Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) was at Tuesday morning Bible study—a rare bipartisan activity on Capitol Hill—with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) when her aides interrupted to inform her that President Donald Trump had gone after her on Twitter as a “lightweight” who “would do anything” for campaign donations.
Gillibrand and other Democrats immediately denounced the President’s post as a “slur” against her that implied an exchange of sexual favors for money. But Rounds and other Republicans asked about the exchange on Tuesday largely refused to comment, either claiming not to have seen the message or playing it down as unimportant.
“I think it’s simply one of those cases where it’s best if we look at what the President does and not pay attention to the tweets,” Rounds told reporters with a shrug.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), one of few Republican women in the Senate, appeared irritated when asked Tuesday about the tweet. “This is what everyone is distracted by,” she said, declining to comment.
Several lawmakers, including Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), claimed he had not seen the President’s tweet. When a reporter offered to read the message to him from his phone, Corker laughed and begged off. “I don’t know if I want you to show it to me. I can’t respond if I don’t know anything about it,” he said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the only Republican to publicly criticize the President for the post—Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who was also at the morning Bible study meeting—did so in mild terms.
“Respectful dialogue and disagreement sets a better example for our children and the world. Our leaders should focus on the issues, not personal attacks,” he wrote in a statement to the Washington Post.
Democrats, meanwhile, did not hold back.
“It was a sexist slur that disgraces the office and diminishes the presidency,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told reporters in the basement of the Capitol “It is utterly reprehensible.”
Blumenthal says that even after a year of the President’s controversial, insult-laced statements on social media, this morning’s comment on Gillibrand stands out.
“It was directed against a sitting United States senator for her focus on issues of sexual harassment and assault, which implied such a derogatory aspersion on her that I think it is really distinct and despicable,” he said.
Shorter Lead;
Republicans Play Dumb.
Which, nearly 11 months into this administration, becomes harder and harder to do–as Corker’s response makes clear: by not knowing what was said, you can at least be ignorant, if not dumb.
We shouldn’t be surprised Republicans beg off criticizing Trump. He could call all their wives mongrel whores and they’d defer protesting the slur until after the tax bill was signed.
Like their leader,Deferment Don, when the going gets tough the cowards will dodge anything for fear of the tweet.
Someone please just grow a fucking pair and publicly call him out as a raging narcissist, racist, misogynist asshole whose presence in the Oval Office not only demeans the country and everything it stands for, but presents a real and present, demonstrable danger to its citizens and the world at large. Fuck you all and your clinging to supposed high ground. Self-declared moral high ground won’t be putting food on 16M malnourished American children’s plates or insuring them, the disabled, the elderly, or curing cancer or reducing gun violence or reversing the ever-accelerating wealth gap or halting our rapid descent into plutocratic oligarchy and a more autocratic form of governance through the hijacking of democracy with geographic vote-weighting. Only fighting for real and meaning it will do any of that. Your posturing is useless.
NO QUARTER.