Ever since unnamed sources leaked to The Hill on Thursday that White House communications aide Kelly Sadler allegedly made an unkind remark about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the political world has been aflame with lots of pearl-clutchers demanding Sadler’s ouster. Here is what the initial article reported about a private White House meeting addressing McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee for CIA director:
“It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” Sadler said, according to a source familiar with the remarks at the meeting. A source who heard Sadler’s remarks could not confirm her exact wording, but agreed that Sadler made comments along the lines described by the first source. Both sources said they believed the comment was intended as a joke, but that it did not go over well with others at the meeting.”
A subsequent CNN article quoted another unnamed White House source who confirmed Sadler’s comment. Despite the sad fact that McCain is indeed dying – and that McCain continues to occupy his Senate post, therefore wielding considerable power in a closely-divided Senate – the comment torched the Washington political class. McCain’s family weighed in, as did embittered losing presidential candidates Mitt Romney, John Kasich and Bernie Sanders. The topic was widely discussed on the Sunday morning news shows.
But Nicolle Wallace has received no such treatment by the perpetually-outraged political class after she suggested on air last week that journalists should strangle White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. The MSNBC host played a clip of Sanders responding to the Sadler story, then asked a panelist on her show, “how do you resist the temptation to run up and wring her neck?” For effect, Wallace actually used hand motions to demonstrate how one could strangle the first mother to serve as White House press secretary.
A few hours later, Wallace quasi-apologized on Twitter for her “poorly chosen words.” But instead of paying a price for her despicable, over-the-top remarks that were made in public to thousands of people, Wallace was quickly commended for her courage. Henry Winkler, S.E. Cupp, CNN reporter Bianna Golodryga and others rushed to her defense.
With Sadler’s head firmly on the political guillotine, Wallace’s talking head will continue to spew violence-inciting garbage from the MSNBC news set but she will be portrayed as a truth-telling hero. It’s like you can’t say “double-standard” enough during the Trump era.