Writes George Will, in "The choreographed fakery of American politics: East Wing edition/Trump’s residential immodesty is nothing compared with his anti-constitutional immodesty" (WaPo).
I wondered if anyone had written "watery Caesarism" before. It sounds like a bad salad. A real salad, not a word salad. Don't put the dressing on until you're about to eat it. Anyway, "watery Caesarism" did turn up on a few old web pages, but — are you surprised? — they're all written by George Will!
1992: "Trouble is, most presidents are mediocre. And when the weight of Wilsonian expectations is put upon a figure as flimsy as George Bush, the presidency buckles and the nation becomes susceptible to Perot's watery Caesarism. This is the bitter fruit of our disrespect for our 18th-century Founders."
1998: "Clinton relishes the peculiar intimacy of the modern presidency. A technology (television) and an idea (that therapeutic government requires a therapist-in-chief) have given rise to a watery Caesarism, the notion that presidents are our pals. They are in our living rooms nightly, feeling our pain and confessing their preferences in underwear styles."
1999: "Republicans held the presidency for all but 12 of the 40 years prior to 1992. As a result, conservatives became fixated on the presidency and opportunistically adopted the vocabulary of watery Caesarism, arguing that social progress is a measure of, because it is a consequence of, presidential aptitude."
2007: "The line-item veto expresses liberalism’s faith in top-down government and the watery Caesarism that has produced today’s inflated presidency. Liberalism assumes executive branch experts, free from parochial constituencies, know, as Congress does not, what is good for the nation “as a whole.'"
2010: "The Founders thought statesmanship should restrain public opinion. Wilson's watery Caesarism preached that presidents should spur that dangerous stallion. He just knew he could control it. He learned otherwise when trying to ratify the Versailles Treaty."
2020: "But, said Wilson: now that we are a great nation united by steel rails and copper wires, we need a nimble government that can act with dispatch. And that requires marginalizing Congress and celebrating a kind of watery Caesarism in the modern presidency."
For more than 30 years, George Will has been trying to make "watery Caesarism" happen. It's not going to happen.
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98 komento:
A word salad using limp lettuce and stale white bread.
Sometimes one just needs to retire.
Will’s a moistened bint…
The 2024 Cubs succumbed to inconsistent hitting and the watery Caesarism of their on field management.
Eamus catuli! Caesarism delenda est!
If I were Trump, I'd offer a deal to George Will: I'll tweet less in exchange for your porous thesarus.
I first thought/read cesarean, with a lot of amniotic fluid.
Will has degenerated into a silly twit. Trump is faced with a seditious, anti-constitutional political party supported by politically corrupt judges and HE’S anti-constitutional. Really? Most of us who were put off by the prospect of a President Trump got over it because the country needed us to. Democrats and RINOs not so much. If it weren’t for corruption and the leftmediaswine, both would be irrelevant.
Mr. Will who?
Does Georgie ever get to the particulars of Trump's anti-constitutional as opposed to his "immodesty?" No, but what grieves me more is Will never stood up for the rule of law when Trump endured extra-judicial and extra-constitutional acts that harmed Trump, almost crippled his first presidency and did its best to jail him for life.
I used to think he wrote too much about baseball and his friend Mighty Max. Now I realize that those columns were as good it gets with Will.
No one likes Pearl Clutchers, Mr Will. You used to understand that.
Okay, once I took precious time to decode "Caesarism" (I admit my eyes glazed over and I saw Caesarian the first few times) I realized how ridiculously vacuous GFW has become. It's like a parody of a satiric imitation of a Will column. Althouse's history lesson does nothing more than reveal how awkward he is, repeatedly, ineffectively awkward. It is to cringe!
George Will, quite the poster boy for decent behavior. Cheated on his wife with the daughter of the owner of the WaPo. His wife dumped his belongings on the front lawn of their house with a sign saying “Take it somewhere else, buster.” He’s a class A jerk.
Great comments preceding mine!
At least he finally learned to tie a normal long men's tie.
The bow tie, according to Wikipedia...
A common fashion accessory in the 19th century, the bow tie had positive associations by mid-20th century, bolstered by real-world personalities, including President Franklin Roosevelt and Sir Winston Churchill, as well as "devil-may-care" characters portrayed in films by actors, including Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra. By the 1970s, however, the bow tie became associated with nerds and geeks, such as the slapstick characters played by Jerry Lewis, and Mayberry's fictional deputy sheriff, Barney Fife. This perception was reinforced by the bow tie's association with Pee-wee Herman and U.S. Senator Paul Simon.
George Will, who has long choreographed fakery that he is a "conservative," preaching about Trump's "anti-constitutional immodesty." Anyone with a WaPo subscription who can confirm that Will provides zero examples of any anti-constitutional acts of Trump?
Ol' George has been leaning into watery "Not Our Kind, Dear" protestations ever since Trump came down the escalator. His kind has been out of favor for much longer than that, but he's had a comfy sinecure for almost a half-century now and routine maintenance requires a public tut-tut.
Will probably thinks that Trump’s push to stick more closely to the actual Constitution, as opposed to deferring to black-robed tyrants, is anti-Constitutional.
George Will is Victor Davis Hanson without the soul, intelligence, honor, honesty or historical depth of knowledge.
George has fallen into the "Who?" category.
Read dual-bio of Johnson and Lady Bird, as history of their marriage. Left me with strong impression that Johnson was manic-depressive in-chief, dangerous and morose. "Watery Caeserist" is too close to caeserian.
Who?
I was just not thinking about will. whos next chris buckley?
Watery Caesarian. A surgical problem.
Progressives and Will enjoy a common consensus that Trump's choice is a Planned immodesty and should therefore be aborted.
I first thought/read cesarean, with a lot of amniotic fluid.
=================
giving birth in bath-tub?
Examples of Will describing Trump's extraconstitutional acts:
"Trump’s ballroom has already served the public good. It has triggered some people who need triggering. They have been blasé about his presidential grandiosity when he spends money for purposes Congress has explicitly refused to authorize (the Big Beautiful Wall), or when he insults local police forces by sending troops to pacify U.S. cities, or when he vaporizes perhaps criminal Venezuelans."
However, he acknowledges that "Congress, in its decades-long siesta, has empowered presidents to unilaterally tax (see: tariffs) and wage war (hello, Venezuela) as they please."
In other words, he acknowledges (correctly, in my opinion) that Congress is to blame for ceding so much of its authority to the President - but finishes that part of the column by saying in effect that it's Trump's fault anyway for using the powers congress has delegated to him.
Thank God! I was wondering what George Will had to say about Trump's never-defined anti-constitutional immodesty. Said no one. Ever.
Caesar was stabbed to make it became bloody not watery
RINO World's fussiest old lady.
Enforce the laws on the book oh the vapours
rehajm said...
Will’s a moistened bint…
10/29/25, 10:16 AM
Lobbing scimitars?
John Updike wasn't the last "pөnis with a thesaurus."
Look at Congress. Look at Schumer and Jeffries and Pelosi and McConnell and Harry Reid and Dennis Hastert and John Boehner and Jim Wright. Are they really that competent or qualified or well-intentioned? If government is a Caesarism there are reasons for that. Be grateful it's still watery.
LBJ was definitely depressive. I'm not seeing the manic part.
Right down to the bow tie...
"Mmm, watery."
Not one soul here can defend that fey and listless adjective "watery" that Will likes so much. I don't get it. "Caesarism" is self-explanatory, though no one needs an explanation since they've been calling Trump that since 2016. My hunch is Will and the Left really want an inside-job assassination, which is the genesis of the Caesar crap, and is even less likely in this second term when he selected staff more carefully.
George Will must decry Trump's "anti-Constitutional immodesty," or he will no longer be invited to participate in Ken Burns' next documentary. On a related note, Peter Coyote (nee Cohon) came of age as one of the "Diggers," a left-wing anarchist performance troupe founded in SF.
Did Trump take power by force or stand for election? It's hard to tell with all the Caesar, dictator, and Tyrant talk. He certainly wasn't born to it as the King kerfuffle suggests.
Why are democrats so opposed to democratic outcomes?
I used to enjoy reading George Will's opinion pieces, back in the day. Now he's just too watery.
Do I understand correctly that Will's Woodrow Wilson quote is where the 'watery Caesarism' phrase originated? If that's so, George Will didn't invent it.
George Will is 84 so, no surprise, he's stuck in the past and repeating himself. THe real question is: Why is still employed?
"watery Caesarism".
My mind goes to a "cesarean section".
And here is what I found: "a cesarian section with spilled water"
"During a cesarean section, if the water has already been broken, it is typically not necessary to break it again."
Yeah. 'watery Caesarism' appears to have to have been taken.
George Will of the present day produces a far too thin soup.
The best cure for watery ceasarism? Croutons.
Reading the comments, I see people were already on it. Thanks.
"If I claimed I was an emperor just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away."
Strange, they never put Joe Biden away until there was literally nothing else to do, and not a yelp from the likes of George Will, nicely gelled Caesarist.
George Will? George Won’t or George Don’t are more to the point.
Achilles @10:42AM, well said!
Whenever a collar and tie I called for I wear a bow tie, one I inherited from my Dad. I always get compliments from the ladies, although as an elderly gentleman I usually get called "dapper".
For more than 30 years, George Will has been trying to make "watery Caesarism" happen. It's not going to happen.
And thank our lucky stars for that!
@tcrosse said...
bow tie with or without teeth?
George Will gets into ruts. Back when This Week with David Brinkley was a thing (pre George Stephanopoulos), he repeated week after week:
"People spread diseases by double dipping chips at parties."
Every. single. week. he. mentioned. double. dipping. chips.
As the evening wears on, one can do like Tony Bennett, undo the bowtie and let the ends hang down. It also demonstrates that it's not pre-tied.
George Will is a pompous asshole, always was. His writing sucks and has always sucked. He represents an aspect of conservatism that I despise, and reminds me of my regret over voting for Bush, Romney, and McCain.
Will hoping that the watery cesarean leads to a stillbirth
"watery Caesarism"
Will. There's an ointment for that.
I came for the watery Caesarism and all I got was watery George Willism. Sad!
Stop trying to make “watery Caesarism” happen, George.
Saint Croix said...
The bow tie, according to Wikipedia...
A common fashion accessory in the 19th century, the bow tie had positive associations by mid-20th century, bolstered by real-world personalities, including President Franklin Roosevelt
10/29/25, 10:37 AM
Hmmm...I don't believe I've ever seen a picture or film of FDR wearing a bowtie.... What's weirder is that I went to Wikipedia and the Bow Tie page doesn't have any of that paragraph that St. Croix highlighted, none.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_tie
I'm perplexed. Does Wikipedia vary its entries by user? I'm assuming St. Croix just looked that up this morning. Why would it be so different for users just hours apart? Hey, St. Croix, were you using Grokipedia?
does watery Caesarism have anchovies ?
If it has a vinaigrette, adding in a dash of mustard and honey Will thicken it right up.
“ Will’s a moistened bint…”
And a watery tart. A Rhinhole.
Will is one of the million typing monkeys, but a defective one. instead of typing randomly he types the same thing over and over.
Trump’s residential immodesty is nothing compared with his anti-constitutional immodesty" (WaPo).
=================
so Ashcroft covering up! was being Constitutional in Judicial Modesty
Will is in love with the sound of his own voice, a forgivable sin in moderation.
Not that I loved watery Caesarism less but the Constitution more! Don't we all love watery Caesarism, just a bit, particularly when it's our ox that's being gored, when the chips are down, when the shit hits the fan, when we've exhausted all the worn-out metaphors?
There's no constitutional obligation to spend money that the public treasury doesn't have to rescue storm victims. The Founders believed prudential preparedness was the individual duty of the free citizen of a self-governing republic, yet here we are, expecting all manner of Caesarist largess, not to mention the seventy-five drachmas. If Uncle Sam can buy aircraft carriers, then he can certainly afford to rebuild my beachfront vacation home. When the poor have cried, Clinton hath wept! Watery Caesarism should be made of sterner stuff.
“If Uncle Sam can buy aircraft carriers, then he can certainly afford to rebuild my beachfront vacation home.”
If Uncle Sam can afford to rebuild your beachfront vacation home, he can afford to toss a few million bucks my way. Tax free.
I recall George Will saying that Reagan was FOS about tax cuts (in a more genteel manner) because Will did not believe the American people were taxed too much.
How did he ever get classified as a conservative?
gilbar said...
“does watery Caesarism have anchovies ?”
Fish heads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qguo6Y0IQ0
"People spread diseases by double dipping chips at parties."
Every. single. week. he. mentioned. double. dipping. chips.
It's like putting your whole mouth right in the dip!
Isn't it weird that people used to think of Will as a "conservative?" Now, he just comes across as a promoter of neo-liberalism that everyone hates.
Not a single positive comment about George Will. NOT A SINGLE ONE, George. How does that make you feel?
I think Will got overton'd, luckily not defenestrated.
BTW, what the hell is "watery caesarism" supposed to mean anyway? I can't figure it out from the context.
"I'm perplexed. Does Wikipedia vary its entries by user?"
No. The quote is from an entry titled "List of bow tie wearers."
George Will/Pee-wee Herman - I see the resemblance.
Bow ties: Once a fashion item but now they fall into two main types of users.
(1) A distinctive dress-up look for weddings, James Bond movies, and very formal events.
(2) They are vastly more sanitary than long ties for doctors, chemists, and biologists, and they don't allow psychos to grab lawyers or psychiatrists ties to choke them.
George Will: Pee-Wee Herman or a passive-aggressive nerd using his hair, glasses, and tie to assert dominance without offending the truly dominant people around him would could crush him like a grape.
Rabel said...
"I'm perplexed. Does Wikipedia vary its entries by user?"
No. The quote is from an entry titled "List of bow tie wearers."
10/29/25, 3:17 PM
Thank you, Rabel!
In my experience, most bow-tie wearers are short guys.
Maybe the standard ties are too long?
Thanks Rabel, sorry about the confusion Mike.
What made me laugh out loud was Wikipedia going with Barney Fife, Jerry Lewis, Pee Wee Herman and Senator Paul Simon.
Bow ties also make a regular, if not common, appearance in academic circles. I don't know why, but I would guess George Will is trying more to have that public intellectual look that some academics try to foster with a distinctive appearance, and bow ties are an easy way to be distinctive.
Democrat candidate who went viral for being body slammed by ICE now faces huge jail term | Daily Mail Online https://share.google/TIHM23VOxLhYa7kqo
what the hell is "watery caesarism"
============
Cleopatra did not invite Julius into her milk-tub?
No problem, St. Croix. I'm easily confused!
"George Will has been trying to make "watery Caesarism" happen" Good catch by Althouse. But what exactly is
"unconstitutional" about Trump's actions? Sure, he's encroaching on congressional authority, but that has beeen going on for 100+ years and Congress' abdication is not his fault. So far the anti-Trump Dem judicial lawfare seems far more unconstitutional. Example: judges interfering in constitutionally unconstrained executive authority on immigration enforcement. And if the Constitution is a raaacccist document that is, like, also over 100 years old, and according to progs needs to be abolished anyway, what's the big deal about Trump not following it?
https://x.com/SamAntar/status/1983214320470151276
Sid Caesar made me laugh so hard I cried: watery Caesarism.
George Will is more concerned with forms and appearances, decorum and decorousness than with real world results. Clearly, we do need respect for the laws and the rule of law, but Will's politics seem watery and aesthetic, rather than productive. This was the problem the intellectual "New Conservatives" of the 1950s grappled with. Concentrating on tradition in a country that rapidly changed wasn't a guide for effective political action, but rather a recipe for ineffective inaction. Better to recognize that tradition is fine, but one also has to get things done in politics.
In case you've forgotten. George will endorsed Kam Harris in 2024. Proudly voted for Biden in 2020. And told everyone to vote Democrat in 2016. In fact, he left the Republican party in May 2016 when it nominated Trump.
All the while claiming he was a "true conservative". LOL.
BTW, George Will called the Vatican full of "Jew Hate" for refusing to recongnize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 1987. Despite being an atheist, his love of Israel is almost obsessively religious in nature, as is his constant attacks on the catholic church for over 50 years.
At bottom, George Will is just bill kristol in a bow-tie.
William F. buckley on George will:
"The problem with devising peaceful solutions in the Mideast, where George Will is concerned, is that there he sees only a single position: Israel's-at all times, in all places. George sometimes sounds a little like Rabbi Kahane, who is properly scorned by the majority of the Israelis for his anti-Palestinian fundamentalism.
If progress of any kind is going to be made in that part of the world, you don't begin by siding with Israel on every single point. "
I'm sorta shocked George Will is alive. But then I was shocked in 2016 too. I stopped caring about him, when I stopped watching the ABC "This Week" show in the mid-90s when Brinkley retired.
I rarely read his column, and I can remember Doonesbery mocking him. And finding it funny. He's always been a bit of a clown, with the bow-tie, the endless historical quotes "As Madison once remarked to John Jay..." the pompous windbaggery, and fake love of baseball.
His fame is really a tribute to how Top down media used to be before the internet, talk radio, and cable-TV news. You had 3 network news organizations and PBS. And if you got on one of those, like Will did, everyone knew your name and followed your opinions. Thank God those days are over.
Trouble is most pundits are mediocre.
Most of the writers in DC would prefer a Green Goddess.
I thought George was in a nursing home?
Narciso,
> I was just not thinking of Will...
I spend the entirety of every day not thinking about Will.
Actually, I multitask: I spend the same time also not thinking of aTom Friedman.
"Stop trying to make fetch happen!"
It's said that George Will was often seen in the company of Betty Wont.
Anti-constitutional. Specifics please. Oh you have none.
I give up. Ceasarism I can understand, but how does it match up with watery? Help me out here.
Or is it so snobby that there is no hope for me to place it the English language.
I think it's supposed to be something like "watered-down" but the context he uses it in doesn't seem to work. Caeser himself was relatively mild in retrospect. He didn't really do anything that Marius and Sulla didn't before him, and with alot less killing and proscription. And it was Octavian who really put the imperator into the role. It's like he's reaching for a description of populist autocrat with limits but not really making it work.
Wiki says, "In political science, the term Caesarism identifies and describes an authoritarian, populist, and autocratic ideology inspired by Julius Caesar"
Wilson, Ross Perot, Clinton. I get where he's saying that these guys would or did things that bypassed Congress, but why watery. And I assume the Roosevelts would have to be in this list unless he wants us to assume they weren't "watery"
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