Our nation is currently represented by a bunch of unqualified, foul-mouthed vulgarians. The newly installed White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is a prime example. The Mooch, as he likes to be called (really!), took a scorched earth approach to his new gig. He threatened to fire everyone and then called up a reporter and gave one of the most offensive and profane interviews in the history of political journalism. I can hardly imagine what was going through the mind of New Yorker reporter Ryan Lizza when he received the call from the Mooch. It must have been surreal to have an actual White House staffer ranting on about other staffers with profanity unfit for late night cable television.
The original rant was bad enough, but then the Mooch had the audacity to send out a tweet stating: “I made a mistake in trusting a reporter. It won’t happen again.”
You have to wonder if the Mooch understands the basic function of his new job. Or if he understands what reporters do. Did he imagine that he and Lizza were having a friendly conversation? Why would he assume a conversation with a reporter wouldn’t be reported? It’s right there in the job title: a reporter reports.
The Mooch doesn’t seem to be very savvy. He wears nice suits, though.
Look, I’m no prude. I curse. I don’t wince at bawdy humor or wag my finger when someone uses sexual innuendo. It actually takes quite a lot to shock me, but color me shocked by the Mooch’s tirade. Rumor has it that the Mooch was championed for the job by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the preening power couple who likes to present themselves as a civilized counterpoint to the crass culture of Washington D.C. If this is the sort of person Jared and Ivanka spend time with, they can stop claiming the high road. They aren’t on it. They aren’t even close to it. Sean Spicer may not have made a great impression in his short time as White House press secretary and his suits were never particularly sharp, but his decision to step down when his bosses hired the Mooch seems like a good one. Spicer spent months lying to the American people about things like audience size and the weather, but it’s hard to imagine him dropping f-bombs and talking about his coworkers genitals. Reince Preibus ought to be glad to be dismissed from the cesspool that is the current White House.
Bible thumpers like Mike Pence and Sarah Huckabee Sanders should be running away from this mess. At the very least they should speak out against the level of discourse currently in vogue in the White House. Mitch McConnell should take a break from licking his wounds over the health care defeat and forcefully denounce the sort of language being used by members of his party. So should Paul Ryan, but I expect the frat boy is comfortable with this sort of talk. Anyone in the administration’s orbit who does not speak up is squarely on the side of the vulgarians. This administration promised to drain the swamp in Washington, but the current occupants of the White House seem to enjoy wallowing in the mud.
This has nothing to do with party affiliation or ideology or policy opinions; this has to do with common decency. As far as I can tell, the Mooch has none. Those expensive suits of his are forever stained with the mud he is slinging. And everyone around him—the president, the vice president, the entire White House staff—is covered in mud as well. When our leaders are filthy, none of us is clean.
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