TV series You’re the Worst, considered a youthful “anti-rom-com,” has now completed three seasons on FX. I know this despite never having seen it. What’s enough for me is the title’s catchphrase, so widely applicable in the political world these days.
But as a therapist I also appreciate that You’re the Worst has received great reviews for how it’s handled the clinical depression of one of its lead characters, Gretchen (Aya Cash), in season two and her subsequent attempts at seeing a shrink (Samira Wiley) in season three.
Unfortunately, though, people who are “the worst” often don’t get that much better, at least in the eyes of others around them, regardless of what self-improvements they attempt. Brian Tallerico, rogerebert.com, remarks that this has had appeal for viewers: “The flaws of Jimmy and Gretchen feel genuine, their failures relatable.”
Another group of “you’re the worst”-ness is a significant part of our real lives, manifested by our current president and his cohorts. I’ve recently learned another term, kakistocracy, maybe not as catchy, denoting a “government by the worst people” (Merriam-Webster).
Examples of recent Twitter comments regarding #kakistocracy, i.e., “the worst”:
Bernie Sanders: “If you’re rich and powerful and commit illegal behavior you get promoted to the president’s cabinet. There’s something very wrong with that.”
LGBTQ Nation: “A cabinet full of deplorables…”
The Onion (satire): “Frustrated Russian Officials Struggling To Get Any Policies Through Dysfunctional Trump Administration”
Despite others’ hopeful predictions to the contrary, these individuals and their policy ideas are never going to improve, at least not in any way that really matters. How many times, for example, did we hear about then-candidate Trump, he’ll change/well maybe he’ll change/couldn’t he change? Over and over again we saw the answer in his actions. In other words, really?/I doubt it/ no way.
And yet he was elected.
Has he ever even wanted to change? There’s no proof that he has. And if he did want to change, the prognosis for a 70-year-old is not so great unless he were to apply himself really really hard, perhaps in some intensive therapy, not on the golf course.
And for those fond of deciphering whether or not Trump might sometimes be “acting” presidential, stop it. Acting is just that: a performance. If in some eyes he may on occasion pull it off, so what? It, the acting, doesn’t negate core character traits, [and] behavioral or attitudinal changes don’t suddenly alter our defining character makeup. Remember that from the above-cited review of You’re the Worst?
Of course, many of the appointees he’s managed to round up are of a similar ilk who, like You’re the Worst‘s toxic personalities Gretchen and Jimmy, seem “made for each other, but not for other people” (TV critic Murthi again). Perhaps one more definition of kakistocracy that would hold.
