It may be time to have a national conversation about the idea of losing graciously. A good number of current and former elected officials can’t seem to let go of the fact that certain elections didn’t go their way.
Moments after a handful of Democratic lawmakers mounted a doomed eleventh-hour attempt to block Congress from certifying President-elect Trump, the latest in a series of miserably executed attempts to block the Queen’s businessman from taking office, BuzzFeed’s Alexis Levinson tweeted the following:
The above is a fundraising email from former Republican congressman Tim Huelskamp, who was defeated last year in the Kansas Republican primary by Rep. Roger Marshall.
“You probably saw it. Roger Marshall’s high school senior embarrassed Kansas by ‘dabbing’ during the official swearing-in photograph with Speaker Paul Ryan,” the letter reads. “A little more class, please. This is Congress — not senior skip day.”
Marshall’s son, Cal, 17, indeed made headlines this week for “dabbing” during his father’s swearing-in ceremony. Cal has since been grounded.
CNN’s Brenna Williams had the best and briefest explainer this week for just what the hell “dabbing” is: It is, “an upper body movement — made popular by Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, and made embarrassing by former Rep. Loretta Sanchez during a political debate.”
To Huelskamp’s needlessly bitter fundraising email, two quick points:
First, is this really a thing worth criticizing? Come on, it’s a teenager being silly. Shocking stuff indeed.
Secondly, trying to get in a few good digs at the guy who defeated you in the primary via his children is likely far more embarrassing for Kansans than the image of their current representative’s teenage son acting silly.
I’m only half-joking when I say this, but we should probably have a conversation about the virtue of accepting defeat graciously.
