Note: If you wish to receive, via e-mail, (1) my weekly newsletter or (2) daily copies of these posts, write to me at [email protected]. Comments may also be sent to this address. I promise not to share your e-mail with anyone. To unsubscribe, write here as well.
Thursday
Following Joe Biden’s address yesterday about why he’s choosing not to run for a second term, some MSNBC commentator—I can’t remember who—cited a line from Macbeth: “Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it.” And indeed, there was something magnificently Shakespearean about a man putting the needs of the country over personal ambition. As he put it,
I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future, all merited a second term,” the president said. “But nothing, nothing, can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition. So, I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation. You know, there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. But there’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.
And further on:
I revere this office, but I love my country more. It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president. But in the defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think it’s more important than any title.
The Macbeth passage is not entirely appropriate since it refers to a traitor whom Macbeth has defeated in battle and then executed. Macolm reports to King Duncan on the execution of the Thane of Cawdor:
Malcolm: But I have spoke
With one that saw him die; who did report
That very frankly he confessed his treasons,
Implor’d your Highness’ pardon, and set forth
A deep repentance. Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it.
While some in the Democratic party, prior to Biden stepping down, were accusing him of—not treason, exactly—but of putting his ego over the needs of his fellow Democrats, in the end he transcended politics in a George Washington-type moment. To be sure, it’s not true that nothing in his life became him like how he left the presidency—Joe Biden has had many memorable moments in his career—but this is one that will go down in history.
Looking at the play, it’s worth mentioning the man who takes Cawdor down. Macbeth will go on to commit his own act of treason, pulling off a successful coup by murdering Duncan. Trump’s own treasonous coup attempt was unsuccessful, and whether he would have succeeded in defeating Biden in November as Macbeth defeats Cawdor we will never know.
What we do know, however, is that Biden exited with grace and dignity whereas Trump, in January 2020, went down like a screaming and cursing Macbeth:
Macbeth: I will not yield
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet
And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
…Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damned be him that first cries “Hold! Enough!”
The play ends with Malcolm brandishing Macbeth’s head on a pole. Pray that Malcolm bests Macbeth in our own election and that it is not democracy’s head on that pole.
