Mugwump (pronounced muhg-wuhmp)
(1) A member or supporter of the Republican Party who
declined to support the party's nominee James Blaine (1830–1893) during the
1884 US presidential election, (claiming he was corrupt) lending their support
to the Democratic Party's candidate Grover Cleveland (1837–1908).
(2) A person who is unable to make up their mind on an
issue, especially in politics (mostly US & Australia).
(3) Someone who remains neutral on a controversial issue;
a person who purports to stay aloof from party politics (mostly US &
Australia). In a derogatory sense it’s
used to suggest someone is a “fence sitter” or maintains an aloof and often
self-important demeanor.
(4) One who switches from supporting one political party
to another, especially for personal benefit (also used in this sense in
Australia).
(5) Used informally (usually humorously), a (male)
leader; an important (male) person (sometimes as “big mugwump”).
(6) A foolish person (a now rare Australian slang term
which emerged apparently because it was conflated with “mug”).
1832: An Americanism and an artificial, nineteenth
century revival of the Massachusett (English spelling) mugquomp & mummugquomp
(war leader), a syncopated form of muggumquomp
(war leader), the construct being the (unattested) Proto-Algonquian memekw- (assumed to mean “swift”) + -a·pe·w (man). The alternative etymology was the Algonquian (Natick)
mogki (great) + a·pe·w (thus
something like “great chief). It was folk
etymology which re-interpreted the word, the re-purposed meaning referring to a
person who sat on the fence, deconstructed as “their mug (face) on one side and
wump (rump) on the other”. This
graphical description produced a slew of political cartoons in this vein during
the 1884 US presidential election. The
original Americanism emerged in 1832 in the New England region and was a jocular
word for “a great man, boss; very important person”. By 1840 it was in satirical use as “one who
thinks himself important” but faded from used before being revived for the 1884
presidential contest, originally as a term of abuse but the independents
embraced it and from that it picked up the specific sense “one who holds themselves
aloof from party politics." Mugwump
is a noun & verb, mugwumpery & mugwumpism are nouns, mugwumpian, mugwumping
& mugwumped are verbs and mugwumpian, mugwumpesque & mugwumpish are adjectives;
the noun plural is mugwumps.
Originally, the Mugwumps were those Republican Party
members (or supporters) who claimed to be appalled by the corruption they said
was associated with James Blaine (1830–1893), declining to support his
candidacy in the 1884 US presidential election.
Unlike some of the dissident movements in US politics (the Tea Party, the
Know Nothings, the Progressives et al) the Mugwumps never formed any sort of
organizational structure or even self-identified as a faction. They gained the name because they “switched
sides”, supporting the Democratic Party’s Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) although
in their public statements, some Mugwumps would say they were “still
Republicans”, hence the association with “fence-sitting”, the term adapted for
the purpose because they were sitting with “their
mug (face) on one side and wump (rump) on the other”, a theme cartoonists
and caricaturists took to with gusto.
Those who rat on political parties, shifting their allegiance
to another risk a lifetime of suffering the enmity of their former colleagues,
politics attracting haters like few other professions although Winston
Churchill (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) who ratted
twice reckoned the trick was to do it with style. Fence sitters seem to attract less opprobrium
but there’s often a sense of exasperation; at least with the rats one knows
where one stands. Sir John Simon
(1873–1954; First Viscount Simon, cabinet minister on several occasions
1913-1945, Lord Chancellor 1940-1945) picked up the nickname “slippery Sam” for
a reason (actually many) and David Lloyd George (1863–1945; UK prime-minister
1916-1922) said of him: ”He has sat on
the fence so long the iron has entered into his soul.” That probably wasn’t quite what Boris Johnson
(b 1964; UK prime-minister 2019-2022) had in mind when, as Foreign Secretary,
he dismissed Jeremy Corbyn (b 1949; leader of the UK Labour Party 2015-2020) as
a “mutton-headed old mugwump”, although
with Mr Johnson, one can never quite be sure.
The Mugwumps have been compared with the “Anyone but
Trump” movement which was an attempt by what used to be called “mainstream
Republicans” to block Donald Trump’s (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) path to
the party’s nomination (and from there the White House). The movement formed but failed though it’s
not far-fetched to imagine if might have gained for traction if it had used a
catchy name like MAGAwumps and interestingly, in the “Guilded Age” era of the
Mugwumps, their critique of the state their nation sounds little dissimilar to those
heard over the last three decades. Charles
Eliot Norton (1827–1908; Harvard professor of art) in 1895 contemplated things
and confessed “the greatest apprehension…
about a miserable end for this century”, the United States afflicted by the
“worst spirit in our democracy, … a
barbaric spirit of arrogance an unreasonable self assertion. I fear that American is beginning a long
course of errors and wrong and is likely to become more and more a power for disturbance
and barbarism.” Other agreed, the anyway
gloomy historian Henry Adams (1838–1918) at the same time reviewing the closing
century concluded it was “rotten and
bankrupt”, sunk in “vulgarity
commonness, imbecility and moral atrophy”.
It all sounds so modern.
One noted for her mugwumpery is Lindsay Lohan. In 2008 she made clear her support for Barack
Obama (b 1961; US president 2009-2017) yet by 2012 was tweeting she was
inclined to vote for Mitt Romney (b 1947; governor of Massachusetts 2003-2007,
junior US senator (Republican-Utah) since 2019) on the basis that “employment is really important right now”. That feeling apparently didn’t last and she
reaffirmed her support for Obama, latching onto #ProudOfObama although she did
once refer to him as the country's “first
colored president”, a black mark against anyone who hasn’t updated their
list of politically correct descriptors.
Later, her mugwumpian tendencies continued. In 2017 she tweeted of Donald Trump: “THIS IS our president. Stop #bullying him
& start trusting him” later praising the entire Trump family, calling
them “kind people” although during
the 2016 election she had endorsed crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US
secretary of state 2009-2013), tweeting “I
couldn’t understand you more”. However,
like Mr Johnson, while one can always read what Lindsay Lohan has written, what
she means can be elusive. It’s thought
she endorsed crooked Hillary but “I
couldn’t understand you more” is certainly cryptic.
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