Mitch McConnell: "Shameless and Shameful," says Fran Lebowitz

The iconic writer and humorist on realism, culture and politics today

Welcome back to my newsletter! This edition tees off on culture and politics with the writer Fran Lebowitz — hope you enjoy, and you can subscribe to get the entire newsletter here:

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I am basically an optimist. Journalism requires objectivity, and plenty of the topics in the press and the law can be quite sad. Yet at a basic level, I’ve always believed in the optimistic idea that we really can improve things, at least some of the time.

If I didn’t start with that premise, I’m not sure I’d find a way to spend so much time and energy on sad, seemingly intractable problems. And that’s just part of it. I’m probably also an optimist because there are so many sources of joy out there to replenish one’s optimism — from meeting amazing people to getting energized by great music to, for me, dogs. For example:

No room for pessimism here.

Where am I going with this?

I just had my first interview with Fran Lebowitz, known for her writing, her comedy, and in the popular imagination of some fans, for her florid, intricate complaints.

“The truth is very rarely positive”

So I had to ask her about being pessimistic, or negative. But she rejected the premise:

“I don’t think I’m negative.I know everyone else does. I’m aware of that… I think I’m realistic. I just tell the truth. The truth is very rarely positive…

I know I am judgmental — and that is a thing people really dislike. That is something you’re not ‘supposed’ to be… sometimes the anger towards me [for being judgmental] is the sort of anger you should have towards people who actually make decisions for you.”

Fran was exactly like you’d expect in person.

“They care about nothing”

As for people who do make decisions for us, Lebowitz was very clear (we could say “judgmental”) about the Republican Party’s current leaders.

With a writer’s eye for symmetry, she emphasized how people can be both “shameful and shameless” in one stroke, pointing specifically to GOP leaders like Sen. Mitch McConnell.

After reflecting on how “stomach-turning” it was to see a Confederate Flag marched through the Capitol on January 6th, she said:

“Mitch McConnell probably knew when he made that speech about how the President was responsible for this — and, two minutes later — the President was not responsible, he knew that people were going to put those side by side.

He didn’t care… They care about nothing — except retaining the power that they have at the moment.”

Fran with Andy Warhol in 1977. c/o Richard E. Aaron/Redferns

Words

Lebowitz does not write or publish much anymore. She’s been very candid about that, saying that without financial pressure, she hasn’t felt compelled to do that kind of work.

In that vein, when I asked what she learned from a youthful stint driving a cab, she deadpanned she learned, “that I hate to work.” (She makes other revenue from lectures and appearances, and finds that less onerous than writing.)

We discussed all that, and pinpointing the “difference” between writing and talking, and how she came to find people were interested in what she had to say. The answer was basically — slowly, given the pushback she received as a young, opinionated girl growing up in a different era:

All the things that brought me here today were all the things I was punished for my entire childhood — ‘Frances asks too many questions, Frances speaks out of turn.’

There’s a great lesson in there, especially for aspiring writers and artists.

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Now, is Fran literally a realist, or do you think she’s taking some poetic license?

Comment with your answer, or other thoughts on the interview, and I’ll reply to some of you… I find the dialogue via the newsletter is far more civil than Twitter!.. ; )

And here’s the full digital interview with Lebowitz. Most of it did not air on The Beat, so it may be new to you…