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THE KIELTY KONSIDERATION - July 1, 2022

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THE KIELTY KONSIDERATION - July 1, 2022


When I first had the idea of writing this weekly missive, "The Kielty Konsideration, my intention was to bring attention to things both good and bad, positive and negative, the sorts of things that made you shake your head in laughter, anger or simply disbelief. Well, I’ll be hogtied in the virtual town square if the Republican Party hasn’t successfully gone and thrown a monkey wrench at that idea.

Normally I’d preface this by saying that I an aware that there are reasonable members of the GOP but the events of this summer have pushed my needle into the red with regard to the strain on my patience. Reasonable people lose the adjective “reasonable” when they abandon their political party to the power of the NRA who applauds Supreme Court rulings in their favor barely a month after yet another preventable mass shooting at an American school. Reasonable people do not dismiss Capitol Hill hearings regarding an insurrection planned and incited by their leader as an attempt to distract and misinform when high ranking conservative members of their own party have testified to the accuracy and authenticity of these criminal acts. Reasonable people do not thump on their Bibles in direct opposition to the Constitutional mandate of a separation between Church and State with applause for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, turning their backs on established women’s rights with a stacked and supremely unbalanced Supreme Court ruling. I reserve a particularly personal disdain for every small-minded miscreant who shouted, “My body, my choice!” as they opposed vaccinations and then pulled on a “Pro-Life” tee shirt to match their MAGA hat.

This is your current party, Republicans, and there ain’t nothing reasonable about it. As the estimable singer/songwriter, Conor Oberst has sang, “This world’s mean and getting meaner too.” Prescient in 2014, reality today.




As tough a pill as it is for anyone following the “Diary of A Madman” epic that the Capitol Hill January 6 hearings have become the fact is that the repeal of Roe v. Wade is a Trump victory. President Joe Biden rarely mentions his predecessor by name but as he spoke to a nation processing a seismic shift in the rights of women, he couldn't deny that legacy. “It was three justices named by one president who were the core of today's decision to upend the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country,” Biden said last Friday. The abortion decision marked the apex in a week that reinforced the former president's ongoing impact in Washington more than a year and a half after he exited the White House. It's hard to believe that this judgement was handed down a week ago considering how much more was revealed this week about the lunacy of the man responsible for loading the court. A man who in addition to having been married three times and previously describing himself as “very pro-choice” (one would imagine most self described “pussy grabbers” likely are) was able to rally conservative Republicans and evangelical Christians to follow his lead. In refusing to consider Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee during the final year of his presidency, again ignoring the Constitution, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, ensured that the next president would be able to make his mark on the court, an indelible lifetime mark for most people reading this. Trump did make sure to get his own last word in, though. In a Fox News interview (you expected another network?) Trump said that, “In the end, this is something that will work out for everybody,” and when asked about his own role in the eventual decision, responded, “God made the decision.” Must have picked that up from his God-fearing Evangelical base. 



The deck was already stacked with the unabashedly prejudicial Justice Clarence (“Uncle, as actor Samuel Jackson called him) Thomas on the court. "The liberals made my life miserable for 43 years," a former clerk remembered Thomas – who was 43 years old when confirmed – saying, according to The New York Times. "And I'm going to make their lives miserable for 43 years." So much for being unbiased. Thomas, who was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1991 amid contentious confirmation hearings, resented the media coverage surrounding his appointment. Central to the hearings were accusations and testimony about alleged sexual harassment of one of his subordinates, Anita Hill, who accused the justice of repeated, unwanted sexual advances (cue Google search for "Clarence Thomas," "Coke can," "pubic hair" and all questions shall be answered) and inappropriate conduct in the workplace. He squeaked onto the court by a 52-48 margin and promptly went over a decade without asking a single question during Supreme Court oral arguments. But he’s an outlier no more and his newfound influence among the court’s conservative supermajority was evident in the major decisions expanding gun rights and overturning Roe v. Wade. He wrote the gun decision, and later urged his fellow justices who gutted Roe to go even further and take aim at precedents protecting contraception, same-sex intimacy, and gay marriage next — a radical agenda that no longer seems so far fetched. It’s easy to imagine him considering a repeal of the Emancipation Proclamation, and how's this for a bonus? His wife, a vocal "Stop The Steal" wingnut, is scheduled to visit DC to testify at the January 6 hearings.  Her history of political one-sidedness will surely earn her future notice in this space. 

It’s interesting that both, “reasonable” and “Romney” begin with the letter “R” since Republicans have heartily abandoned both. Chris Herrod, a former state lawmaker running for Congress drew his line clearly in the seemingly limitless Utah sand. “If you’re more aligned with Mitt Romney and Spencer Cox,” he added, referring to Utah’s governor, “then I’m probably not your guy.” Romney, a one-time Presidential nominee and the only Republican to vote to impeach Trump… twice, is now seen as an enemy within his own party. Trump was unhesitant to label Romney a RINO (Republican In Name Only, for those unfamiliar with far-right acronyms) during his regime though in all fairness the MAGA crowd was quick to paint that label on each of the seven Republican senators who voted to impeach the deluded wannabe monarch. Despite his soft facade Romney seems willing to hang tough to what was once “Grand” in his “Old Party.” While Texas Republicans were busy insulting war heroes and ratifying fairy tales as truth the Senator from Utah was booed heartily at his state’s gathering. His weak attempt to remind them he was was one of their own - "You can boo all you like, but I've been a Republican all my life. My dad was a governor of Michigan, my dad worked for Republican candidates that he believed in...and if you don't recall, I was the Republican nominee for President in 2012” - fell on deaf ears among a crowd undoubtedly familiar with the message that hurling the dinnerware around when they didn’t get their way sends. Maintaining a loyalty to conservative principles or a long-term family commitment to the party carries zero weight if you’re not backing the “Big Lie” and the con-artist still advocating his nationwide farce. That idiotic idol worship is what drew hordes of armed simpletons to Washington, D.C. on January 6th and what continues to define the current day Republican party.

And, don’t for a second think the Roe v. Wade repeal ruling doesn’t have racist undertones. Look simply at U.S. Representative Mary Miller (R) of Illinois who, when speaking of the Court’s decision at a rally the day after the decision alongside Donald Trump, proclaimed in a Freudian slip what is unquestionably on many conservative voters’ minds. Referring to the former Insurrectionist in Chief she said, “I want to thank you for the historic victory for white life in the Supreme Court yesterday,” then raised her arms and clapped enthusiastically as the crowd applauded. A spokesman later tried weakly to defend Miller saying, "You can clearly see she is reading off a piece of paper, she meant to say ‘right to life.’” Nice try, but applauding the cow that got out of the barn rather than frantically and immediately trying to close the door says everything any rational person needs to know about where this moronic and confirmed election denier’s heart lies. This all-star has also introduced anti-trans legislation, inexplicably opposed a House resolution condemning a failed coup d’trat in Myanmar that overwhelmingly passed without giving a reason and just for good measure quoted Adolph Hitler to Moms for America (“"Each generation has the responsibility to teach and train the next generation. You know, if we win a few elections, we're still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing: he said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future’”) just two days into her Congressional term. She offered a half assed apology three days later but still accused critics of twisting her words. At least her rep backpedaled the same day as this screw-up. On Tuesday, she won her primary election by 15 points. 

 


In other right wing infamy, the testimony of White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, revealed the former President to be exactly what anyone with an ounce of common sense already knew: a petulant man child who yells, stamps his feet and breaks things when he is told “no.” We were shown that a 26-year-old woman was capable of displaying more intestinal fortitude and, well, let’s face it, balls, than any of the 75 so called “heroes” who have ducked their subpoenas. For anyone dismissing her testimony I say, quite simply, put up one of your own to dispute her. You’ve all been given the chance and at last count more than 75 members of your party were ignoring their subpoenas and subsequent opportunities to tell their side of the story. One thing should be clear even to the most simple-minded of the devoted: everyone telling their tales thus far have been Republicans! Just for good measure, one of your diehard true believers, former National Security Advisor, decorated Army General and confirmed QAnon idiot, Michael Flynn, when asked if he believed in the peaceful transition of power declined to answer, taking the fifth. Say what?!? It just fits with the preposterous peculiarities of Trump that day. Commanding the Secret Service allow his armed gang of lunatics closer to his speech for a better class picture? He allegedly tried to commandeer his car to get to the disturbance prompting the likes of Hutchinson’s boss, White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows and senile attorney Rudy Giuliani to begin asking around about pardons. This woman, who is one of you (she worked for Ted Cruz for goodness’ sake!) proved that the “Stop The Steal” crowd is dominated by cowards, not patriots, confirmed a behavior many suspected confirming Trump is prone to disrespecting the china and simply, under oath, told the truth. For this, she will be eternally vilified by the right.

That is your party, Republicans.

As I have been becoming aware that when the United States is getting you down there is one unlikely place you can increasingly turn for a grin and it is Staten Island, NY! Long nicknamed, “The Forgotten Borough,” it has given the world the joy of funnymen Colin Jost and Pete Davidson and of course the musical genius of the Wu Tang Clan who refer to it as “Shaolin.” A quick study also reveals that actors Martin Sheen and his son, Emilio Estevez as well as Alyssa Milano have Staten Island roots and legendary mafia boss, Big Paul Castellano is rooted there for eternity: he’s buried in an unmarked grave in Moravian Cemetery near the estate where he lived on Todt Hill. This week’s all-star of “The Rock,” is 39 year-old Shop Rite employee, Daniel Gill, who patted the geriatric falsifier on the back and accurately called him a, “scumbag,” as he campaigned for his equally duplicitous offspring, Andrew, who is running for governor. So many questions. Shop Rite? Well, if you recall when asked a mere four days after the 2020 election to host a press conference at the Four Seasons in Philly the senior Giuliani did just that… in the parking lot at Four Seasons Total Landscaping. The meet-and-greet gave the elder Giuliani a chance to hone his storytelling chops while avoiding the January 6 Capitol Hill hearings claiming, “All of a sudden, I feel this ‘Bam!’ on my back,I don’t know if they helped me not fall down, but I just about fell down, but I didn’t.” Video shows it was the type of greeting that grandmothers endure at family gatherings but that didn’t stop the junior phony, Andrew - previously known for bratty childish onstage shenanigans during public appearances before Daddy lost his mind and for unsuccessfully suing Duke University for tossing him off the golf team for, as Vanity Fair bluntly put it, “being an asshole” - from chiming in. “it’s a sad day when New Yorkers’ greatest crime fighter, ‘America’s Mayor,’ is attacked,” whined the frequent golf partner of Trump with whom he shares a lack of political experience and a fondness for litigation, “I blame the left-wing for encouraging violence.”

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