Opinion

In A Battle Of Wits Against Kellyanne Conway, Josh Earnest Is Unarmed

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Before, and certainly after the election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America, a number of Democrats, members of the media, “celebrities,” and “academics” have parachuted down from their Ivory towers in order to rush the stage to perform in the theater of the absurd.

In doing so, not only did they repeatedly prove that they were completely unaware of the increasing fears and struggles of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, but that the facts and actual truth meant nothing to them.

Some have been blinded by anger, some by liberal ideology, some by ignorance, some by pure hate, some are just doing as they are told, and some all five.

As the curtain of absurdist fiction does come down on a failed show playing to closed minds, we are all being subjected to the last desperate act of the play. An all-out attempt to delegitimize and cast doubts on the election of Mr. Trump.

It’s one thing when the usual suspects of far-left activists and media propagandists spout such irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric. It’s quite another when it is done by the Press Secretary to President Obama from a podium in the White House.

In this particular case, Presidential press secretary Josh Earnest has decided to engage in a battle of wits with former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. Unfortunately for him, as the joke goes, in a battle of wits with Conway, he entered the fray an unarmed man.

Mr. Earnest shamefully decided to author more of the absurdist fiction the other day from the White House press room when he declared that Donald Trump was “obviously aware” of Russian hacking and meddling in the presidential campaign.

Kellyanne Conway was rightfully shocked that the press secretary to the President of the United States would purposely accuse the President-elect of something so ridiculous and so false.

The next morning Ms. Conway went after Mr. Earnest by saying in part: “That is breathtaking. I guess he’s auditioning to be a political pundit after his job is over soon.” She further added that it was “incredibly disappointing to hear from the podium of the White House press secretary because he essentially stated that the President-elect had knowledge of this, maybe even fanned the flames.”

More than “disappointing,” it’s flat-out dangerous and highly irresponsible as Mr. Earnest’s statements call into question not only the integrity of our electoral process, but undermine the confidence of the American people in a system which, for the sake of our nation, has to be trusted.

Given that, one would think that maybe after a day to contemplate the cesspool he was diving into, Mr. Earnest would stop and walk away.

Not so much. He chose to double down instead.

The very next day – from that same now tarnished podium – a thin-skinned Mr. Earnest decided he had to hit back at Ms. Conway for daring to call him out by declaring the charge he made was “just a fact.”

He then ironically, and in a truly absurdist-fictional way, both exposed himself as an operative for the “delegitimize-the-election” crowd while simultaneously proving Ms. Conway’s point that he did not know what he was talking about.

Said Mr. Earnest in part: “I made the observation yesterday that Mr. Trump was obviously aware of the fact that Russia was engaged in malicious cyber activity and that that malicious cyber activity was having a negative impact on his opponent’s campaign and was boosting his.”

Now, as for his proof? Wait for it.

“I don’t know exactly what source he was using,” admitted Earnest.

Okay. Very illuminating. As the curtain does come down on the Obama White House, they have decided to recite their final lines from a platform of total ignorance.

As they engage in this truly despicable behavior, they know full-well that the Constitutional electoral process of the United States of America determined – with now costly recounts confirming it – that Donald J. Trump was elected our 45th President by a very comfortable margin.

For the Press Secretary of the President of the United States to call that result into question for political gain, is simply a disgrace.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and an author.