By Mike Huckabee
This story offers a good example of why so many Americans are fed up to the gills with modern day politics. It started with leftist attacks on businesses that carry Ivanka Trump’s merchandise. That inspired White House counselor Kellyanne Conway to stick up for her by responding to a TV interviewer with, “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff, is what I would tell you. I’m going to give it a free commercial here. Go buy it today.” She was called on the carpet by the White House for that inappropriate remark, but that wasn’t good enough. The Office of Government Ethics is now calling for an investigation of Conway for allegedly violating the Standards of Conduct Act, followed by disciplinary action. With a little effort, we can turn it into a long, drawn-out sinkhole of time and tax money. Say, maybe we could even appoint an independent counsel who could destroy several people’s reputations and careers before his ever-expanding investigation inevitably destroys his own career.
My question: Does this seriously require an investigation? Does any sentient being not know what happened? Conway was incensed by what she quite understandably saw as unfair political attacks and cowardice on the part of retailers. She’s not a professional politician and is used to speaking her mind, so she did, unaware that in Washington, saying what you’re actually thinking may be illegal. She obviously shouldn’t have said that, and she’s been reprimanded and knows better than to do it again. This is one of the drawbacks to sending people to Washington who haven’t spent their entire lives steeped in political minutiae, but voters thought the advantages vastly outweighed the drawbacks. Still, any hint of political advantage is like blood in a shark tank in DC these days, so we’ll probably be subjected to a never-ending investigation of something about which anyone with a handful of functioning brain cells already knows everything there is to know.
I’m not part of the current government, so I am allowed to make the following free commercial announcement on behalf of common sense: if the ethics office thinks she unknowingly said something actionable on live television, then spare us the kabuki theater of an investigation, slap her with a modest fine, tell her not to do it again, and let’s get on with making America great again. Or has the government already solved the easy stuff like job creation and national security, so it has plenty of time to waste on nonsense like this?
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