AL Governor Ivey on “Political Charades”: It Takes One to Know One
AL Gov. Kay Ivey, who was recently and notably outed for wearing blackface in a college skit, denounced the impeachment inquiry of President Trump saying, “We are witnessing an injustice on our democracy. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress are making an attempt to impeach the president through the press via leaks and conjecture. This appears to be purely political when you offer no due process and zero transparency. When we elected President Trump in 2016, Alabamians and the American people sought progress. We wanted stronger infrastructure, a booming economy, and security for all American citizens. President Trump and his Administration are fighting to do that. Congress has a job to do on behalf of the American people, not this political charade we are currently witnessing.”
So, Ivey thinks this is all a “political charade?” Has she been watching the news at all or has she listened to the President’s own outlandish, televised remarks? It’s surreal that she not only feels that this deserves a public statement, but it’s downright horrifying to think that she might actually believe the rhetoric she’s spewing.
In Alabama, soybean farmers have been significantly, and possibly irreparably, damaged by Trump’s needless trade war with China. Alabama still has hundreds of thousands of citizens without access to affordable health insurance or health care. Not to mention, a third of Alabama’s children live in households struggling with food insecurity.
Yeah, the economy is booming for those fortunate enough to trade stocks or make money without actually working, but it’s still the same old, same old for most blue collar folks in Alabama.
Ivey and the ALGOP are simply kissing Trump’s ring because they’ve seen the polls that show that most Alabama Republicans think he’s literally hung the moon. However, Trump hasn’t really done much to help Alabama. In fact, their sycophantic praise of him it’s really bizarre considering how poorly he’s treated former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. (Although, the truth is that Sessions deserves far, far worse for his disgusting sycophantic partisanship and his advocacy for unnecessary cruelty.)
Ivey’s comment that “there’s no due process” is just a lie. Does she know that Republicans also sit on the Congressional committees that are investigating Trump? Is she aware that they are also part of the process or is she just trying to distract from her own failures, such as appointing an election registrar that had been found guilty on charges of voter fraud?
That’s what makes Gov. Ivey’s comment that the impeachment inquiry is a “political charade” another prime and lucid example of irony. The truth is that she’s not accomplished much of squat during her accidental governorship and that her “success” is largely built on not doing anything hugely embarrassing like her predecessor, except for riding the coat-tails of Obama’s prosperous economic legacy. She just wants you to forget that blackface thing, please. She wants you to believe the hype and ignore the reality of what’s really happening in Alabama.
A charade is defined as “an absurd pretense to create a pleasant or respectable appearance.” Well, that’s the Trump presidency and her governorship in a nutshell. They both claim that they’re doing the best and most historic things, but the reality is that things are mostly worse.
With Ivey, the absurd pretense is that she might be doing something to adequately address the problems facing Alabama. Problems like the opioid crisis, access to healthcare, rural education and job opportunities, or fighting rampant corruption throughout the state, particularly in her own party, There’s been lots of talk, but not much tangible action.
The real charade is that the ALGOP and Gov. Ivey are trying to spin the Trump era as wildly successful, but the facts tell a much different story. The real charade is that they think we’re going to swallow what they’re offering with a long-handled spoon.
When it comes to knowing who’s putting on one heck of a “political charade”, well, let’s just say it takes one to know one.
Clete Wetli is former Chair of the Madison County Democrats and a liberal political activist.
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