Berl Falbaum
In my scribbles, I have often ranted about hypocrisy in our body politic and it seems there is no end to it.
Thus, it occurred to me that while we have sites that honor individuals in various disciplines — sports, art, writing, history, etc. — we don’t have any that commemorate those who display a unique talent in practicing the art of hypocrisy.
The Trump era (2015-23) has brought us a special brand of hypocrisy, which has led me to propose that we create a Hypocrisy Hall of Fame. To be installed requires the candidate to have absolutely no shame, no conscience, and lack any knowledge of the meaning of “character.”
So, given the power vested in me by my keyboard, here are my choices for the first inductees:
• Vice President Michael Richard (Mike) Pence. Given his credentials, I have tapped him to be the first Hall of Famer. I don’t believe I even need to explain this selection. His exhibit will be a bit larger in square footage than the others.
• The new Speaker of the House, Kevin Owen McCarthy. The only thing he did not do to be elected Speaker was to let the Freedom Caucus rent the House chamber for fund-raisers. As Speaker, he is second in line to the U.S. presidency, thus it seems appropriate that he become the second member of the Hall.
The next four would be inducted as a group:
• Stephanie Grisham, the 32nd White House press secretary and also White House communications director; Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House director of strategic communication and assistant to the president; Olivia Troye, Homeland Security and counterterrorism adviser to Pence; and Sarah Anne Matthews, deputy White House press secretary.
These four assisted Trump in spreading tens of thousands of lies and probably covered up thousands more, and now are fiercely criticizing their former boss. Grisham is selling her book, “I Will Take Your Questions Now.” In 10 months as press secretary, she never held a press briefing. So, I will ask: Why didn’t you ever hold a press briefing?
CNN News Anchor Jake Tapper had the four on his program at the same time and called them “brave.” Thus, we would induct them as “brave hypocrites.” Maybe Tapper can invite the heads of crime syndicates to discuss the evils of organized crime and characterize them as “brave” as well.
• Kayleigh McEnany, the 33rd White House press secretary, who in her first press briefing told reporters she would never lie, which was a lie when she went on to tell several — at the same briefing. She has joined what is called the “Fox [News] family.”
(Griffin, saying she is a Christian woman, has called McEnany a “liar and opportunist.” I am Jewish but that doesn’t sound very Christian to me. Jesus said to “love our enemies,” but then he never worked as a Trump aide in the White House. We will separate their portraits in the Hall. To be called a liar by a Trump White House colleague must really hurt but we are confident Griffin knows whereof she speaks. She is now a co-host on “The View,” presumably to give the audience a “candid” view of the Trump years.)
• Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders (remember her?), the 31st White House press secretary, who was probably the most adept at promoting “alternative facts.” Sanders used her term as press secretary as a launch pad to be elected governor of Arkansas.
• Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway, senior counselor to the president, who coined the phrase, “alternative facts.” Next to her portrait we will mount a copy of George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984.”
• William Pelham (Bill) Barr, Trump’s former attorney general, who auditioned for the position with a memo on how he would protect the president, and then, when appointed, protected him. Now, he testified that Trump was full of b.s. in claiming he won the election and wants to join the four women mentioned above in their speaking engagements.
• Hope Hicks, who served two terms as a Trump adviser in three different roles. During testimony to Congress, she admitted that she was asked to tell “white lies.” She must be color blind. Some of the lies seemed to me to be dark gray and even black.
• John Michael (Mick) Mulvaney, who served as acting chief of staff for Trump after holding budget positions. He made the heart-stopping admission that Trump tried to blackmail the Ukrainian president by withholding financial aid unless the Ukrainian leader announced that his country was investigating Joe Biden. He walked back that admission and now is a frequent analyst on Trump sins.
• Nikki Haley, the first Republican candidate to challenge Donald Trump for the GOP nomination for president. She has changed her position on Trump so many times, those considering supporting her might be wise to vote “for and against.”
These are our candidates at this time, but we are continuing our research and willingly accept nominations. Just drop us an e-mail.
The Hall will be decorated with wallpaper containing all the texts from Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson and his colleagues that reveal how they really felt about Trump and his debunked “stolen” 2020 election claims. We also would invite them to cut the ribbon at the Hall’s grand opening.
The Hall would have a section for “honorary hypocrites,” individuals who worked for Trump and then in an attempt to salvage a bit of their reputations, testified before the January 6 Select Committee. Regrettably, there is no shortage of candidates.
The logo for the museum: A chameleon – with apologies to the colorful lizards.
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Berl Falbaum is a veteran political columnist and author of 12 books.
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