A New York Times investigation into Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar’s alleged mistreatment of her staff paints a worrying picture of her behavior, such as demanding staffers complete demeaning tasks and berating them. Of all the concerning incidents, though, one particular detail has attracted a lot of attention: the salad comb.
The Times piece opens with an alleged incident dating back to 2008, when Klobuchar was on a plane on her way to South Carolina. According to four people familiar with what happened, one of Klobuchar’s aides was in the midst of giving the senator her desired airport salad when they realized their grave blunder: They had forgotten to get a fork. Klobuchar reportedly proceeded to berate the aide — something she allegedly had a habit of doing — and then proceeded to use a comb from her bag to eat the salad. When she was finished, she reportedly commanded her aide to clean it.
Truly, how would this even work? Perhaps Klobuchar held the comb vertically, like a shovel, to transport the salad’s smaller toppings — feta, dried cranberries, corn — into her mouth. Or maybe she was digging into a grilled chicken Caesar, and she forcefully stabbed romaine lettuce with the comb’s teeth. And that’s just imaging a few of the possibilities involving the typical lettuce-based variety — what if she was instead digging into tabbouleh or egg salad?
Unless Klobuchar specifically addresses this anecdote, it’s likely we’ll never know. And honestly, maybe that’s for the better.