This blog is part of a series I’ve titled “Unco Junto” (after the discussion clubs founded by Benjamin Franklin) in which I offer an introductory topic essay and a handful of commenters are invited to respond in any way they see fit. The goal is to provide a forum for long-form–and hopefully provocative–analysis in a media often dominated by superficial sound bites. The entry examines the nature of hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy seems to be a running theme on the news and in social media, especially in the political sphere. It seems that hardly a week goes by that one political party is not accusing the other of hypocrisy, on everything from confirming Supreme Court judges to health care reforms. When President Trump fired FBI James Comey in May, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated that the reaction from Democrats was “the purest form of hypocrisy” and that “Most of the people declaring war today were the very ones what were begging for Director Comey to be fired.” This accusation of hypocrisy is objectively and factually incorrect; though many Democrats had criticized Comey at various times (including for his handling of Hillary Clinton’s e-mail investigation shortly before the presidential election), almost none of them had in fact called for Comey to resign or be fired; the sole exception was Tennessee’s Rep. Steve Cohen. In fact there was bipartisan concern over Trump’s handling of the matter, as well as the varying justifications given for Comey’s firing. Here is an analysis of three examples of claimed hypocrisy, followed by a brief look at the phenomenon.

You can find it HERE! 

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