Family Ties

 It started out as a game show. Then it became a sitcom. Then a reality TV show. Now it's just reality. 

I am speaking of Kellyanne Conway's magical misery tour through the past four years. Appointed to a high ranking White House position by a game show host, she has been the explainer for many of this administration's most confounding moments. "You're saying it's a falsehood. And they're giving, Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts." Sean Spicer, is no longer the press secretary. He was last seen on Dancing With The Stars. She also said, "I serve at the pleasure of @POTUS. His message is my message. His goals are my goals. Uninformed chatter doesn't matter." The fact that her husband George has never been a big fan of her boss has been a point of contention and amusement for many, as Kellyanne carried the torch for POTUS and George worked his angle from the side, poking fun whenever things got ridiculous. Which was often. And for all this time, that has been the way things have rolled.

Until recently. Over the past several months, the couple's teenage daughter Claudia has inserted herself into the online family drama with her own social media presence. Which was also somewhat amusing in the most schaden of schadenfreude ways. Leading up to the Republican National Convention, at which her mother was announced as a key speaker, Claudia had asked Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to adopt her. Then she upped the ante by suggesting that she would be officially filing for emancipation from both her parents. 

Funny stuff.

If it's happening to someone else's family. The sad truth is that this is someone's family, and after all the sound and fury of the past four years, there is finally a reckoning. Kellyanne Conway is resigning from her post as White House Counselor. Having survived the various flurries of firings and abdications, she is joining the list of former staff members. She said in her letter, "In time, I will announce future plans. For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama." Husband George announced that he too would be stepping away from the snarky spotlight to "devote more time to family matters."

Remember that TV show that had two aging hippies trying to deal with their son, who had turned out to be a disciple of Reagan. It made Michael J. Fox a star. It wasn't called Family Matters. That was a different show. For George, Claudia and Kellyanne the show is over. 

For now.