It’s impressive how often the rats have abandoned the SS Trump. The latest to leave is Kellyanne Conway — she’s leaving the White House to “spend more time with her family”, as is traditional. It’s hard to care much, though, just another liar leaving one grift to move on to another.
fusilier says
I came across a report (sorry, can’t remember where) that George Conway is leaving The Lincoln Project. One daughter is supposed to be asking for emancipation from her parents.
Maybe, for once, the “more time with family” explanation is for real.
fusilier
James 2:24
slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says
I want to think it is [ rat abandoning the sinking ship ] when she can get a golden para-chute instead of a brass trash-chute.
Good riddance to her
agirlushouldknow says
I am on your side about Kellyanne Conway and I am so glad she is gone.
However, calling a woman a witch is inherently misogynistic and leans into sexist tropes. Would it be possible to find a different term that isn’t steeped in treatment and labeling of women who men don’t like? It is similar to calling a person of color a Thug, even if you don’t mean it in that way, it is still leaning into white male privilege and assigning insulting terms of a minority.
Other than that, you are awesome!
nomadiq says
Yes both parents are freaking out about their daughter. As #1 said, maybe for the first time it is about family. When I heard about that I actually felt bad for KellyAnne and George. Their family life has totally gone to shit. Compassion can (should) make you have some odd bed fellows.
quotetheunquote says
Yes, I have no use for KC at all, just another lying liar in the cabal of lying liars, but maybe her daughter will be better off without the absolute chaos that must be the Conway household.
But come to think of it, what has Kellyanne really been doing for the Administration for the last year or so? She seems to have been largely side-lined anyway.
lumipuna says
The Trumps weren’t really her employer, but an alternative family.
robro says
Both George and Kellyanne are leaving the respective political roles, and the WaPo story added:
sc_262299b298126f9a3cc21fb87cce79da says
I’m anticipating the big reveal: Kellyanne is Anonymous!
Matt Cramp says
No no, Anonymous is legion. You might be thinking of Q, except Q is most probably some 4chan mod who’s getting a cut of T-shirt sales.
My Twitter was briefly going nuts talking about the daughter, and I wasn’t able to get an idea of what’s involved, but the fact that both are quitting their respective grifts at the same time as their daughter is apparently? alleging abuse – I suspect this is not just a rat leaving a sinking ship.
daved says
@3, please be advised that Kellyanne does, in fact, weigh the same as a duck, so PZ’s characterization of her is entirely accurate.
robro says
I just had a wonder: how long before Conway comes out with her “tell all” book about the Trump White House. This is becoming a lucrative business and she’s well positioned to produce a blockbuster.
cervantes says
#4:Actually her daughter has accused her of child abuse. So yeah, their family life has gone to shit but I don’t exactly have sympathy for her.
agirlushouldknow says
@10 I am sorry I totally don’t understand the reference of duck and witch ;)
Owlmirror says
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
However, I agree that “witch” as an insult has misogynistic implications.
Owlmirror says
(Monty Python and the Holy Grail, witch & duck)
Actually, it would take less time just to read the text of the scene:
unclefrogy says
not sure if there are negative words to describe people that do not have roots in sexist ethnic or racial language. Thug comes from India and the Thuggee cult of robbers and murders so it has racial and ethnic roots in english usage
The split in the Conway family always has seemed just a little strange but everything about agent orange and his administration has seemed a little strange, Like why any off it?
uncle frogy
cervantes says
I dunno, how about shithead?
chrislawson says
unclefrogy@16–
There are plenty of insults that are neither racist nor sexist.
Owlmirror says
Oddly enough, I was just recently thinking about Kellyanne Conway, in that she hasn’t been in the news lately, so what happened with her?
I don’t see that anywhere in the posted article.
While I realize I’m making an inference from little information myself, I understand that George Conway has been bitterly opposed to Trump since he was elected, and Kellyanne has been supporting Trump since he was elected. This has presumably led to bitter sniping between the parents, leading to a toxic home environment.
So my inference is that the teen daughter is sick of her parents being constantly angry at each other, and wants it to stop. George and Kellyanne may been taking steps suggested by a family counselor: they each give up their respective anti-Trump and pro-Trump political careers for family peace.
Owlmirror says
OK, so there is an actual abuse claim:
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/905351568/kellyanne-conway-to-leave-white-house-job-citing-family-concerns
captainjack says
The ship is made out of rats.
prfesser says
Some of the comments that Claudia Conway (daughter) has posted on social media:
https://imgur.com/gallery/VQGd11x
Artor says
I’ve known a few witches, and even the worst of them is a far better person than Kellyanne Conjob, but I damn them with faint praise.
unclefrogy says
well I will admit I am not an expert on language or word history. The thing about these kinds of derogatory expressions that get negative reactions and objection from others is I think that they are mostly personal and aimed at the person. I do not see anyway around that. Is there a way to be personally insulting without being personally insulting?
uncle frogy
The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs) says
This would be more significant if there were not a steady supply of replacement rats. How many people have joined and then left Trump again? It’s a revolving door for rats.
Azkyroth, B*Cos[F(u)]==Y says
First, I’m curious: do you always phrase these sorts of concerns as if you’re talking to kindergarteners who’ve never even heard of the issue before, (especially when directing them at people with PZ’s profile in the online social justice world)? And how does that usually play out?
Second: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding-Dong!_The_Witch_Is_Dead
PZ is, here, invoking a cultural reference to a particular, well-known (like “how are we even having this conversation?” well known), distinctive memetic moment where oppressed people are celebrating the long-awaited downfall of their oppressor/enemy, not randomly selecting “witch” as a term of opprobium. If you want to argue that the baggage of “witch” as a general term of opprobrium when directed at women, which you’re correct about in isolation but which you are not the first person to ever think of, so irredeemably taint that combination of phonemes and/or letters that the reference should never be used…well, you can argue that, maybe even convincingly, but at least pay a little attention to what’s going on.
Finally:
I feel like it’s fair to ask: So what would you suggest?
(Preview button’s not responding; hope this works.)
quatguy says
Might I propose the following, in no particular order:
Boldfaced liar for money
Fascist Tool
Boldfaced liar for money
Boldfaced liar for money
WMDKitty -- Survivor says
Does “Asshole” work for y’all? It’s not gendered…
Owlmirror says
Raising consciousness is slow and difficult.
The point of unconscious bias is that it isn’t random; it’s using a gendered term to insult a woman for being the wrong sort of woman.
And just because it’s well-known doesn’t mean it’s not still sexist.
Consider the well-known phrase “That’s mighty white of you”. I doubt that someone using it today would necessarily be racist — but that doesn’t mean that the phrase isn’t racist by connotation.
You could follow your own advice, here.
rrhain says
She got out while the getting was good.
She’s the last of the original Trump campaign staff who hasn’t been arrested, despite her multiple violations of the Hatch Act.