Monday open thread: ETTD—The Conways
I wake up to news that Trump consigliere Kellyanne Conway is leaving the White House at the end of the month. This is paired with news that her husband, Trump-hater George Conway is pulling away from the Lincoln Project, the never-Trump outfit he helped found. All this happens a day after their daughter, Claudia, went on social media saying she wanted to emancipate herself from her parents.
I could snark, but this family dynamic is one which is all too common in the Age of Trump. There might not be a shooting Civil War going on (yet), but the divisions engendered by Donald Trump's ascension are all too real, and are redolent of the lead-up to Fort Sumter. Families have been torn apart due to support for Trump. The Conways just have the misfortune of having these divisions play out in the public sphere.
I feel no sympathy for Kellyanne. She's an enabler of evil, and evil herself. She went from someone who disparaged Trump, to one of his most loyal bootlickers. She deserves every bit of ignominy she receives.
And George. Even though he's a never-Trumper, he's a member of the Federalist Society, which wishes to remake America into a fascist oligarchy. He's never disavowed that group.
I reserve all my empathy for their daughter. She's in an untenable position. She's stuck with two parents whom she obviously abhors for their views. Like many teenagers, she's lashing out; but her parents' notoriety ensures that that lashing out generates news. Because of that notoriety, her acting out is guaranteed to attract eyeballs. (I'm sure she's not the only teen who acts up on Tik Tok. Ninety-nine percent of them don't get news items written about them.)
We live in a society with an insatiable need for information; the Conways are mere cannon fodder for that need. However, George and Kellyanne knew what they were doing. Their daughter is just a kid, lost in a dysfunctional family. She needs neither to be lauded or vilified; she needs help so that she can grow up and choose her own path on her own terms, not as a blind reaction to her execrable parents.
Spare a thought for Claudia Conway. She's another one of the victims of Everything Trump Touches Dies.