Two old friends, the anthropologists, Paul Stoller, an American and Emile Martin, a Frenchman, are having lunch in Paris at Café Bal Bullier on the Boulevard Montparnasse. They order a carafe of red wine and two orders of steak frites. What begins as a conversation about religion in West Africa soon shifts to contemporary politics.
Emile, how could a sane French person vote for Marine Le Pen?
Alors, mon ami. Marine Le Pen is really, really bad, but we have not yet elected her.
That’s true.
But you elected Trump. Paul, how could 60 million American voters cast their ballots for a someone who is boorish, incoherent, ignorant and dishonest?
It’s been an insane six months. Emile, just the other day, we marked Trump’s first 100 days.
How bad has it been? A catastrophe?
It’s really bad but it could get worse. He seems unstable. He posts ridiculous tweets and does incoherent interviews—real word salads. Who knows what he’ll do in the future? At least his Muslim ban hasn’t worked yet and he hasn’t been able to take away health care from millions of sick folks with preexisting conditions.
Paul, I’ve never been able to understand your health system.
That makes two of us, Emile. It’s ridiculously expensive. We get less for more.”
That’s what I’ve heard. Things work pretty good for us here in France.
I know. I know.
But Trump doesn’t seem to understand heath care or economics or history, or, for that matter, how the world works. What kind of advice does get?
He’s got some crazies around him.
There’s also lot of nepotism, n’est-ce pas? What’s up with his daughter and son-in-law?” I hear that they have a lot of influence—offices in The White House and direct access to The President.
That’s true.
Paul, didn’t you post an open letter to the son-in-law--Jared Kushner?
I did. There are Kushners in my family--mishpacha, so I wrote to him as his fictive Uncle Paul, the anthropologist.
You think he read your letter?
Probably not. But he could be family and I’m still worried about him. He’s been sparring in The White House boxing ring for more than 100 days. That’s got to be stressful, no? What’s more, his father-in-law thinks the wunderkind can easily forge a Arab-Israeli peace deal. In his spare time, he’s supposed to reform the federal government. He wants to run it like a business.
Isn’t that ethnocentric?
You bet it is. I advised him to read an introductory anthropology textbook about ethnocentrism, but I’m worried that he’ll forge ahead with his fantasy plans. He’s headed toward a nasty collision with reality. What’s more, the boychick is clueless. Did you see that photo of him at a military base in Iraq wearing a flak jacket over his blazer! Oy!
Maybe he’s really a bon garcon.
Who knows what he’s like? I did give him avuncular advice. I suggested that he should go home to New York, work in real estate and spend quality time with his family
Think he’ll do it?
Nah. He’s probably not going to listen to his fictive Uncle Paul, the anthropologist, but if he read the work of his namesake, the late Gilbert Kushner, a pioneering anthropologist, he might be compelled to leave Washington.
A relative?
Could be. Gil Kushner was from the Bronx. He founded an anthropology department and established the first program in applied anthropology at the University of South Florida. He wanted to train anthropologists to extend their methods and insights to the solution of social problems. The wunderkind should read the work of his namesake. We could use Gil Kushner’s wisdom in the White House, don’t you think? In a 2010 obituary The Tampa Bay Times quoted him:
Anthropology (is) not only a scientific and humanistic discipline, but a way to contemplate humankind's place on Earth.
How much does Jared Kushner read?
Hard to know, I can only hope that he reads more than his father-in-law. Who knows maybe he’ll read Gil Kushner about solving social problems. But I’m not optimistic. As you know my old friend, old habits are hard to change, All we can do is to resist Trumpism each and every day.
Indeed.
What about Marine Le Pen?
We hope that the tide will take Marine and her family out to sea. That will put a s stop to some of the know-nothing nonsense.
We’ll know soon, Emile.
We’ll know for sure in a few days. But what about America and Trump’s next 100 days?
We need more wine, my friend!