The Patriot Post® · The Peanut Gallery Pipes Up
Every once in a while, a distant memory flares up in my old brain, along with a surprising link to the present day.
The octogenarians among us will no doubt recall, as youngsters, watching “The Howdy Doody Show” (weeknights at 5 p.m., I think) on small black-and-white TV screens. In each broadcast, Howdy, Clarabell, and the cast performed in front of a live audience of little kids in the studio, gathered together in what the producers called the “peanut gallery,” laughing hysterically at every gag.
Like the piped-in pre-recorded laughter common in those old TV shows, the peanut gallery’s hyper-enthusiastic reaction to Howdy Doody’s antics was predictable and contagious, adding life to a show that was actually pretty weak. And it occurs to me that it was not very different from today’s public reaction to information spoon-fed by the media and politicians about the events of these tumultuous times.
OK, maybe that’s a stretch, but to my thinking, our 2026 version of the peanut gallery is the Democrat faithful watching intently as the Trump administration — and Trump himself — confronts the issues of the day, and reacting with 100% predictability.
To today’s peanut gallery, every action President Donald Trump takes is awful — reprehensible, an embarrassment to the nation, a threat to democracy. The gallery is obsessed with the here and now, delighted at Trump’s missteps (there are plenty) and harshly critical of his every decision; it repeatedly predicts future catastrophe, and conveniently forgets every success. Like Howdy Doody, it makes for good TV viewing, but it’s not particularly insightful.
As a timely example, consider last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling declaring the Trump tariffs to be illegal, a serious blow to his “favorite word” and go-to economic tool.
On cue, Trump threw a fit, calling the majority of justices “unpatriotic” and a “disgrace.” The peanut gallery cheered his setback lustily, and many on the Right were embarrassed by his petulance. I, for one, would argue that a 6-3 ruling, opposing the president with sound reasoning, is a gift — a distinct rebuttal of the common assertion by the Left that the current Supreme Court is a Trump lapdog, when in fact it is the independent arbiter intended by our Founders.
And let’s think back to Trump’s “Liberation Day” last April when he kicked off his tariff policy: the same peanut gallery predicted catastrophe for the U.S. economy, chilling public support to the degree that the stock market tanked for several days (supposedly destroying overnight the IRA retirement savings of all of middle America); but somehow the market rebounded within the week and is today hovering around the 50,000 stratosphere.
Last week, prior to the SCOTUS decision, a Wall Street Journal analysis concluded that about 90% of the tariff costs had been paid by American consumers, buying imported goods at higher prices, that the U.S. economy is humming in spite of — not because of — the Trump tariffs, and that to some degree they have helped to achieve more balanced trade and to incentivize on-shore manufacturing, both long time benefits for the American taxpayers.
The bottom line here: we can all agree that Trump was overly optimistic in predicting the benefits of his tariffs, and as disruptive as the Supreme Court’s decision is to the president’s economic strategy, the peanut gallery’s doomsday warnings about the authoritarian, wannabe-Hitler, and democracy-thief Donald Trump was — once-again — ridiculously overstated.
Or another example from last week’s whirlwind:
The same week that he held another rally as part of his high-profile “affordability” tour to boost the GOP’s midterm election prospects, and in advance of this week’s State of the Union Address, the multitasking Trump hosted the first meeting of his Gaza “Board of Peace” at the White House.
And just what is the Board of Peace? Is it a gimmick? Another ego-driven Trump show, intended to juice up his Nobel Peace Prize creds? It does have that feeling, and as expected, there were hoots of derision from the peanut gallery.
But take another look. The meeting was attended by senior representatives from 27 member nations — Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Kosovo, Albania, Israel along with observers from Europe and other countries — with pledges of financial support totaling $7 billion along with U.S. commitment for another $10 billion, and a full day of deliberation on possible mechanisms and outcomes for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of war-torn Gaza. It’s a very big deal.
What will come of it? It’s too soon to tell. But it is a remarkable step forward to address the plight, expressed by both sides during the Israel/Iran hostilities, of the displaced residents of that region.
And let’s not forget where we’ve been. For two years after the unprovoked, barbaric assault by Hamas on October 7, 2023, we watched helplessly as hostages died in captivity, the unstoppable war between Israel and Iran continued, Israel was accused of genocide for prosecuting that war, and antisemitic/pro-Hamas protests erupted on American college campuses.
The president and his envoy, Steve Witkoff, interacting with Iran and Israel, directly and through intermediaries, struggled to find a way out of the nightmare, cobbling together a tenuous ceasefire plan implemented this past June. That process was built on Trump’s first-term breakthrough, the Abraham Accords, and reached a critical turning point with the successful Operation Midnight Hammer attack on Iran’s nuclear weapons production facilities.
Today, the situation in the Middle East is far from clear. But the shaky ceasefire agreement is still hanging together, the hostages are back home, and we’re helping Gaza work through the rubble; and so, in this situation too, there is more light at the end of the tunnel than we would have dared to imagine two years ago — a far cry from the reflexive peanut gallery catcalls.
Last week, as the above and other important events were unfolding, Democrats in Illinois rolled out a new political ad supporting their primary candidate for U.S. Senate to replace retiring Senator Dick Durbin. The 30-second ad featured a rapid-fire clip of several Democrat notables, each repeating the same message: “F*** Trump!” (with bleep).
Bulletin for Democrats: Your increasingly frequent F-bomb profanity is no longer shocking, or even trendy. It’s just ugly, and, frankly, hypocritical, coming from the folks who routinely criticize the president for failing to uphold the norms of professionalism expected of our elected leaders. And it’s not much of a campaign strategy.
Regarding my peanut gallery analogy, in summary:
I accept that comparison of fervent adult political partisans (I’m one) with five-year-old Howdy Doody fans may be unfair. But the bigger picture is not. Our president has his hands full; he’s scrambling to beat back every emerging problem, and he stumbles repeatedly. Democrats lose credibility by reflexively slamming everything he does.
Instead, why not give credit where credit is due, and when warranted, criticize him and explain what you would do in his place? After all, when our president succeeds, we all do.