Ginni Thomas called out for her anti-elitist 'schtick' in defense of Trump

In a column for The Week, Damon Linker cast a skeptical eye at the antics of Ginni Thomas, saying she is another in a long line of powerful and wealthy conservatives who adopt a populist pose while attacking D.C. "elites."

According to the columnist, if the attorney wife of a high-profile Supreme Court justice who has immersed herself in Washington politics for decades while walking the halls of Congress isn't an elitist, then who is?

As Linker notes, "Specifically, conservatives today are fond of claiming Democrats are the party of over-educated professionals who constitute the American ruling class, while Republicans are arrayed on the side of the working class — with politics functioning as a form of class warfare between the two groups," before adding that Republicans "portray electoral politics in America as a contest between top and bottom, haves and have-nots, influencers and underdogs, arrogant snobs and disrespected masses — with the GOP consistently fighting on the side of the latter."

READ: Trump’s mysterious last recorded phone call before the Jan. 6 riot was to an ‘unidentified person’

In the case of Thomas, Linker suggests she is just playing a part.

"Ginni Thomas is a lawyer and a conservative Republican who has worked in high-level jobs in Washington for decades — including at the U.S. Department of Labor. She's also founded lobbying groups to push for conservative policies," he wrote. "If Ginni Thomas isn't a member of the American elite, then no one is. Yet she is a member of the American elite who genuinely affirms the beliefs of those very far from the commanding heights of the country's political, economic, and cultural institutions.

Writing about the conservative activist's embrace and sharing of QAnon conspiracies -- which are rooted in the belief that political elites are secretly pulling the strings behind the scenes -- Linker pointed out, "Yet there was Ginni Thomas, a well-educated, very well-connected woman — someone married to a Supreme Court justice and deeply ensconced in the interpersonal and institutional ecosystem of the nation's capital — dashing off texts to the president's chief of staff, who took time out of his jam-packed days to respond respectfully to her missives."

"It might make political sense for Republican politicians to pretend they're engaging in class warfare on behalf of the downtrodden. But in reality, they're one set of elites waging a battle against another set of elites by LARPing as class warriors. It's a shtick," the columnist suggested before adding, " That doesn't mean Thomas is faking her belief in QAnon-adjacent conspiracies about the 2020 election. But it does mean that affirming those beliefs does nothing to demonstrate she's doing battle against the establishment. She is the establishment. Or at least one of them."

You can read his whole piece here.