There are a lot of assholes out there these days. Not just on the bus you ride every day, or in your office, but in positions of power. As we saw in the inaugural asshole hall of fame, Elon Musk has said and done some pretty major asshole shit, and he’s in a high position of power in the private sector. But what of those in the public sector who act like giant assholes?
Enter Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
If you are not familiar with her yet, I do apologize for bringing her into your world. (Although if you’re in the U.S., maybe pay some more attention to our national politics?) She is the one who replaced Sean Spicer as White House Press Secretary, and she’s a real peach. Just an embarassment of a human being, serving as a spokeswoman for this shit show of an administration.
She’s been a nightmare for awhile, but just this week she’s taken asshole public servant to a new low (high?) in two ways. First with meddling in investigations that might impact the current President*, and then with forgetting the First Amendment is a thing.
Let’s start with the investigation. You all know that the justice department is looking into a whole lot of shady shit connected with the current President*, right? Like, for example, how the President* fired the FBI director, possibly because Mr. Comey was involved in investigating said shady shit? Well, using her pulpit, Ms. Huckabee Sanders called for Mr. Comey’s prosecution. Which, what?
That’s just not a thing you do. It’s an attempt to influence a serious investigation. And it’s so brazen! Which seems to be a theme with this administration. There are no consequences, so they go above and beyond to be blatant in their disregard for ethics, norms, and respect for any sort of process.
Which brings me to the even more egregious asshole move from Ms. Huckabee Sanders this week. After journalist Jemele Hill correctly pointed out on Twitter that the current President* is a white supremacist, who is surrounded by many white supremacists, and who was elected because of white supremacy, Ms. Huckabee Sanders suggested that Ms. Hill should be fired from ESPN.
Lately we’ve seen a lot of discussion about what the First Amendment protects, especially in light of hate crimes in places like Charlottesville (that the President* seems to think really aren’t that big of a deal). People get confused and think that no private company can take action related to something an employee said, which just isn’t the case.
But you know what is the case? The government can’t start directing private companies to silence people. Which is what Ms. Huckabee Sanders appeared to be doing. Now, some lawyers are suggesting she didn’t violate the law, but an ethics complaint has been filed against her.
Regardless of the legality around it, Ms. Huckabee Sanders is using a very public platform to act like a complete and total asshole. Which makes me wonder if there’s something about being associated with the administration that turns people into assholes. I mean, she used to at least appear to be trying to do some good, as the national campaign manager for the ONE campaign.
However, as there’s no sign that she’ll be shifting away from her asshole ways any time soon, today she gets inducted into the Asshole Hall of Fame.
I so miss the days when we had a truly awesome woman standing at that podium.
There is absolutely something with fascist regimes that promote and engender assholery. The whole idea is that some people are better and more worthy than others, and that those at the bottom (Jews, the disabled, LGBT ppl) are unworthy (of life). Those who always wanted to be assholes but were held back by the sociopolitical environment are emboldened, and those who may not have wanted to be assholes are encouraged (and coerced) to treat those below them on the worthiness scale terribly in order to fit in. Being mean to those below you makes the system what it is.