Women in the Rabbit Hole
The world has given us powerful women leaders like Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meier, Angela Merkel and Indira Gandhi and the U.S. has produced the likes of Sarah Palin, Elise Stefanik and Marjorie Taylor Greene, not exactly world class.
Obviously there are many qualified, bright and honest women among the 126 women serving in Congress but a growing number are far right Republican wing nuts but it is healthy to see that more women are slowly but consistently being admitted to a category of U.S. politicians that has historically been dominated by the men and that would be the GOP crazies, such scions of conspiracy theories and more, like Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., Rep. Matt Goetz, R-Fla., among many others.
Women tend to be more Democratic and more liberal than men and men tend to be more drawn to conspiracy theories so I don’t think women are any more likely to step in the rabbit hole than men but there seems to be more women on the crazy side but maybe that’s because there are simply more women in Congress than ever before, leading both more men and women to land this side of the Mad Hatter. Add that to the fact that Trump has had more women advisors than any of the past three presidents and the odds for nuts increase, especially with a nut president.
A short list of the wacky women, begins with Palin, followed, in no special order, by Stefanik, Greene, Betsy DeVos, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Hope Hicks, Omarosa Manigault Newman, Kristi Noem, Lauren Opal Boebert, Kelly Loeffler, Stephanie Grishm and let’s not forget, Kellyanne Conway.
Here’s a brief rundown of some of those influential women with loose screws:
Sarah Palin: Former Vice Presidential candidate Palin, who said you could see Russia from Alaska and supported that famous bridge to nowhere.
Elise Stefanik: The congresswoman from New York is a leading GOP supporter of Trump’s lies that there was widespread fraud that led to his defeat while she is overall, one of the most vocal backers of the former president who has orange hair, lives in a crass, Florida mansion and is a bad golfer.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: The Republican congresswoman from Georgia also has swallowed copious amounts of Kool Aid and also claims Trump is the rightful president, that the Capitol rioters were not Trump supporters and she gave away a gun in a raffle.
Betsy DeVos: At least the former longtime education secretary called Trump out for egging on the Capitol mob but the billionaire who never previously served in public office makes the list as the first education secretary to favor private over public education.
Jenna Ellis: A former lawyer for bone spurs, Ellis was fiercely behind the Trump allegations of voter fraud, despite not a scintilla of evidence to prove it. She was prominent at the news conference where Rudy Giuliani’s hair dye dripped.
Sidney Powell: Another presidential lawyer who also stood front and center when Rudy sweated, Powell said the Biden administration is a communist regime while she is being sued for her lies about voter fraud.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: The former White House communications director didn’t shy away from defending Trump’s lies, scandals and other controversies.
Hope Hicks: White House aide Hicks was among the strongest supporters of former Trump staff secretary Rob Porter, who resigned under pressure after his two ex-wives alleged that he beat them.
Omarosa Manigault Newman: The former communications director for Trump was previously a star on Trump’s reality show, “The Apprentice.” She also has been sued by the government for allegedly failing to file require ethics paperwork.
Kristi Noem: The governor of South Dakota has been a constant critic of restrictions like face masks to stem the COVID-19 epidemic while her state has among the highest levels of COVID-19 cases.
Lauren Opal Boebert: A first term GOP member of Congress, Boebert is a 34-year-old firearms enthusiast, opposes COVID-19 related-restrictions and sympathizes with QAnon while she gained notoriety when she filmed herself walking around Washington with a concealed pistol in apparent violation of the law.
Kelly Loeffler: The former senator from Georgia and former co-owner of the Atlanta Dream professional basketball team opposed the Black Lives Matter movement claiming it was formed on Marxist principles. She also was in hot water after it was reported that she “sold off seven figures” worth of stock holdings in the days and weeks after a private, all-senators meeting on the coronavirus.
Kellyanne Conway: A former lead counselor and major apologist for Trump, Conway famously referred to “alternative facts” in defending former press secretary Sean Spicer‘s false claim that Trump had the biggest inauguration crowd in history.
Stephanie Grisham: The former White House press secretary lied that aides to former president Barack Obama left behind disparaging messages around the White House on the day President Trump was inaugurated. She also lied when she said that Trump was in England on the day of the Brexit referendum and that he predicted the outcome.
Kayleigh McEnany: Yet another former White House press secretary, McEnany began her tenure by promising journalists “I will never lie to you. You have my word on that” and then went on to lie about everything from exaggerating crowd sizes, pushing voter fraud conspiracy theories, insisting Trump never downplayed the danger of COVID-19.
Go for it crazy women.