"Norway’s Plumbing"
by Sheila Kennedy
"In the run-up to the midterms, one of Trump’s numerous repellant statements came after he once again – unsurprisingly – failed to receive a Nobel Prize. The insult he issued in his adolescent fury and inappropriate vocabulary was to call Norway a “shithouse” country. (He evidently is incapable of distinguishing between Norway’s government and the Nobel committee, confirming my suspicion that when he calls people “low IQ,” he’s projecting.)
Mark Hertling, a retired United States Army Lieutenant General recently wrote about his frequent trips to that “shithouse” country in The Bulwark, noting that the country is filled with people who believe that “modesty is a virtue, public service is an obligation, and national greatness should be measured by action rather than talk.”
Hertling described a cultural tradition called janteloven, which evidently discourages people from believing they’re better than everyone else, and considers boasting about one’s own greatness extremely poor manners. Here in America, we also used to consider modesty a virtue and braggadocio a disagreeable sign of insecurity and immaturity.
In sharp contrast to Trump’s crowing about how much money our fossil fuel barons are making, Hertling reminded readers that Norway has used its enormous oil and gas resources to establish a sovereign wealth fund that applies its revenues to benefit both its current citizens and future generations.
What are some of the other differences between “exceptional” America and “shithouse” Norway? We consider healthcare a consumer good to be paid for by those who can afford it, while Norway provides universal coverage for essential healthcare services. As a result, life expectancy in Norway is 83 years, while life expectancy in the U.S. averages 79 years. Families in Norway have access to substantial parental leave, paid vacations, and strong worker protections – and no, that isn’t within a socialist economy. Norwegians – like most European countries – have a mixed economy, primarily capitalist, based upon an understanding of where markets work and where they don’t.
Norwegians also evidently have a great sense of humor. Per Salon, we learn that Visit Norway, the Scandinavian country’s tourism agency, has responded to Trump’s insult with a “campaign celebrating its spectacular public restrooms, declaring that Norway makes ‘shithouses great again.’ The campaign trolled Trump by featuring some of the country’s “most architecturally impressive toilets, many situated along scenic routes overlooking fjords, mountains and waterfalls. Some have even won international design awards.”
And what about the comparative happiness of our citizens? Norway ranks sixth in the 2026 World Happiness Report. The United States ranks twenty-third. As Hertling reminded readers, Norway performs particularly well in social trust, economic security, and the belief that citizens can rely on one another. Meanwhile, here In the United States, we see ominous signs daily: declining well-being among young people, reports of growing social isolation, and numerous warnings about social dissatisfaction – on top of growing anger about the increasing evidence of widespread corruption.
Hertling describes Norway as a country where “humility is admired, public service is valued, citizens trust one another, and national wealth is invested in the common good.” As he concludes, “If that’s what constitutes a shithouse country, perhaps America could learn a thing or two about plumbing.”
I have to believe that most Americans are appalled by the vitriol and self-dealing, the childish insults and lack of seriousness – let alone gravitas – that characterize Trump and MAGA. Most mothers and fathers would feel that they had failed as parents had their children grown up to display the crudeness and lack of basic humanity displayed by Trump, and most educators would consider that they had failed if their students exhibited the vast ignorance and contempt for knowledge and expertise that we see daily from Trump and his cabinet of clowns and grifters.
I think – I hope – that even the people who voted to elevate this horrible man to the Presidency are finally in the process of rethinking the Faustian bargain in which they traded the soul of the country for the promise of continued White Christian dominance. In the run-up to the midterms, Trump repeatedly asked voters to imagine that he was on their ballots. I think a lot of them did."
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