A Memo to Kellyanne Conway (Beltway Grind)

#poseurs | #WhatTheyVotedFor

MEMORANDUM

To: Kellyanne Conway

re: Fake indignance

Politico explains:

In her first TV interview in over a week, Kellyanne Conway explained her recent lack of broadcast appearances Wednesday by noting President Donald Trump’s ability to disseminate his own message and her challenges as a working mother.

“I don’t think I have to explain myself if I’m not going on TV if I’m out with four kids for three days looking at houses and schools,” the counselor to the president told Fox News’ Sean Hannity during an interview taped from the floor of the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor.

She added: “A lot of my colleagues aren’t trying to figure out how to be a mother of four kids, I assure you.”

The fake indignance is the problem. Well, okay, one among so many others, sure; but for the moment, yeah, the rest of us might wonder if that posturing works outside #DimensionTrump.

A Confession (Kevin’s Kinsley)

“But we put together a Benghazi special committee. A select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known that any of that had happened had we not fought to make that happen.”

―House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA23)

File under, “We already knew, but thanks for telling us”.

The Donald Trump Show (Plants and Potsherds)

“If the DNC had scripted the last month or so, the party probably would have come up with a scenario that looks quite a bit like the one we’ve seen.”

―Steve Benen

This is one of those occasions upon which I must disagree with Mr. Benen:

A Republican carnival barker would use racially charged, xenophobic rhetoric, which would propel him into the GOP’s top tier, pushing minority communities even further from the Republican Party. All the while, the GOP would find itself on the defensive, and more serious candidates would struggle to gain traction.

That is to say, no proper screenwriter would script such an episode except as naked farce. There is a reason truth insists on being stranger than fiction.

Benen also notes that some have made what seems the obvious point, that Trump, who has formerly identified with both parties, is a secret Democratic plant trying to wreck the Republican Party.

And also that for some, such as Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL26), the conspiracy theory is the best they’ve got:

The Ted Cruz Show (Hair-on-Fire Apoplexy)

“As ridiculous as Cruz’s posturing seems, it’s important to remember the broader context: national GOP candidates have a built-in incentive to be as hysterical as possible right now, in the hopes of currying favor with the party’s base. Mild, reasoned disappointment with the court doesn’t impress far-right activists; unrestrained, hair-on-fire apoplexy does.”

―Steve Benen

This is an obvious point, or, at least one might think.

Steve Benen points to his msnbc colleague Benjy Sarlin’s report Friday last detailing the 2016 GOP presidential reactions following the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in favor of same sex marriage:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) went so far as to call for a constitutional convention to overturn the court’s decision while campaigning in Iowa, according to CNN. In an interview with Sean Hannity he called the back-to-back rulings on health care and gay marriage “some of the darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history.”

While the Texas junior is hardly the only Republican presidential candidate opting to skip out on posturing his response within the realm of general dignity, Mr. Benen responded aptly:

Hannity, incidentally, found Cruz’s rhetoric quite compelling, responding, “I couldn’t say it more eloquently.”

For what it’s worth, it’s not hard to think of some genuinely tragic 24-hour periods in American history. The Lincoln assassination comes to mind. So does the time British troops burned the White House. There were days during the Civil War in which tens of thousands of Americans died on the battlefield. Just in the last century, we witnessed the JFK assassination, Pearl Harbor, and a corrupt president resign in disgrace.

For the Republican presidential hopeful, learning that Americans will have health benefits and loving couples will get married belongs on the same list.

The thing is that Mr. Cruz is not entirely wrong; the rest, as Benen points out, is a matter of perspective.

A Conservative Outlook on Parenting, or, Why Your Daughter Is Weak

“Right, so drill that into your daughter and say ‘You’re weak. You’re vulnerable. You’re not a superhero. You’re in danger.”

―Gavin McInnes

They are certainly getting louder, and shouting more clearly. To the other, it is hard to see how this is helpful.

Apparently, though, this is Gavin McInness explaining to FOX News how to be a good parent.

McInnes argued that liberals who promote gender equality have made women who choose to go on spring break “more vulnerable.”

“I think this is a perfect example of liberals’ cognitive dissonance where they say ‘Everything’s cool. Hey, it’s spring break. People party. Women are the same as men,'” McInnes said. “When you have that stupid lie in your mind you end up making women more vulnerable. These women are not as strong as men.”

“When you let them go down there, you’re a terrible parent,” he added. “If you let your son go down there, you’re a fairly bad parent. But sons are different than daughters.”

Hannity later asked McInnes whether that was a double standard.

“Of course it is,” he responded. “We’re different. Sorry. Equality is a myth.”

We should also note, as Catherine Thompson pointed out in her report for Talking Points Memo, that this might become an annual FOX News event:

Clearly little progress has been made since last year’s “Hannity” spring break investigation, when McInnes and Earhardt got into the exact same argument.

Real quick, please, a show of hands: Is anybody actually surprised?

No, seriously, rape culture advocacy and FOX News? Does the day end in —y?

____________________

Image note: Actor Gavin McInnes and director Chad Harbold attend [the] Shorts Program II during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival at Racquet Club Theatre on January 16, 2009, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Kristin Murphy/WireImage)

Thompson, Catherine. “Fox Guest: Liberal Myths Are Making Spring Break Dangerous For Women”. Talking Points Memo. 25 March 2015.