Uncharted Territory

Two data points over the past week bought to mind the image above, which is explained on this site:

[Nelson] Rockefeller, then vice-president of the United States, was on a campaign swing through upstate New York on Sept. 16, 1976, with Sen. Bob Dole, who had been selected to be President Gerald Ford’s running mate for the 1976 election. When someone in a group of heckling leftie SUNY Binghamton students gave Rockefeller the finger, Rockefeller gave it right back, much to the delight of Dole in the background.

At the time, Rockefeller’s finger flashing was scandalous and the gesture was referred to thereafter as “The Rockefeller Salute”. Rockefeller refused to apologize for his outburst. “I was just responding in kind”, he said, neatly avoiding the point that the apology was not expected to go to the hecklers but to the general public. Bob Dole was asked by a reporter why he didn’t join Rockefeller in “the salute”. He replied, “I have trouble with my right arm”.

This was a departure from public decorum to be sure, but what's interesting is that Rockefeller, a 24-karat lizard person, unhesitatingly and unabashedly gave the populist response to the hecklers, and there seems to have been at least an undertone of amusement in the national reaction, certainly implied in its characterization as the "Rockefeller Salute". But overall, this departure from decorum set no precedent, possibly because Rockefeller was a lame duck.

But something's changed over the past week. I first noticed it in the vehemence of the heckling Biden received from residents of Manville, NJ:

This was actually a couple of steps beyond a bunch of lefties giving a lame duck vice president the finger. And my view here has been that Biden isn't out of it, at least due to cognitive decline. He heard every word of the heckling in Manville, it rankled, and I seem to be the only person in the country to recognize that Biden's sudden firing of all the Trump appointees from the military academy boards was his direct response to it. I still think I'm right.

The next data point is the emergence of gleeful "[expletive] Joe Biden" chants at college football games as the new season gets underway. If you wish, you can find them on YouTube, but I won't link directly. According to this site,

Thousands of college football fans made their political stance clear by breaking out in “F–k Joe Biden” chants during multiple different games over the weekend.

“[redacted] JOE BIDEN chant at the first Coastal Carolina football game,” tweeted Old Row Sports along with a video of the anti-Biden cheers.

The chants became a movement as college football fans across the country celebrated their return to packed stadiums to watch the sport.

. . . College football fans filled stadiums across the country over the weekend, many not wearing masks with zero social distancing amid concerns over the rising cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant. Many viewed this as a sign that Americans are no longer taking the virus seriously, nearly two years after the virus began spreading in the United States.

Indeed. I would take this as a sign that the national mood is changing, and COVID is one factor at the root. "[Bleep] Joe Biden" is shorthand for "[Bleep] masks, social distancing, no football, no parties" and everything else, no doubt including the teams that kneel at the national anthem. According to this tweet, the trend, which started last weekend, is continuing. It began before Biden's attempt to impose a national vaccine mandate, but the tone of scolding and divisiveness in Thursday's speech will no doubt exacerbate the protest. And it ties Biden the more firmly to what the college kids don't like.

Again, Biden isn't out of it. He's aware of these things. And from what i've covered here, he's an angry and vindictive guy. His handlers know he has poor judgment and is hard to control. He'll likely have an angry and vindictive response, sooner rather than later, but for a US president to reply in kind isn't the same as Nelson Rockefeller, a lame duck pro tem vice president near the end of this term, doing the same thing.

We're in uncharted territory.

UPDATE: Yes, he's fully aware of this stuff.