‘The most gag-inducing phrase’ in our language perfectly describes our political leadership

In a recent conversation with a journalist, President Donald Trump responded to a question about the disproportionately large number of American cases of and deaths from the coronavirus curtly and defensively with the shopworn phrase “It is what it is.” He went on to assert that his administration now has the pandemic under control, a dubious proposition at best.

Just a bit of research about Trump’s choice of words produced intriguing results. The columnist William Safire traced its usage to 1949. A Google search turned up a stunning 13,480,000,000 hits. It has been the title of both a movie and a popular song. Al Gore fell back on it in the year 2000 when conceding defeat in that hotly contested presidential election. Today, no surprise, it has achieved the exalted status of a meme. It has been voted the “most gag-inducing phrase” in our language.

Safire allowed that “it is what it is” does not have a “definitive definition.” The magazine Psychology Today has used it to positively describe the healthy mindset of a person comfortable with life’s many ambiguities and uncertainties. More often, it is applied to people who understand that some things are beyond their control and they must learn to live with them.

The phrase can also be used to deflect unwelcome questions or enable those who employ it to extricate themselves from compromising situations. It likely won its gag-inducing award because it can indicate that the speaker could care less about the subject being discussed and would be helpless to do anything even he/she did care.

It was thus a retort tailor-made for our arrogant, inept, and often quite irresponsible president. In that recent interview, he used it to absolve himself and his administration of blame for the mishandling of the virus. There is nothing I could have done to change this, he seems to be saying. And since the only things that appear truly to concern him are those that involve him personally, he appears to have been adding that he really doesn’t care. This is truly where he misses the point since the virus and the number of deaths caused by it are very much his responsibility as president of this nation.

Let’s apply his reasoning historically. What if the American colonists had responded to the Stamp Act by shrugging and saying “It is what it is?” Or if Abraham Lincoln, who Trump often favorably —and with shameless pretense —compares himself to, had similarly responded to the South’s secession from the Union? And Franklin Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor? They did not, of course, and the world is very different because of it.

In truth, this virus is lethal and it would have been difficult in the best of circumstances to contain. But as leaders in countries as diverse as Germany, New Zealand, and Vietnam have demonstrated, steps could have been taken to limit its consequences and especially to reduce the death toll. A well formulated national strategy based on science and medical expertise and applied across the country along with better testing made available earlier could have made a significant difference. Instead, the president assured us that the virus would simply go away.

Trump must not be allowed to get away with such easy dismissals of his sadly deficient leadership. As president, he was and is responsible, and his failures have had consequences that matter deeply, especially to the loved ones of those who have succumbed to the virus.

“It is what it is” simply doesn’t cut it, and voters must be reminded in coming months of this president’s dereliction and its tragic results.

The worst thing that could happen would be that on November 4 those many Americans who so strenuously oppose his presidency would be compelled to say: “It is what it is.”

George Herring is a historian who specializes in the study of recent America.