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Political social-media stars trade in outrage and vitriol. It is hard to say how much is performative clickbait and how much is genuine antagonism. Bearing that in mind, let’s review the state of play in the MAGA media universe.
Currently, the far-right (and that appears to be the only relevant right at the moment) is divided between the pro-Iran War hawks, who think bombing foreigners is as American as apple pie. And the no-more-war doves, who took Trump at his campaign word that he would not involve the US in military adventurism.
The MAGAs are also divided into the pro-Israel pundits and those who think that Israel is the tail wagging the American dog. And thus see Trump’s embrace of Israel’s legally-challenged leader, the bellicose Bibi Netanyahu, as a knife in the back of the America First movement.
Currently, the spotlight is on the Mark Levin vs. Megyn Kelly brouhaha. Levin toes the ‘bomb the bastards for Israel’s sake’ line. Whereas Kelly is an old-time isolationist. On Sunday, the two traded Twitter barbs rooted in the debating style of a middle school playground. Levin got the ball rolling by tweeting:
Poor Megyn Kelly. An emotionally unhinged, lewd, and petulant wreck. She’s completely revealed and destroyed herself. She’s everything people say she is, but much worse. Never an intelligent, thoughtful, or substantive comment. Utterly toxic.
Logicians will point out that Levin’s entire offering was ad hominem bombast. Readers anticipating substance were left wanting. And psychologists will likely posit that “Never an intelligent, thoughtful, or substantive comment” may well be projection.
Kelly proved herself no shrinking violet by replying in kind. She, as the wags pointed out, took her rebuttal below the belt — literally. She countered with:
Micropenis Mark @marklevinshow thinks he has the monopoly on lewd. He tweets about me obsessively in the crudest, nastiest terms possible. Literally more than some stalkers I’ve had arrested. He doesn’t like it when women like me fight back. Bc of his micropenis.
Two ‘micropenises’ in one tweet? I am not sure if that’s a record. Regardless, I won’t be doing the research. As for the accuracy of her genital appraisal? It’s hard to say. She offered her assessment without corroboration. Nor did she say whether her statement was based on personal experience, hearsay, or whether she was extrapolating physical attributes from what Levin said.
Levin was not abashed. He returned fire by continuing in the genital/sexual vein, tweeting:
Busy Sunday morning for Megyn Kelly. She wakes up and has “micrope*is” on her mind. Suffice to say, if it talks like a harlot, and posts like a harlot, it’s … well, you know the rest.
Shalom!
Harlot? To my ears, that has a literary and anachronistic ring to it. Was Levin, subconsciously, trying to elevate a puerile back-and-forth? Or at the moment of impact, did he decide that more earthy synonyms for a woman of ill repute and sexual abandon were too ripe even for his audience?
I should also note that the evidence that Kelly is, in fact, a harlot has the same weight as the evidence that Levin is deficient in the manhood department. So far, without witnesses or other proof, both claims lack standing.
However, even if, or especially if, the claims are pure fantasy, they are irrefutable evidence that the competing sides in MAGA’s media civil war are not serious people. And anyone who thinks they come away from this sort of thing better for the experience has low standards.
However, we shouldn’t be surprised at the WWE-style discourse. The big cheese of the MAGA movement, Trump, thinks the best person to run the federal Department of Education is a former pro-wrestling impresario.
