Kelly Ann

Alternative Facts

The inventor of “alternative facts” has reached a new low.  She was attempting to defend President Trump’s tweets telling four new members of Congress to “…go back where they came from;” answering questions on the White House lawn.  This White House no longer gives formal press conferences, nor does it use the White House briefing room.

The sequence began with a question from reporter Andrew Feinberg, who works for Breakfast Media, an Internet news site.  

Feinberg:  “If the president was not telling these four congresswomen to return to their supposed countries of origin, to which countries was he referring?”

Conway: “What’s your ethnicity?”

Feinberg:  “Why is that relevant?” 

Conway:  “Because I’m asking a question. My ancestors are from Ireland and Italy,” 

Conway later stated: “a lot of us are sick and tired of this country, of America coming last to people who swore an oath of office.”

Feinberg has been a White House reporter since 2015. He has been “permanently credentialed” since March of 2017.  He is known for his aggressive questioning style, and has tangled with Conway before. Feinberg was the reporter who questioned Conway about her possible Hatch Act violations by supporting Roy Moore for Senate while in government employ and during employment hours.  Kelly Ann responded, “let me know when the jail sentence starts.” 

So Kelly Ann knows Feinberg.  And she knows he is Jewish.  

Was she looking for some point to make:  maybe we Irish, Italians and Jews belong in America; but Somalians, Hispanics, Palestinians and Blacks should “go back?”  Or something like:  “you’re Jewish, we love Israel and they don’t, you should support us.”

Or dangerously, “you’re Jewish, you should ‘go back’ too.”

Papers Please

It really doesn’t matter what point she was trying to make.  A legitimate reporter was asking her a legitimate question. Sure it was tough, but it was certainly within acceptable bounds given the multiple tweets the President made. And since there is no “standard” time to ask questions of White House personnel, no daily, weekly, or even monthly press conference, he was following current protocol asking questions on the White House lawn.

Instead of an answer, he got questioned about his own heritage.  Kelly Ann Conway, Senior Advisor to the President of the United States; demanded personal information from a reporter.  Whatever Kelly Ann meant to do with that information, she implied some kind of ethnic test.  Just like the President did in his own tweets.

One of the fundamental principles of American life, is that we don’t have a racial, ethnic, or religious tests for participation.  It is part of the American foundation of our nation; from the Declaration of Independence and Constitution to Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech.  It is such a basic concept that we grew up with it through Schoolhouse Rock’s “Great American Melting Pot,” and in the adventures of Fievel Mouskewitz in Disney’s  American Tail.

A New Standard

At least it was.  But when the President of the United States tells opposing members of Congress to “go back where you came from,” it not only breaks existing rules  (US Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission specifically defines that phrase as racial harassment.)  It also sets a new “standard” of what is acceptable for the nation.

The Democratic controlled House of Representatives passed a resolution of condemnation against the President’s tweets.  In that motion, they specifically called him a racist.  All but four Republicans in the House voted against the measure, saying that this was “…all just politics.”  In our polarized politics of today, the surprise probably is that four Republicans risked a “tweeting” by voting for the resolution.

Kelly Ann Conway’s question is just the first outgrowth of the President’s action. He has opened a door to a deep, dark time in America that we thought was gone.  We are looking back at a time of “no colored allowed,” “Irish need not apply,” and “without papers.”  The Democrats in the House stood up against him, but the President is powerful in social media.  The “dark side of the force” is strong in him.

After all of the tweets and comments, it shouldn’t be a surprise that most Americans are numb to the import of words from Washington.  We’ve heard it all so many times before.  But these words are fundamentally different, and totally obvious. “Go back where you came from,” means, “you don’t belong.”  The difference between the United States and the rest of the world is our concept of “belonging.” If we lose that, we lose our foundation.