In keeping with the general holiday spirit now pervading the land and shopping malls, Devin Nunes’ Cow, the famous mythical bovine, is celebrating the news that Nunes is leaving Congress “to join Donald Trump’s new social media network” — to run it, actually. Read story here and here.
The Cow is alive and well. Newsweek noted (here), “The parody Twitter account, which has more than 771,000 followers, posted ‘Anybody up for an epic party?’ and the hashtag ‘#DevinNunesIsAnIdiot’ shortly after the announcement broke on Monday,” accompanied by the picture below with the caption, “Awarded for bravery in the face of hostile internet cows.”
Nunes (bio here) actually had a day job in early adulthood; his family owned a dairy farm, and he has degrees in agriculture. That’s where the “cow” meme comes from. But he was a farmer for hardly a day (maybe outdoor work didn’t suit him) before he became a professional politician; he began running for Congress at age 25 and has been in Congress since age 29, and apparently never grew older and wiser; his record there reflects immaturity and a relative lack of real-life experience.
Which, naturally, made him a target for parody.
Nunes didn’t take it well; he tried to sue the cow, or rather its creator — and Twitter for hosting the spoof account. (Geez, would you vote for someone who can’t take a joke? I suppose if you’re a Republican you would.) That lawsuit, of course, went nowhere; but, “As the story went viral, the popularity of the defendants’ accounts soared, gaining more followers than Nunes’s own account,” Wikipedia says.
Wikipedia added, “the filing [of the cow lawsuit] was particularly interesting because in 2018 Nunes supported the Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act,” and noted Nunes has a history of filing “meritless” lawsuits.
Nunes isn’t just leaving for a professional opportunity (if you want to call it that); on the face of things, that makes no sense (not that Republican congressmen are expected by anybody to make sense; they’re clearly not, least of all the voters who elect them), given Trump’s history of firing and disparaging everyone who works for him and is foolish enough to give him their unbridled loyalty and inexplicably expecting none in return (see, e.g., Jeff Sessions, whose loyalty to Trump cost him his Senate seat, political career, party standing, and personal reputation).
That history makes Trump the ultimate Boss From Hell. Who in their right mind would give up a good, secure job to work for him?
Somebody about to be fired, that’s who. Although his House seat has been safely Republican for two decades, he’s just been redistricted (by Democrats) and was being set up to lose (see story here). His 2020 opponent, who got 45% of the vote and is expected to do much better in 2022 in the redrawn district, issued a statement saying, “Good riddance.”
That seems like as good an epitaph as any for Nunes’ controversial political career.
As for what comes next, Nunes says he plans to “reopen the internet.”
I didn’t know it was closed.
Is that a pandemic thing? Or does it refer to Facebook, Twitter, and other private companies slamming their doors shut on chronic liars who spread falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and lies about everything from elections to the efficacy of masks and the safety of vaccines? By the way, there’s a project at the University of Washington that works against this kind of thing (see article here).
Looks like they’ll have even more work to do.
Nothing much really going on here. Redistricted House member retiring. Going to be a private citizen and has a retirement check from Uncle Sam and a new gig. Not bad. Might not be the Senate seat or other office dreamed of. The cow parody may be near the end of its run. A private citizen maybe more successful than a Congressman in lawsuits. Sure parody is also a high form of acknowledgement one has made it. Still would any of us want this particular cow mooing us, a clear escapee from Ben and Jerry’s autocratic factory farm. Well he can always work at the family farm in Iowa. [Edited comment.]
In this case, parody is a low form of acknowledgement of Nunes’ congressional career. That’s why he sued. Status has nothing to do with it; congressmen aren’t disadvantaged in courts. A meritless lawsuit is a meritless lawsuit no matter who files it. For a story about “the great cow escape,” go here. For a Great Cow Escape video (there are many of these on YouTube), go here.