Au Revoir, Sarah

Sarah Sanders will be leaving the Trump White House forever at the end of this month.

Good career move.

Ziegler

The saga of Sarah Huckabee Sanders has me thinking of Ron Ziegler, Dick Nixon's embattled press secretary. Like Nixon, Ziegler possessed an unapologetic hostility to the news media. The quote for which he is remembered, more than any other, is from the days immediately following the June 1972 break-in of the Democratic National headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, when he dismissed the whole affair as "a third-rate burglary". When Nixon put his administration together in the weeks following his1968 victory, his original choice for press secretary was Mike Wallace of CBS News. Wallace wisely turned The Trickster down. That's why more than a few heads turned when he chose Ziegler to be his press rep. His only media experience had been as an advertising executive for Disneyland. 

After Nixon resigned in disgrace in August of 1974, Ziegler had nearly thirty years of life left to him. Although he remained loyal to his former boss until the end, the poor old bugger pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth. There was no second act for Ron Ziegler. He died in total obscurity on February 10, 2003, an otherwise odd footnote to one of the most tumultuous periods in American political history. The only time his name would surface would be in one of those Whatever-Became-Of columns.  In 2019, most people don't even remember his name.

This, I imagine,  is the plan that fate has in store for poor old Sarah Sanders. In fact, when placed in comparison with Sanders, Ziegler is starting to look pretty good. The post-Trump period of her life promises to be a tragicomedy of errors and, ultimately, heartbreak. The rumor is that she is actually planning on running for governor of her home state of Arkansas. This is not advisable. The woman has not a millimeter-of-a-shred of credibility left to her tarnished name. At least Ziegler, in the hours before the Nixon administration deteriorated into a pile of cinders, came as close as possible to admitting that he had been wrong about his pompous statements to the press regarding Watergate. In one of his last news conferences he told the gathered newsmen and women that everything previously said on the matter should be considered "inoperative". Better than nothing, I suppose. At least he made somewhat of an effort, however halfhearted.
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It's not like her life is over; I can see her going back to school and starting a new career - possibly as an advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist on a Little Rock newspaper:
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Dear Sarah,
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I emigrated to the United States a number of years ago and wound up marrying a very rich man who, to everyone's astonishment ( my own included), became successful in national politics. My dilemma is the sad fact that he has never, in all our years of marriage, been faithful to me, and that, as a politician, he is completely corrupt and may eventually be facing decades of incarceration for his crimes against the American people.

We have a child together, and I live in constant fear that the son will grow up bearing the stigma of the sins of the father. What should I do?
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Melania in New York
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Dear Mel in NY....FAKE NEWS!!!
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************

Okay, maybe not. Perhaps a job as a carnival barker would be better suited to her unique talents.
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I don't wish Sarah Sanders any ill will. I hope she has a long and contented life. In fact (and I am almost embarrassed to admit this) I'm going to miss her. Let's face some serious facts here, kids: as a spectacle in this train-wreck of endless clown cars, Mike Huckabee's kid was a gift from the Gods of Unintentional Comedy. Say what you will about her numerous flaws as a spokesperson in a so-called democracy - for junkies of the ludicrous (such as myself) Sarah Huckabee Sanders NEVER failed to deliver the goods. For this fact alone, we should be eternally grateful to her. I know I am.

Here's to you, Sarah!
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Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

AFTERTHOUGHT, 6/15/19, 2:55 AM:

Someone on Facebook informs me that Sarah and her family are planning on moving to Orange County New York, which is where I live. That should send property values down just a tad, don'cha think? 

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

A Documentary on the life of Sylvia Plath:

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=ZPFQOtGSr4o&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3b7QztrNMbZlBe-80k87Jj6Mx4xi5aMb2cxZ-27Vh-1IWoCbcZmtyGOWM

• Sylvia Plath was one of the great poets of the last century. A life too brief; beautiful, tormented and fragile, she committed suicide in February of 1963 at the age of thirty. We need to listen to her voice.

Get used to living in a nation in ruins.