A few weeks back, for fun, I created the Game of Thrones to Keystone XL converter. After watching Sunday's "Red Wedding" episode it's obvious that I made a serious mistake by not including former White House communications director Anita Dunn and her GOT obvious comp, Roose Bolton. Let me geek out (and explain).
Dunn was swept into the White House by a progressive wave in 2008. As a key member of the Obama team, you'd expect Dunn to hold tight to her progressive values, which should include battling mega corporations and working on solutions to the climate crisis. Dunn left the White House to work in the private sector and landed at SKDKnickerbocker, whose clients include TransCanada, the Canadian company that is using eminent domain to try to build the Keystone XL pipeline.
If you don't watch Game of Thrones, Roose Bolton is two-faced jerk who used to be allied with House Stark, defenders of all that is righteous in Westeros. But last night we found out that he's been in league with the not-so-nice Lannisters all along. And he proved it by taking a knife to the throat of poor Cat Stark, mother of the King of the North Robb Stark!
So how is Dunn like Bolton? Well, she appears to be trading her values for treasure. Keystone XL is no ordinary pipeline. It's the key to unlocking development of tar sands oil, the dirtiest oil that you can find. Right now the tar sands industry is producing about two million barrels a day of this "Canadian death-syrup," but if KXL is built the oil industry will be on their way to producing nine million barrels a day. Who would it benefit? Big Oil and the Koch brothers, sworn enemies of the progressive movement.
Putting aside my silly Game of Thrones fun, this is serious business. The country elected Obama and his team to push back on people like the Kochs, who for decades have been putting the squeeze on the middle class by funding anti-union front groups, supporting far-right candidates, and pushing climate propaganda. Now Dunn, a former key member of the administration, is working on behalf of those dark interests. This isn't a fantasy series, this is reality, and Anita Dunn needs to answer for why she appears to have sold out to Big Oil and the Koch brothers.