During the Trump presidency, it’s appropriate to take a hard look at the extreme tribalism that has invaded the Republican Party. There is no excuse for dismissing any behavior that should be addressed just because accountability is unpleasant. Pruning is necessary if the GOP and its members truly desire health and improvement.
While this version of tribalism may be more noticeable than ever, it is certainly not specific to one political orientation. Leftists have their own form of excessive, unchecked admiration. This current brand of esteem is centered around praising those who challenge their greatest enemy, President Trump. The character and history of the person questioning the president matter little.
Only a few months before the election, Omarosa Manigualt Newman of “The Apprentice” fame joined the Trump team. During an interview with “Frontline” in September 2016, the former Democrat, who changed parties to support the candidate, explained her interest in being so close to a potential president: “…this is the greatest position in the world, to be at the center of political power, of the universe. But more importantly, every critic, every detractor will have to bow down to President Trump.” At the start of 2017, she officially joined the upcoming administration as assistant to the president and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison. By mid-December 2017, she was fired by chief of staff John Kelly for questionable behavior and “integrity violations.”
To onlookers, Omarosa’s employment in the Trump administration has always been suspect. Throughout her time in the public eye, she has consistently shown herself to be a self-serving, artificial, and untrustworthy individual. Where President Trump saw only loyalty, others (like his right-hand man, John Kelly) saw only complications. Now that she is out of the White House, her focus is back on herself, and she’s using the connection to a polarizing administration to make some money.
[Exclusive: Trump campaign seeks ‘millions’ against Omarosa for violating nondisclosure]
Leftists, in their neverending search for more dirt on the president, are eating it up.
It is foolish to view any Trump administration defector as a dependable victor. These individuals and their respective situations must be weighed carefully. Generalizing may feel like the correct response, but such a route is only a lazy offshoot of binary thinking.
Michelle Goldberg’s take on the Omarosa situation over at The New York Times is a perfect example of how quickly the opposition is ready to grant legitimacy to anyone, so long as they are ready to slight the president. In her piece headlined “Welcome to the Resistance, Omarosa,” Goldberg essentially says that a history of being unreliable just doesn’t matter.
Manipulative? Insincere? Lacking credibility? It’s staggering that these are the descriptions of a woman who many in the left-wing media are placing at least some small hope upon. Even Goldberg herself, after stringing unflattering adjectives throughout her entire piece, admits that she prefers Omarosa’s word to that of the president’s. There can only be one reason for this conclusion: tribalism.
Why take a sober look at the situation when you can find some ammunition, albeit unreliable at best, to use against the man you hate most of all? Meanwhile, President Trump’s social media outbursts about his former employee do him no favors. He is incapable of leaving the situation alone and instead rudely chimes in calling her “a dog” and labeling her “Wacky Omarosa,” among other things. This speaks to the fragility of the man’s ego. His faith in Omarosa was not so much in her abilities but in her loyalties to him as her boss.
The idea known as “Trump derangement syndrome” isn’t just a phenomenon reserved for supporters who refuse to question any of his words or actions. Members of the Trump resistance are also affected by an overwhelming desire to conclude that any opposition should be supported. Neither obsession is healthy. As a voter who went third-party, it is imperative that I review situations before me and make conclusions from the often limited facts at my disposal. One does not have to be a fan of the president’s character to question the greedily-motivated attacks by a former employee with a long history of scheming for her own gain. It is entirely possible to bothered by both, simultaneously.
If tribalist critics of the president’s credibility want some of their own, they’ll subdue the impulse to grab whatever cheap material they can find as they run off to attack.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a senior contributor at RedState.com.
