Pigs in politics

26.11.2018 - EB

Andrej Babiš knew more about the mental health of his two adult children than the general public did, and he used this to his political advantage. He rationed out the information over a 10-day period in such a way that by the time the vote of no-confidence came on Fri., there was little doubt that Andrej Jr. had had serious issues. MP Miroslav Kalousek of TOP 09 responded to Babiš's tactic by saying on Czech TV on Thur. that only a "total swine" could look into a camera and go public with the intimate psychiatric diagnosis of his two adult children. And this is our PM, Kalousek said. He stressed that he was saying this from the standpoint of the father of two adult children of his own. This gets to the very crux of the political crisis of the past two weeks. Babiš was forced by the circumstances to choose whether to act primarily as a father or primarily as a politician. If he had kept quiet about the mental-health diagnosis of his children, as a good father should, there's a very big chance that he would have lost the no-confidence vote in Parliament. He chose instead to survive politically as a "swine."

Glossary of difficult words

to ration (out) - (in this context) to issue or release in small amounts over a certain period;

crux - the decisive or most important point at issue.



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