August 15th, 2018
In a clear case of the student surpassing the teacher, Omarosa has masterfully hijacked the news cycle. In the last several days she has dominated both print media and the airwaves with her accusation that a tape exists of Trump saying the “n” word. She has strategically released tapes of Kelly, Trump and Jared and Ivanka. Being beaten at his own game has enraged Trump and he vented his spleen on Twitter, calling her a “lowlife” and a “dog.” In doing so, Trump accomplished the rare feat of forcing black people to defend a craven, vainglorious, traitorous opportunist from his dehumanizing epithet. Omarosa’s performative shock at the extent of Trump’s racism and misogyny is a bit rich coming from the woman who told us we were going to have to bow down to Trump. Like a real life Captain Renault, Omarosa professes to be shocked that Trump is a thin-skinned racist and misogynistic crackpot. Spare us, Omarosa. You’re still not invited to the cookout.
While the news media breathlessly laps up each new revelation in the Omarosa saga, with five articles dissecting the drama in today’s Washington Post alone, much more momentous news is flying under the radar. Buried deep in The Washington Post was an article about how Mitch McConnell has partnered with Trump to drastically remake the federal bench. By stonewalling President Obama’s nominees and racing through Trump’s, McConnell has engineered the appointment of 24 appellate judges, a presidential record that will reshape the federal judiciary along conservative lines, with implications for voting rights, immigration and a host of other critical issues (Source: “A gambit to reshape U.S. justice,” by Sean Sullivan and Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post, 8/14/18). McConnell is so dedicated to this goal that he has stood idly by while Trump has trampled the Constitution and common decency. This is why he won’t utter a peep to condemn his authoritarian revocation of John Brennan’s security clearance and will be mum when it happens to Comey, Clapper and Yates. Although the groundbreaking victories of women like Jahana Hayes and Ilhan Omar yesterday were welcome positive developments, what happened today is proof that we can ill afford to take a moment off to celebrate. McConnell titled his memoir, “The Long Game.” We’d better come prepared to play.
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