The Alfred E. Smith dinner is supposed to put a bipartisan bow on the gift of American democracy. For decades, the well-heeled and well-connected have come together to laugh at and with the chosen presidential candidates from the two wings of the governing duopoly. It’s meant to be a reminder that they are all in the same boat and that politics stop at the water’s edge. It supposed to be a reassuring reminder that the system works. It’s supposed to be all in good fun.
But this year’s dinner turned ugly. Donald Trump was resoundingly booed for predictably not knowing the difference between his overwrought, histrionic campaign and self-effacing bipartisan banter. Hillary Clinton jabbed back with sharply written jokes before kibitzing with a bevy of power elites (Hello, Kissinger!) as they slowly left the dais after taking turns posing with the Establishment’s cardboard cutout.
Frankly, it was exactly the sort of “dinner theater of the absurd” we’ve come to expect after sixteen months of petulant name-calling, hacked emails, carnival-like debates, and the media’s profitable collusion with both candidates. More than ever before, the duopoly is asking voters to render judgment on comically-flawed contestants in what’s little more than an overly-produced talent competition between two intolerably bad performers. It’s American democracy as The Gong Show.
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