Family values are not a spigot

Every day is another chapter of “As the Administration Churns”, the unending saga of incompetent boobs and skeevy manospherians.

In late July, during U.S. Senate hearings, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) pounced on Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was grilled for his actions as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a pique of performative outrage, Moreno yelled “Who the f--- did you think you were?” It was ugly. Either my age or my Calvinist roots are showing (or both), but there’s a time and a place for the f-word, and a Senate floor hearing is almost never the time nor the place.

In the scheme of things, Moreno’s behavior is a small thing, to be sure. The problem is it’s part of an endless trickle of small things, which eventually aggregate into a tsunami.

We, the electorate, are caught in the tsunami, and we are battered in the process and then ultimately flattened. We tune out because it’s all too much. Exhausting us is part of the plan. You might want to secure some psychological Kevlar and suit up because the waves just keep coming and we need to stand strong.

If you followed the news, a few days after that late July outburst, Moreno was back in the spotlight, this time on the defensive. His former son-in-law, U.S. Representative Max Miller (R-Ohio), has been accused of violence towards Moreno’s daughter and granddaughter. These are not recent incidents, and Moreno has been aware of them for some time.

This is all bad enough, but other women have also alleged that Miller was violent with them. Miller is running for re-election, and the GOP wants him to drop out of the race, but Miller, has defied the cooler heads of his party.

What catches my eye in all of this is that Moreno and Miller belong to the party that, since the 1970s, have stated that they stand for family values. Their manifesto, “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” aka Project 2025, lists the word “family” 160 times and “families” clocks in at 133 mentions. In fairness, some of the instances refer to position titles or citations, but even removing those, the focus on the nuclear family (one dad, one mom, and some children) is clear.

A few examples:

On page 3, under the heading “The Conservative Promise”, the first point states: “Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children.” Protect our children from dads like Miller who break their daughter’s collarbones.

On page 4, point 1 is further elucidated: “The next conservative President must get to work pursuing the true priority of politics—the well-being of the American family.” Well-being, huh? How about not throwing hot water on mommy, as Miller did to his wife.

The second paragraph in that section ends: “But the most important community in each of our lives—and the life of the nation—is the family.” Except when daddy holds a gun to mommy’s head, as Miller has done.

Immediately following in the third paragraph: “Today, the American family is in crisis.” When a husband (Mr. Miller) throws his wife (Mrs. Miller) against the wall, yes, that’s a family in crisis.

Yet, when our president was asked about Miller’s morass, 45/47’s remarks showed sympathy for Miller and none for the wife and child. “It’s a very sad thing. I know Max,” the president said. “He’s a good person. . .and I’m gonna let the families figure that out.”

This is the party that wants to enter your house and make sure there is a mommy and a daddy, not mommies squared or a daddy duo. This is the party that now wants to check the hormone levels of all females K-12 to be sure that we don’t have trans-female athletes in our schools.

As if trans kindergarten T-ballers will be the ruination of America. For the record, there are no trans kindergarteners. Anywhere.

Of course, we know that the members of The Heritage Foundation (who authored Project 2025) and the president have different and often opposing goals. The Heritage Foundation wants to build a Christo-fascist nation, and the president wants to enrich himself by any means possible—and avoid jail.

He doesn’t care about families. The best that can be said for him (which is also the worst) is that his words and actions, however heinous, match.

The same can’t be said for the far-right wing of the GOP. Where is Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation and author Project 2025’s Foreword, who wrote on page 5: “Every threat to family stability must be confronted.”

The threat isn’t immigration, Mr. Roberts. The threat isn’t a gay couple raising their kids. The threat is literally coming from inside the House--and the Senate and the Department of Defense and the White House.