking from the Firehose: Trump, Social Media, and Late Night Comedy

Abstract

Donald Trump is a master of distraction, seemingly diverting the public’s attention away from whatever accusation may be hurled at him, in part, through skillful use of social media. Once again, this chapter looks at the same question as in Chapter 7, if an individual’s status as a pop culture icon prior to revelations of politically related bad behavior affects the appearance of scandal. In this case, certainly more attention and more forgiveness come with Trump’s celebrity status. Trump himself notes this both on the now famous Access Hollywood tape and in his campaign statement about shooting people in the middle of 5th Avenue and not losing any support. Clearly, late-night comedy’s obsession with Trump qualifies for his continued contribution to pop culture.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 9. Still Thirsty? More Firehose, but Not January 6th

Abstract

In this catch all discussion, the “scandals” associated with Donald Trump continue to grow in number and run the gamut from sex with a porn star to withholding congressionally approved aid to a foreign ally. In this chapter Trump’s alleged rape of E. Jean Carroll (for which he was held civilly liable) is the starting point. The phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which he appeared to offer a quid pro quo arrangement for the release of U.S. arms to serve as a deterrent against potential Russian aggression is the starting point for a series of events that led to his first impeachment. Also included is a discussion of Trump’s removal of sensitive documents from the White House and his storage of them at his resort at Mar-a-Lago, which resulted in one of the two federal criminal cases against him.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 10. Hiding Behind the Robes: Clarence Thomas and Judicial Scandal

Abstract

We rarely think of the Supreme Court, or any court for that matter, as a part of pop culture. We would prefer to think of courts as far away from scandal and corruption as we can get, yet this chapter discusses just such a confluence: judicial scandal and pop culture. While the behavior of Clarence Thomas, both before his nomination and more recently, dominates this discussion, others have certainly added to the growing need to scrutinize the Court’s own rules about appropriate behavior.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 11. Lying in Its Own Right, Not Connected to Cover-Ups: George Santos

Abstract

Lying is a mainstay of scandals and the cover-ups of them. This chapter looks at lying, by itself, as a scandal. The discussion focuses on this distinction between lying as scandal and lying to cover up scandal. The short-lived career of George Santos exemplifies not just lying as scandal, but its crossover to pop culture. Lying can be a source of humor or entertainment, but it can be a dangerous threat to democratic governance.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 12. Rudy Giuliani

Abstract

America’s mayor descends into the butt of jokes and not so flattering imitation.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 13. The Big Lie, Pop Culture, and Threats to American Democracy

Abstract

Where Chapter 11 dealt with the phenomenon of lying as a scandal, this chapter deals with a specific set of lies, collectively known as “The Big Lie,” surrounding the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election. Further, these lies were not scandalous in a vacuum, but formed the foundation of the Insurrection that took place on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election by a joint session of Congress. Additionally, the heroic efforts of actors like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Cassidy Hutchinson to pull back the curtain on the actions leading up to January 6 are discussed.

Jim Twombly

Chapter 14. A Conclusion

Abstract

This chapter deals with a few other scandals not discussed in the earlier chapters to demonstrate why some scandals were chosen and others not. The discussion also returns to identify various types of scandals (sexual, financial, and power maintaining). It also continues by placing the scandals in Chapters 2–13 into these fluid categories. The discussion concludes with the assertion that we as a society are somewhat obsessed with scandals as is evidenced by the popularity of scandal-themed TV shows and the responses of late-night comedy to falling ratings by becoming more political. With our first pop culture president we are in uncharted territory and it is difficult to say how this seeming forever scandal will affect our democracy.

Jim Twombly

Backmatter