Margaret Hoover and the Nepotism of Anti-Conservative Republicanism

On Monday, Margaret Hoover, great-granddaughter of President Herbert Hoover, board member of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and CNN contributor, appeared alongside Sally Kohn, Sunny Hostin and Mel Robbins to hold up her hands while Hostin held the sign, “I Can’t Breathe,” a sign protesting supposed police racism and brutality. 

Kohn tweeted out a screencap of the pose, sparking controversy around the Internet–given the combination of the “I Can’t Breathe” sign in honor of Eric Garner and the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” pose in honor of the fictionalized killing of Michael Brown (Brown was not killed with his hands up).

Now, Hoover has penned an opinion piece for CNN.com in which she explains that not only was she correct in assuming the poseur pose, the rest of the Republican Party should adopt her stance. “These protests,” she wrote, “are about citizens’ rattled faith in the fair delivery of justice. In any civil society, there’s a serious problem when confidence in the rule of law is shaken. Republicans who are committed to the stability of our society must acknowledge that these protests reflect real doubts in the equity of our criminal justice system.”

Hoover goes on to recognize that Officer Darren Wilson shouldn’t have been indicted in the killing of Michael Brown, and she admits that “hands up, don’t shoot” was based on a lie. But that doesn’t matter – it’s the message that matters: “First of all, facts matter… But right or wrong, ‘hands up’ has now fused with a larger movement…”

Right, a larger anti-police movement. One that Hoover, apparently, endorses.

She continues: “As a reform Republican who works for the GOP to broaden its base and reach new constituencies, I see no contradiction between supporting law enforcement and the policy solutions highlighted by these protestors.”

Of course, she can’t suggest what exactly the protesters want, since they have no idea other than expressing generalized anti-police rage. She pretends that protesters want body cameras and community policing, without significant evidence to that effect. But more importantly, Hoover writes, she received praise from “creative icons such as Shonda Rhimes… and Russell Simmons.” That would be the same Russell Simmons who threatened more extreme protests just a few days ago.

Hoover bills herself as a new type of Republican. Of course, she’s hardly the first titular Republican descended from quasi-GOP royalty to dub herself thus–and earn the love of the mainstream media in the process. 

There’s Meghan McCain, who believes herself to be on the vanguard of conservatism because she endorses same-sex marriage and enjoys sex (as opposed to all other conservatives, who apparently hate sex yet somehow reproduce quite often). Her brand of conservatism is so wildly successful that she has now starred in no less than two cancelled shows for Pivot. Thankfully, her father is a famous Senator who got crushed in a presidential election. Her fellow nepotism beneficiary, Abby Huntsman, stars on The Cycle on MSNBC. Helpfully, her father is a non-famous former governor who got crushed in the presidential primaries in 2012.

Unsurprisingly, Hoover, McCain, and Huntsman all cut an ad together in 2013 in favor of same-sex marriage. Clearly, they have their finger on the pulse of today’s conservative movement.

Interestingly, the nepotistic divide in the Republican Party seems to mirror the political divide. Aside from Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), whose politics fall outside the mainstream of Republican politics thanks to his isolationism, children of famous Republicans seem to embrace the notion that traditional conservatism is passé. Jeb Bush, son of the already-moderate George H.W., wants to move beyond conservative issues like federalism in education and border enforcement; Mitt Romney, son of moderate governor George, invented Obamacare in Massachusetts. Many of those who grew up comfortable with living off Republican largesse seem more than happy to jettison conservative ideology in favor of popularity among the jet set.

So long as the plaudits keep coming from members of the left, Margaret Hoover and her ilk will keep jabbering. Good thing great-grandpa handed her a name.

Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the new book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.