The press’ reaction these past 24 hours to the news that Kellyanne Conway will resign as White House adviser at the end of the month has, for the most part, been thoughtful and gracious.
But there are always a few jackals who go in for the kill over what they believe is a moment of weakness.
“I will be transitioning from the White House at the end of this month,” Conway said in a statement, adding later that her husband, George, “is also making changes.”
President Trump’s adviser explained that she is leaving her post to focus more on her children, particularly her daughter Claudia, who has been having a very rough and very public go of it recently, which certain parasites in the press named Taylor Lorenz have been more than willing to exploit for web traffic and personal amusement.
“We disagree about plenty but we are united on what matters most: the kids,” Kellyanne Conway’s statement reads. “Our four children are teens and ‘tweens starting a new academic year, in middle school and high school, remotely from home for at least a few months. As millions of parents nationwide know, kids ‘doing school from home’ requires a level of attention and vigilance that is as unusual as these times.”
It adds, “For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama.”
George Conway also announced that he is withdrawing from his role in the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, saying he plans to “devote more time to family matters.”
As if on cue, CBS This Morning co-anchor Tony Dokoupil deployed the “some people say” formulation on Monday morning to suggest that Kellyanne Conway is trying to “jump ship now” because she saw the Trump campaign ship “sinking.”
Then, there is USA Today opinion contributor Lisa Senecal, who used the occasion of the Conways’ family emergency to level a classist attack against the White House adviser.
“Kellyanne Conway can quit because she has resources to care for her family. Many of us don’t,” reads the headline to Senecal’s take on Conway’s looming departure. The subhead adds, “The risk this pandemic presents to wealthy, white women and their families is minimal compared to poor families and families of color.”
“Never let it be said that Conway missed an opportunity to make a situation about herself because as ‘millions of parents nationwide know’ their children need extra time and attention from their parents right now, it’s a small segment of parents who have the ability to commit that time as Conway has chosen to do,” the op-ed reads. “Perhaps all those American families terrified of losing their homes, their jobs, their loved ones, and their own lives can take comfort knowing that Conway will be safe and comfortably at home with her children so they can have, as she said in her statement, ‘less drama and more mama.'”
Then, there is the Washington Post’s alleged “conservative” columnist Jennifer Rubin, who came bumbling onto the scene like a sad, lonely Kool-Aid man to suggest that Conway is really leaving the Trump White House because his 2020 reelection chances are slim.
“Bailing before the deluge,” said the Washington Post’s entirely predictable token “conservative.”
The thing that is so offensive about Rubin is not that she is an unhinged anti-Trump partisan who recycles the exact same column day after day, renouncing whatever beliefs and positions she previously held so long as it allows her to “resist” Trump. The offensive thing is that the Washington Post continues to peddle her scribblings as the thoughts of a genuine conservative commentator. That is insulting to actual conservatives.
