Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The Anti-Porter Conspiracy
I’m having trouble understanding why Rob Porter had to resign his job as White House staff secretary (the person who manages the paper flow in the West Wing). Yes, yes, he was credibly accused of domestic abuse by two ex-wives. One produced a photo of her black eye and bruised cheek, the other had phoned 911 when he allegedly punched through the glass of her front door (they were separated) in an effort to break into her house. She obtained a protective order against him.
Well, come on, nobody’s perfect. We don’t expect saints to work in the White House, do we? He was a staff secretary, not a pastor. It’s a tough business. Besides, by all accounts, Porter performed his job very well. Chief-of-Staff John Kelly vouched for him (at first), telling the Daily Mail that “Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor, and I can’t say enough good things about him. He is a friend, a confidante and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders was equally effusive: “I have worked directly with Rob Porter nearly every day for the last year, and the person I know is someone of the highest integrity and exemplary character. Those of us who have the privilege of knowing him are better people because of it.”
I cite these encomia not to point fingers at White House officials for condoning Porter’s private behavior. They may in fact have been unaware of the charges against him. Some sources have said that Porter skillfully minimized the accusations when explaining to his colleagues why his security clearance was withheld. After praising him to the skies on Tuesday, General Kelly revised his position on Wednesday, saying that he was “shocked” by the allegations. “There is no place for domestic violence in our society,” Kelly added, but “I stand by my previous comments of the Rob Porter that I have come to know since becoming chief of staff, and believe every individual deserves the right to defend their reputation.”
But still, isn’t it obvious that the people making accusations against Porter were biased against him? One described him as “abusive and manipulative and toxic in his personal relationships.”
That is clearly anti-Porter. You don’t get a restraining order on someone you have an open mind about. And isn’t it odd that both of his ex-wives came out with their stories in the same week? That sounds like a conspiracy. Senator Ron Johnson might want to investigate.
Besides, the media are making a big fuss about this, so that’s discrediting.
And while the White House may not have known the full measure of Porter’s behavior, they, and the Republican Party, have established the precedent of excusing equally abhorrent behavior. If defeating Democrats can justify supporting Roy Moore, then why is Mr. Porter a bridge too far? Surely he was helping to pass the president’s agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and nominating conservative judges? Do we want to risk having a less effective official in his critical post?
In fact, one of Porter’s ex-wives actually endorses this view. “I don’t want to be married to him. I would not recommend anyone to date him or marry him,” Jennifer Willoughby told the Daily Mail. “But I definitely want him in the White House and the position he is in. I think his integrity and ability to do his job is impeccable.”
Even assuming that Porter’s public behavior has always been “impeccable,” to permit him to serve in a position of honor diminishes all of us. We demand some minimum level of decent (to say nothing of legal) behavior from those in positions of trust because that’s one way we uphold our standards. We cannot consider ourselves an ethical people if we elect squalid leaders on the grounds of “toughness.” What does it say about our priorities when we enforce stricter standards in nearly every other realm of American life? The bar is set higher for business leaders, sports figures, teachers, members of the military, and even (recently) entertainers.
When John Adams, the first president to reside in the White House, moved in, he wrote to his wife Abigail: “I pray to heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
Published in Culture, Politics
Good luck with your comments, Mona. Satire isn’t built for the interwebs.
There’s a precedent for that precedent?
#metoo
I remember Mona as a great and fine lady…..because I stopped listening to her when she went nutters over DJT in 2016. NEVERTRUMP snark would be beneath the dignity of the insightful political commentator whose contributions I enjoyed and respected for years.
And she should know. But there are no multi dimensional characters any more. Everybody has to be all or nothing. I suppose the tolerant, non-judgemental Left needs things that way so they feel justified when they destroy folks … turn their opponents into non- persons.
What about Peter Strzok, having an affair with s subordinate?
Is he a Republican?
Was JFK?
Was John Edwards?
Was Bill Clinton?
This column makes me sick.
Oh Mona, don’t you ever get tired of looking down on the masses and tsk tsking. I would think you got a crick in your neck by now.
Nor is Mona.
Oh, come on, Michael! OK, on the Interwebs, sure. If we rate intelligence by the number of people out of a thousand who would catch Mona’s wit, that lot score a 1. But we Ricocheteers are twice that smart, in my experience.
Don’t go full Dowd. Never go full Dowd.
Not least because a failed Dowd is wincingly bad.
So a competent staff person was praised by his co-workers for being good at his job . It turns out he has a bad personal life, when this becomes publicly know, the staff person resigns. This some how indites the rest for condoning bad behavior? By the time I knew who he was he had resigned. What part of this should I be ashamed of?
Not clunky, strained, unfunny satire, at least.
For some funny anti-Trump conservative satire check out J.V. Last’s pro-Weinstein rant on the Substandard.
It’s kind of brilliant.
Can his employer get a waiver on the security clearances?
In the end, it can’t matter what good things people say about him. If he doesn’t have the necessary security clearances for the job, cut him loose.
It’s a character issue and a big one. Obviously the writer of the story sought out the ex-wives – they didn’t “come out” on Twitter as part of #Me Too. They are incredibly courageous, as it sounded like it was extremely scary to be associated with him in a relationship. Someone that abuses women and then denies it, and shows a totally different personality to his colleagues is the definition of sociopath. The guy needs help. How can you not see this and stand up for these women as a woman?
If there’s wit in there, it’s the worst example of funny.
These accusations by his ex-wives are possibly exaggerated if he has any money to be had. Their lawyers would have framed the accusations.
It would explain why one of his ex-wives doesn’t want him to lose his job.
If you are a high-profile person involved in a divorce case, you can expect some legal hyperbole.
I would not take much of this story too seriously in this situation, and I don’t blame the administration for ignoring it until more information is obtained. In fact, I wonder if they are overreacting right now.
I am pretty sure beating one’s wife is a disqualifier these days.
As far as the starry eyed conclusion of the perfect human striding the hallowed halls of the white house? Good luck, there hasn’t been a decent man there since Reagan left and, more importantly, there likely never will be one again.
Was this post meant to open my eyes to my ignorant support of Trump or make me laugh? Please clarify, although it did neither.
Mommmm!!!!! Mona’s doin it again!!!!!
If I lived by the comments, I’d be hanging in a closet by now.
Was he arrested? Charged? Convicted?
I’m still a great and fine lady. Thanks for noticing. Best to you!
I’m sure you are…as I’m sure we could have quite a conversation if I tried to explain to you why we flyover Republicans preferred Samson with all his earthy faults to the Philistines….
Yes, you still are a great and fine lady, but your columns are not interesting anymore. With all the bad news coming out on how various agencies abusing their power, and some good accomplishment of this administration, must you continue to strike this one note?
Best to you too!
Good call on this one! I’m also a bit surprised they canned him since they know how wonderfully their boss treats his wives past and present.
Well, Mona didn’t take a quote and replace a part that turns the meaning 180 degrees with an ellipsis. That’s the Dowd I know.
The photos of Ivana’s and Marla’s bloody faces were gruesome and their 911 calls were harrowing. He tried to suppress them but I saw and heard them.
And don’t even get me started on the pictures of Jane Wyman in Photoplay and Confidential.
Fair enough. The true Full Dowd would require a dishonest ellipsis and a comically inept Shakespeare analogy.
Mona, the dripping sarcasm is beneath you here. We get it, you’re claiming that Porter is somehow emblematic of Trump’s own philandering ways, etc. etc.
Spare me – not everything weird that comes out of the White House has to be a damned symbol, like in a Fitzgerald novel, of the doom to come in the 4th act. Some things just happen of their own accord, and symbolize nothing beyond themselves.
Have you ever actually met, much less worked with a guy like Porter? With a genuine sociopath? Long term? Have you ever worked in a job where someone like Porter has charmed his way in, and you’re stuck working with the guy? You know there’s something off about this person, but everyone around you is just charmed. When things start to go wrong, you keep getting blamed. You find your work sabotaged, but your boss is blaming you. May take months, may take years before that person’s lies catch up with them, and it takes outside evidence to nail them, because they’re such capable liars that they fool and charm those close by (and they shiv or threaten those they can’t charm).
Porter seems a grade A sociopathic schmoozer, but to turn him into some object morality lesson on this administration, and to do so with such sarcasm (was it Keats who said sarcasm is the lowest form of humor?) is to engage in gleeful and mocking victim blaming.
I have dealt with a person like Porter – for 3 damned years while they poisoned people around me and made my life a living Hell. Rather than heap scorn on the administration for getting fooled by this guy, maybe you ought to ask whether you too would have been conned.
You are not told why your clearance is withheld. It isn’t like credit report where they have to tell you.
You are given the leeway to get the investigative report, but you have to file paperwork for it.
Even then you aren’t told why.
So – he didn’t know, exactly.
Apart from that, great job! Thanks for the article Mona.