The 21st century hasn’t been kind to American politics. So far it is an era not trending in a good direction. It’s an era where lies are irrelevant (unless they come from your political tribe), facts are often ignored (if they come from an opposing political tribe), blatant lies multiply faster than insects and rabbits, billions are made by media promoting fears and falsehood — and where hypocrisy flourishes in breathtaking brazenness (but the hypocrite’s political tribe doesn’t care).
The Hypocrite of the Year Award (even though the year is still young) goes to Justice Clarence Thomas who recently displayed such hypocrisy that he MUST have a fingers-crossed statue erected in his honor. His wife Ginny, it turns out, was one of the key people right after the 2020 election in trying to nix then President-elect Joe Biden from taking office and keeping Donald Trump in place. At one point in a text she talked about “bullying” the Congress.
So here is what Thomas recently said:
ATLANTA — Justice Clarence Thomas said Friday that the judiciary is threatened if people are unwilling to “live with outcomes we don’t agree with” and that recent events at the Supreme Court might be “one symptom of that.”
Thomas, speaking to judges and lawyers at the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference, did not speak directly about the leak of a draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, a colossal breach of the court’s procedures.
But he referred a couple of times to the “unfortunate events” of the past week, and in a question-and-answer session led by a former clerk, he said he worried about declining respect for institutions and the rule of law.
“It bodes ill for a free society,” he said. It can’t be that institutions “give you only the outcome you want, or can be bullied” to do the same, he said.
For Thomas, avowed critic of Roe v. Wade, Mississippi abortion case a moment long awaited
The court’s longest-serving justice said he also worried about a “different attitude of the young” that might not show the same respect for the law as past generations did. “Recent events have shown this major change,” he said.
Reaction on social media has been swift and extensive. A sampling:
Ginni and Clarence Thomas do seem to know a thing or two about bullying to get the results you want. pic.twitter.com/mi9kytDuQQ
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 7, 2022
ICYMI: Husband of Leading Insurrectionist Lectures America on Respecting Authority pic.twitter.com/7L6v5jg1RA
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) May 7, 2022
“We can’t be an institution that can be bullied into giving you just the outcomes you want.” – Clarence Thomas, yesterday
“Let’s bully Congress into giving us just the outcomes we want.” – Ginni Thomas, January 6, 2021
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) May 7, 2022
Not The Onion:https://t.co/pXfnxeqjEl
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 7, 2022
Does Thomas even live with his wife? https://t.co/29dfWtKSFK
— Reed Galen (@reedgalen) May 7, 2022
Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake tribune @Patbagley #GinniThomas #Traitor #Clarence #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/PenJ5SPqZW
— Editorial & Political Cartoons (@EandPCartoons) May 7, 2022
You know who was unwilling to live with an outcome she didn’t agree with? Your wife, who encouraged a violent coup attempt. https://t.co/1jxuTR1sCa
— howardfineman (@howardfineman) May 7, 2022
Give me a break. His wife was urging the WH to overthrow a presidential election because she didn’t like the outcome. https://t.co/qQvl6XqWUi
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) May 7, 2022
NEW: Amid outcry following the Roe decision, Clarence Thomas condemns those who seek to “bully” government institutions into delivering the outcome that they want. As a reminder, his wife was in DC on January 6 seeking to bully Congress into delivering the outcome she wanted.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) May 7, 2022
I may be just a small-town political scientist but I reckon one reason respect for institutions might be on the decline is Supreme Court justices pretending their spouses aiding and abetting and insurrection is no big whoop and doesn’t require recusal. https://t.co/uckhIGKa3M
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) May 7, 2022
Meanwhile, for the past month cartoonists have been having a field day in the wake of revelationso that Ginny Thomas was out there pushing to derail Biden because she didn’t like the election results:
Top Photo 178237055 © Feng Yu | Dreamstime.com
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.