Kellyanne Conway loves to kneel on couches in the Oval Office, apparently
Kellyanne Conway checks her phone after taking a photo of President Donald Trump and leaders of black universities, colleges in Oval Office pic.twitter.com/MgVhCoJFuC
— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 28, 2017
Every president feels differently about what is and is not “allowed” within the White House and even more specifically, within the Oval Office. I love the little stories about how presidents treat “the people’s house,” whether it was Richard Nixon taking care to put a towel down before putting his be-socked feet on an ottoman (in the residence), or whether it was George W. Bush insisting that every man who enters the Oval Office be properly attired in a jacket and tie. President Obama treated the Oval Office and the residence more informally, as in he was often in the Oval without a jacket and tie, and there are photos of him with his feet on the Resolute Desk and on the coffee table in the Oval.
If this was a story about Donald Trump putting his feet on the furniture of the Oval, I would be disgusted but I would also understand that there wasn’t much room to criticize him, considering Obama behaved similarly. But surely it’s another issue altogether when it’s one of the president’s staffers behaving so informally? The photo of Kellyanne Conway (above) went viral late Monday, when it was published. Emperor Baby Fists was meeting with representatives from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) on Monday and when Trump went to pose with the group, photographers captured Conway kneeling on the couch in the Oval Office, her eyes glued to her phone.
Yeah, so the photo went viral and everyone is now debating whether Conway is inappropriate or not. I think context is key – if this was a photo taken of Trump during an informal meeting with staffers, it wouldn’t be a huge deal. But it was during working hours on a weekday, it happened in the midst of a formal photo-op, and yes, Conway absolutely knew she was being photographed that way. Even an editor with the Wall Street Journal noted how trashy Conway’s pose looked:
If Rice or Jarrett had sat like this in Oval Office conservatives would have screamed themselves hoarse for weeks. Now we own trashy. https://t.co/wFo31mqjYI
— Bret Stephens (@StephensWSJ) February 28, 2017
You know what I find weird though? I mean, Conway’s pose IS trashy and all of that, but I am sort of amazed that “kneeling on a couch” is how a 50-year-old woman feels comfortable. Like, this is such an immature, child-like pose. If Ivanka’s daughter Arabella was sitting this way, no one would blink an eye because that’s how kids sit. This is not the way grown women feel comfortable on a couch.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Twitter.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmbmplboBze8qeo6WxkaO7pqvCqKWwmamUubDCxKyWraePoLumscuYpqeXk6TCpLTErJaipo%2Bptaarzq%2BYpZefm7Oqr8SYmKmokaeyr8DLsmY%3D