On this morning’s Morning Joe on MSNBC, hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough began talking about the offscreen behavior of Kellyanne Conway. Brzezinski had already, back in February, declared that they wouldn’t be booking Conway on their show anymore. She said it was clear–and it was–that Conway “struggled to be on the same page, to say the least, as the rest of the White House.” after playing a number of clips showing just how “askew” Conway’s appearances were, Scarborough said he didn’t “even think she’s saying something she knows to be untrue; she’s just saying things just to get in front of the TV set and prove her relevance.”
Was Scarborough trying to go easy on Conway there? Because I’m not sure it’s so much worse to say things you know are false than to say things you know might only be true, declaring them fact.
Likewise, we all have a lot of criticism for Kellyanne Conway and the other Trump surrogates whose job it is to promote his agenda, no matter how alternative the facts need to be to do so. But is it any better to know that those talking heads know they’re full of crap, and are only doing their jobs, like actors playing any other role? According to the Morning Joe hosts, that’s what Kellyanne Conway is doing.
Brzezinski said that during the campaign, Conway would come on their show and “would shill for Trump in extensive fashion and then she would get off the air, the camera would be turned off, the microphone would be taken off and she would say ‘blech I need to take a shower’ because she disliked her candidate so much.”
Scarborough added that she “also said that ‘this is just, like my summer in Europe. I’m just doing this for the money, I’ll be off this soon.'” He said he wasn’t sure if she ever actually used the words “I’m doing this for the money,” but that that message was clear: “this is just my summer vacation, my summer in Europe. And basically, I’m gonna get through this.”
Mika came back to add that Conway’s feel was “But first I have to take a shower because it feels so dirty to be saying what I’m saying.” She added, “I guess she’s just used to it now.” Joe pointed out that after the Access Hollywood tape leaked, that’s when Conway began to refer to Trump as her “client.” That all sends a strong message that her relationship is solely business, and solely self-serving.
Is that better? Is it possibly worse? We saw this with Alex Jones, the InfoWars host who had to defend his over-the-top on-air persona in his recent divorce proceedings, saying his right-wing conspiracy theorist “character” was just that, and should have no bearing on custody rulings.
But these people who make a living off pushing ideas and agendas that they don’t actually support don’t get to use the “but that’s not who I am” defense as a point in their favor. Because their entire job is to get people on their side, to believe and support the destructive things they’re saying, whether or not they’re on their own side as well. People like Alex Jones and Kellyanne Conway make a living promoting hateful divisiveness. No one cares if they buy into it. They’re selling it, and they’re selling it well.
It’s the difference between Henry Cavill trying to get millions of people to see a Superman movie, and someone working as hard as they can to get people to believe superheroes are real. When someone breaks their leg trying to fly, the superhero spokesman is still to blame, even if they were just in it for the paycheck.
(via Mediaite, image: Wikimedia Commons)
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