On Tuesday I returned to the Golden EIB Microphone for another three hours of substitute-host-level Excellence in Broadcasting on America's Number One radio show. In the course of the show I talked about the Ashanti appropriation of Chuck and Nancy, and wondered whether full Justin blackface could be far behind. Also up for discussion today: Is wimpery the way to win? Plus Uber Eats brings back segregated dining, the renaming of US military bases, the cheap shots of Mad Dog Mattis and the general uselessness of the general staff - and what's the best way to cure Covid-19? Race riots? Or Sir Isaac Newton's toad-vomit recipe? Click below to listen:
Somewhere along the way, I referred to Mattis' pathetic speech on September 11th 2017. Here's what I wrote back then:
Insofar as Islam got a look in from officialdom, it was a passing reference in the speech of Defense Secretary 'Mad Dog' Mattis:
'Maniacs disguised in false religious garb thought by hurting us they could scare us that day.'
Well, whoever they are, these 'maniacs' can evidently scare grizzled hard men called 'Mad Dog' into concluding that, when it comes to mentioning the I-word, discretion is the better part of valor. 'False religious garb' means we're back to the standard Euro-squish line that all this Allahu Akbar I'm-ready-for-my-virgins stuff is a 'perversion' of the real Islam, which is a peaceful faith practiced by millions of people for whom self-detonation is an unwelcome distraction from traditional activities such as clitoridectomies, honor killings and throwing sodomites off tall buildings. Stop me if you've heard this before, but these 'maniacs' are hijacking this 'religious garb' in order to peddle a 'false' vision of Islam. Foaming-canine-wise, Mad Dog sounds about as mad as, say, Theresa May. I take it that, even in today's politically correct military, you can't earn the epithet 'Mad Dog' simply by handing out diversity awards to the Transgender Outreach Liaison Officer of the Month, and General Mattis served honorably and impressively in Afghanistan and Iraq. But, when it comes to strategic clarity, that may be the problem...
Mattis' line about 'maniacs disguised in false religious garb' might be politic or even sincere when advanced in Tikrit or Basra, but delivered at the Pentagon it's the most feeble dissembling sixteen years into an existential struggle. And its deployment on 9/11 itself - on the home front, on sacred ground where blood was spilled - is not a small thing.
I was sick of the guy long before Trump was - and long before his shabby and dishonorable behavior in The Atlantic.
I'll be back this evening for the latest episode of our nightly audio adventure, The Man Who Was Thursday, and tomorrow, Wednesday, for the midweek edition of The Mark Steyn Show. Hope you'll give one or other or both a listen. Tales for Our Time and The Mark Steyn Show are made with the support of Mark Steyn Club members. For more on the Steyn Club see here.