Cawthorn benefits from being photogenic and soulless, certainly beneficial in politics and in our media culture in general. But in particular, he is playing on a deeply-rooted sentimental cliche in our national psyche about the "inspirational" disabled person, particularly those who, with grit, determination, but always a sunny smile, put "110%" etc. etc. into their self-improvement through athleticism.
As a wheelchair user for the past 25 years, I cannot count the number of times I've been asked whether I'm training for the Paralympics or the marathon when I just happen to be going to the store. There are a lot of people who want to believe that "rising above your limitations" involves athletic accomplishment, and that it's an obsession for everyone who can't walk or run or perform in sports the way able-bodied people can. Patronizing, sure, but also extraordinarily unimaginative. Still, not worth investing too much energy worrying about.
What I find more irritating about Cawthorn, and why I call him soulless, is his performance at the RNC where, at the end of his speech, he had two people come out to lift him from his wheelchair and stand him up (he was wearing special braces to do this). He worked that stunt into his remarks ("I will stand for this president" or something like that), which was pretty cheesy, but the fact that he was willing (and seemingly quite pleased) to do this for anyone, much less Trump and the RNC, strikes me as profoundly grotesque and undignified. Granted, I'm not in charge of how disabled people should behave, even in politics. But it certainly told me more than I needed to know about who this guy is, and what he thinks of himself.
In a sense, it's nice to see that his apparent assholery, beyond stealing paralympic aspirational valor — from attempting to bring firearms onto the House floor to speaking at the incitement rally on January 6th — manages to outshine the obvious biographic detail that he's a wheelchair user, and his exploitation of that and the cliches built into that narrative. On the other hand, there is something kind of tragic about the way that this guy seems to really believe the hype he is trying so hard to create around himself. Perhaps worth noting the last politician who was so similarly self-deluded is now back in Florida, awaiting (another) trial in the Senate.
