“We never thought of ourselves as a country where, like, Uday and Qusay get to be ministers of whatever they want,” MSNBC host Rachel Maddow ranted during her monologue at the start of her show on April 3. The rant was in response to Eric Trump’s wife, Laura, being hired by Donald Trump’s campaign’s digital vendor, and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s trip to Iraq.
Without a hint of irony, Maddow went on to declare that members of the Trump family getting jobs in the administration was worse than it had been when the Clintons or Kennedys gave jobs to family members. “In the past we've had like, you know, a First Lady who worked on health policy. Once had we had a president [John F. Kennedy] who hired his brother as Attorney General. But we've come to think of even those things as exceptions to the rule.”
The media only seem to fret about “political dynasties” if it involves Republican families. On CBS This Morning on April 4, Gayle King fawned over Chelsea Clinton: “Is there anybody else in the Clinton household thinking about running and by anybody I mean you? You could take your book on the road while you're campaigning with Get Informed, Get Inspired, Get Going. I feel like déjà vu with your mom all over again. Are you running? Are you running? Are you running?”
ABC News also bemoaned the day in 2011 when Congress convened without a Kennedy for the first time in 64 years.
After making the reference to Uday and Qusay, Saddam Hussein’s infamous sons who were guilty of sadistic war crimes, Maddow went on to denounce “this remarkable consolidation of power, in the hands of a few underqualified family members,” adding “Today that became not just a remarkable story about the ‘Uzbekistanization’ of American politics. Today that – and no offense meant to Uzbekistan. Sorry.”
Partial transcript follows:
RACHEL MADDOW: The firm that ones the digit side of the campaign will employ Laura, Eric Trump's wife. I have no idea what her work experience is, but I'm sure she's the best qualified person in America for that job. Whatever that job is.
In the past we've had like, you know, a first lady who worked on health policy. Once had we had a President who hired his brother as Attorney General. But we have come to think of those things as exceptions to the rule. We never thought of ourselves as a country where, like, Uday and Qusay get to be ministers of whatever they want. Right? We don’t think of ourselves as a ruling family kind of place, but now, now that's what we are.
And here is a rude consequence of that for our new ruling family. This remarkable consolidation of power, in the hands of a few underqualified family members, today that became not just a remarkable story about the Uzbekistanization of American politics. Today that – and no offense meant to Uzbekistan. Sorry. But beyond that becoming just a remarkable thing in its own, today this new thing that we've got as a country, this consolidation of American government power in the nuclear family of the President.
