The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for February, 2018

Ah, how quickly two weeks pass! It hardly seems possible that it's time once again to designate an Ass Clown awardee, but it is.

Given the way things have been going in Washington, it's been unusually difficult to make a selection for this period's award, but a blogger's gotta do what a blogger's gotta do, and so I'm going to take a deep breath and name

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for February, 2018

The White House Staff

The amazing fiasco that was the firing of senior White House aide Rob Porter after credible allegations of abusing both of his ex-wives left no one on the White House Staff looking especially professional and credible:

Chief of Staff John Kelly said this about Mr Porter: "Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor and I can't say enough good things about him. He is a friend, a confidante and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him." Kelly also apparently urged Porter repeatedly to hunker down and try to ride out the stories.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dodged and weaved to avoid answering questions about the situation. On February 12th, she said: "The President and the entire administration take domestic violence very seriously and believe all allegations need to be investigated thoroughly. Above all, the President supports victims of domestic violence and believes everyone should be treated fairly and with due process." When asked why Mr Trump had not made such a statement himself, she replied that "Mr Trump literally dictated that statement to me," but did not say why he did not make his own statement.

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said that Porter was fired shortly after the "full nature" of the allegations against him became clear, but that statement was directly contradicted by the FBI director, who stated that the information had been provided to the White House months before.

Donald Trump had this to say: "Well, we wish him well. He worked very hard. I found out about it recently, and I was surprised by it. But we certainly wish him well. It's obviously a tough time for him. He did a very good job when he was in the White House, and we hope he has a wonderful career, and hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him, but it was very sad when we heard about it, and certainly he's also very sad now." He went on later to tweet: "Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused - life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?" It's worth noting that Mr Trump has not, as of this writing, made any comments about the abused women.

For their willingness to ignore highly credible evidence that a key member of the staff, a person with an interim security clearance who handled extraordinarily sensitive documents every day, was guilty of spousal abuse, the White House Staff is presented a group award as the Left-Cheek Ass Clown of the Month for February, 2018. Donald Trump, no longer eligible for the award after his reciept of a lifetime achievement award last October, receives a dishonorable mention.

Have a good day. Come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday ... you know you need the laughs.

More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Addendum: This post was written early in the week, before the horrifying mass murder at a Florida school on Valentines Day. In the aftermath of that event, I am adding another element of the White House staff to this award:

The Presidential Speechwriters: after 17 students and teachers were murdered in cold blood, Donald Trump delivered a speech which made no mention at all of guns (which were used in the terrible massacre) and which contained this sentence, meant to speak to the nation's children:

"You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you."

Because nobody in Congress or the gun industry will consider the least infringement on any aspect or element of gun sales and ownership, it is clear that they are not among the people who care about and love children, and will do anything at all to protect them. Anyone who writes a speech containing a line like that at a time like this deserves to be included in this award.

B.