Yesterday while being interviewed on the White House grounds, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway chose not to answer a question and instead asked the reporter, "What's your ethnicity?"
I understand how reprehensible this is. I understand the outraged reaction it got, But I prefer to take a positive view of it all, and from that viewpoint I think it's really wonderful that at least she didn't ask for him to show her his papers. The reporter, Andrew Feinberg, who writes for the website BeltwayBreakfast.com, handled the situation pretty well, basically pushing back by continually asking what that had to do with his question. Ms. Conway tried giving some unrelated answer, and then thought that giving her own ethnic background would be a cool thing, but in the end really never answered the question, shocking as that might seem. Personally, I'd have loved for Mr. Feinberg to have responded to the "What is your ethnicity" question by saying, "Human." Because then Ms. Conway might have been stumped to answer for herself and Trump. Given all the other news of the day, which was highlighted by the House voting for a condemnation of Trump's racist tweets, the Conway story did get some attention, though not nearly as much as it should have. Because by normal standards, Kellyanne Conway should have been fired before she made it back across the lawn to her office. The problem, of course, was that in the Trump administration, not only was she not doing anything wrong, it's more like this is policy and the only reason she might be fired is if she didn't ask. No, that's not really much hyperbole. After all, this is the administration which, before it even was elected, put out the proposal to keep a list of all Muslims in the U.S. And only last week came close to ignoring a Supreme Court ruling by pushing to add a question of citizenship on the upcoming U.S. census. So, while I'm glad that it did get reported on -- and I suspect won't totally fade away, like so many Trump administration indignities that get buried under the next dozen -- it's one that I find particularly reprehensible, not only under any condition, but asked on the White House lawn by an adviser to the president. (By the way, lest it get even more overlooked, Kellyanne Conway had a second despicable moment yesterday that did, pretty much, slip under the wire. It was a comment in defense of Trump's racist tweet about the four Congresswomen, in which she referred to them as representing the "dark underbelly in the country." Given that all four women are racial minorities, and given that this is the Trump administration, I don't think for a moment that the phrase "dark underbelly" was an off-hand comment, but rather well-planned as a dog whistle to the Trump racist base.) But if all of this from Kellyanne Condway was going to get overshadowed by anything, I take comfort that it was because Trump got officially condemned for racism by the House. Unanimity by Democrats in the voting, but remarkably four Republicans. Remarkable that they actually got four -- and remarkable that the rest of Republicans in the House thought that racism was okay. But then, at this point we've pretty much figured that out...
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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