Shameless Season 12?

Mr. Gallagher Goes to Washington

I used to occasionally dip into the Showtime series Shameless. This series never quite rose to the level of must-see television for my tastes, but there were seasons where it came close enough to make me wonder if I had no shame. This dramady follows the dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher and tracks various cringe worthy plot lines intersecting the lives of Frank and his six kids, Fiona, Phillip, Ian, Debbie, Carl, and Liam.  During the eleven seasons that ran from 2011 to 2021, I grew attached to many of these characters, came to care especially about Lip, and I admit I may have had a bit of a crush on Fiona. While it’s a wild ride, bumping into about every way you can imagine American life going wrong, the story never strays far thematically from the title’s suggestion. Frank’s superpower is shamelessness. He’s a powerful ship of no shame steering straight in the direction of his appetites, whatever they happen to be in each episode, and his entire family knocks about in the wake.

I may have missed all of the last two seasons, as I became rather preoccupied with distractions such as pandemics and insurrections. Now I’m beginning to remember it more as the major theme seems to have moved to Washington. Season 11 was supposed to have been the final, but I sense many variants of Frank Gallagher are now within our congress, spooling out a new season DC-style. As our press attempts to learn whether George Santos is actually Anthony Devolder or perhaps a drag queen named Kitara Ravache, it becomes clear he might as well be Frank Gallagher. Not just him though. He’s just a clown fronting the circus. The “Franks” abound within the Republican side of the Senate and House. The party of “I am not a witch” became the party of “I am not a drag queen” in the same season of “Don’t Say Gay” and “Drag Queens are grooming our kids.” Every Republican member of congress avoids each opportunity to comment on these matters though. Why should they? They have Frank’s superpower. Hypocrisy is just someone else’s nuance when you’re shameless. 

Notice how this effectively plays the press. Show no shame and they eventually shrug, move on; they’re soon happy to leap on the next outrage and completely forget the last. Biden’s document case has received a multiple of the attention Trump’s document scandal received. We might interpret that as conservative lean in our mainstream media, which is likely a factor, but I suspect the capacity for shame possessed by the Biden administration is the main driver. The press is drawn to any potential squirm like a moth to a flame. Observe their relentless efforts to get Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre off balance in the daily briefings. No matter how many times she refers them to DOJ, they keep twisting for an angle, hoping to trip her up, get her to say anything that might give the story fresh chyrons and headlines. There’s no Kellyanne at the ready, possessing obviously false alternative facts and dogged determination to maintain no curiosity, no concern for truth. Instead, the press knows any hint of Biden administration contradiction will yield that nervous wriggle which brings much joy. When your game is bringing truth to power, you need a properly configured adversary, someone who cares about truth, or at least cares what you think is true. Beware of Frank Gallaghers.

 The greatest damage of this tiresome game might be the oxygen it deprives from the consequential stories voters actually care about. Here’s the top 5 concerns Pew Research discovered during the recent midterms:

The economy tops the chart by a large margin and handling of confidential documents didn’t register, didn’t even hit an extended view of concerns. Other than chant inflation, inflation, inflation, I can’t remember any specific economic proposals Republicans were willing to discuss, yet there should be strong interest in talking to them about this now. Apparently the midterm mandate earned by a five vote lead in one house of one branch of Federal government has given them the confidence to execute their ambitious plan, which is to put a gun to our economy’s head and threaten to shoot if we don’t slash the retirement funds of our seniors. No expert calculates we’re anywhere near running out of social security funding and every economist agrees this is a dangerous, suicidal ploy aimed at achieving no actual benefit. The debt ceiling is only a barrier to paying our bills, almost a third of what is owed has been generated by the Trump tax cut that was supposed to pay for itself, but then obviously didn’t. This debt has no direct relationship with that horde of cash poor Nana is hoping to survive on. All of this madness should be fertile ground for reporters who want to demand answers. Unfortunately, though, the Frank Gallaghers who’ve come to Washington are unwilling to do anything but bully and distract, with singular focus on an insatiable appetite for power. There’s no fun for the press in shoving a microphone toward a stone wall. Instead, maybe they can get the Biden administration to admit they’re failing to find bipartisan agreement on how much loot we should swipe from Grandma.  

That second issue on the chart, the future of our democracy, should also dominate conversations with Republicans. Here the January 6 Committee has given us clarity on the insurrection many members of congress helped plan. Yet, the same House members who gave tours for insurrectionists on January 5th and then, with guilty conscious, sought pardons in the days following January 6th, are now taking the lead on investigations of the investigators. These members helped plan mass death and now seek to influence the prosecution of their own misdeeds. How does this preserve the future of our democracy? How is this not just an extension of the coup itself? Good luck trying to get the shameless to answer, decides our beaten down press. 

Then there’s also autocracy’s assault on democracies around the world. Evidence of Russian oligarch cash landing in Republican campaign funds and Republican candidates consistently spouting Putin talking points regarding invasion of a sovereign country, an ally of America and western democracy, should prompt fascinating journalistic inquiry. But, again, good luck bothering the shameless. 

We can keep going down the list. Education: Republicans are banning the word “gay” from schools and canceling African American studies. They’ll quote MLK, but prevent you from learning more about him. Healthcare: The GOP’s passing laws that force ten year old girls raped by their fathers to carry pregnancies to term. They’re trying to get birth control products removed from your CVS. Energy Policy: Let’s ban electric vehicle charging stations and drill baby, drill. The point should be well made. Culture wars are all that matters to a shameless party that cares only about power, and a bullied press documents the details of this nonsense casually before returning to their extended examination of the Biden document case.

Apologies to the former guy (ol’ “what’s his name” we’ll call him, as I seem to have forgotten), the new face of this party is now George Santos, aka Anthony Devolder, aka Kitara Ravache. This dude (?) lied about his mother’s death, lied about having Holocaust surviving grandparents, lied about his work experiences, college education, athletic achievements, surgeries, and source of campaign funds. Brazilian authorities are investigating him for swiping the checkbook of an elderly woman. He’s accused of collecting donations for a veteran’s dying dog, then kept the money and ghosted the dog. His recently obtained wealth leads to mysteries when it doesn’t lead to sanctioned Russian oligarchs. We don’t know anything real about him, not his actual name, citizenship, financial status, associations, nothing. He’s what he claims he is right now, and only just right now, with right hand raised to an oath we don’t know if he understands and left hand signaling white power. Who can compete with that? Not even Frank Gallagher, I believe, although this dude (?) might as well be Frank Gallagher. 

This is your Republican party incarnate.

And for both the press and the rest of us, Season 12 of Shameless sucks.