I have a wife. She has opinions. And sometimes — this part may surprise you — her opinions differ from mine.
This can be frustrating for someone like me who enjoys being right all the time. But really, what am I supposed to do? I much prefer the company of people who possess their own brains.
All of which is to say: Kellyanne Conway kinda has a point.
She didn’t defend it especially well on Sunday, when CNN anchor Dana Bash inquired about George Conway’s pointed tweets ragging on his wife’s supervisor at the office, President Donald Trump. Instead of making the two-brains argument, Kellyanne erupted in outrage that such a question would ever be asked of a senior White House counselor.
It was “meant to harass and embarrass” her, she complained. “It’s fascinating to me that CNN would go there. … It’s now fair game how people’s spouses and significant others may differ with them. … This is a fascinating ‘cross the Rubicon’ moment.”
Reel it in, Kellyanne! When you hold a high title at the White House, people will ask you all kinds of things on cable TV. Your job is to answer or deflect effectively, not complain about being asked.
On March 23, to cite just one relevant factoid, Kellyanne’s lawyer-husband (who was once on the short list for solicitor general) retweeted a CNN report asserting that Trump often fails to stand behind his aides. “So true,” George Conway added with a sarcastic kicker. “It’s absurd. Which is why people are banging down the doors to be his comms director.”
No one’s going to ask about that? Kellyanne should have kept her cool and shrugged: “Guys say all kinds of stuff.”
This isn’t just the Conways. We are a nation in transition here. Two-career couples are so routine, no one even notices anymore. And yet spouses still get blamed for things that spouses say and do. Ask Bill and Hillary Clinton. Ask Andrew and Jill McCabe. Ask Donald and Melania Trump. You’d think we didn’t just get done burying Barbara Bush, whose frankly-spoken opinions were a major source of her charm.
It’s hard to know exactly what Melania thinks. So far, she hasn’t said much. But did you notice she has 10.3 million Twitter followers and follows only five. Barack Obama is one of them. I’d keep an eye on @FLOTUS just in case.
Metro columnist Ellis Henican is the author of a dozen books including “TRUMPITUDE: The Secret Confessions of Donald’s Brain.” Join Ellis on Twitter @henican.
