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President Trump and Rep. Rashida Tlaib
Shortly after being sworn in, Rashida Tlaib began to swear out loud and clear.
“We’re going to impeach the motherfucker,” the freshman Democratic Congresswoman from Metro Detroit shouted to a cheering crowd Thursday night at a private reception for supporters in Washington. (A five-minute video is below.)
She spoke of Donald Trump, the Republican president whose shabby first two years in the White House spurred the Democrats' net gain of 35 seats in November to secure a majority in the House of Representatives.
Her comments created a whirlwind of reaction Friday in Washington, in media coverage, on social media and particularly on right-wing radio.
Trump himself attacked her Friday afternoon in a Rose Garden news conference.
“Her comments were disgraceful,” Trump said. “She dishonored herself and I think that she dishonored her family. . . . It was highly disrespectful to the United States of America.”
'Not in the Censorship Business'
But Tlaib’s titular supervisor, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, did not seem inclined to silence her.
“I am not in the censorship business,” Pelosi said. "I don’t like that language, I wouldn’t use that language, but I wouldn’t establish language standards for my colleagues. . . . I’m going to talk to the president about his language.”
Trump has referred to some nations with people of color as “shithole countries” and has bragged about grabbing women "by the pussy."
More recently, Trump mocked and ridiculed Christine Blasey Ford, who said she was the victim of a sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh, who nevertheless was confirmed for the Supreme Court by the Republican Senate.
Tlaib represents a state that Trump won, surprisingly and narrowly, by 10,704 votes in 2016 under circumstances that were, at best, fluke-ish. He bragged about it again on Friday in the news conference.
But with two big General Motors plants set to close here and the quality of life not improving for most working-class citizens, the Great Lakes State is suffering from buyer’s remorse.
Angry Resistance
That showed in November when Michiganders elected a slate of Democratic women at both the state and national level to combat an unhinged president who is dangerously delusional, a religious and ethnic bigot and a proven sex creep.
Tlaib is female, Muslim and the daughter of immigrants, which puts her in triple jeopardy as a target of Trump’s hate speech and cruel actions. Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City -- aka AOC from NYC -- she is part of an angry resistance to Trump that might rival the emotional ascent of the reactionary Tea Party in 2010 against President Obama.
And Tlaib is a fresh face and voice in many ways. Representing Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, covering Detroit and western Wayne County, she replaces the disgraced John Conyers, who stayed too long at the party. Conyers got the bum’s rush out of the House last year during the #MeToo movement for serial sexual harassment.
He did many good things when he was young. But Conyers entered Congress in 1965 and his best years were several decades ago.
A Welcome Change from Conyers
That makes his 42-year-old successor's age and voice more welcome.
Thursday’s outburst wasn’t her first. Two days before winning her seat, the feisty Democrat said: "I cannot wait to kick some Trump ass when I get to Congress."
She got ejected from a Detroit Economic Club function in 2016 when she verbally tried to challenge candidate Trump for his heavy-handed rhetoric of intimidation and fear.
In a Free Press essay explaining her bellicosity, Tlaib wrote:
“It is unbecoming of any American to not stand up to Trump’s hate-filled rhetoric and tactics . . . Courteous behavior can’t be reserved for someone who labels hardworking Mexican immigrants who have come to pursue the American Dream as `rapists.’ Social niceties are not in order for men who would turn away refugees fleeing for their lives based on their faith to have them suffer in camps.”
Her words proved prophetic. It’s only gotten worse as Trump has ordered Hispanic refugees locked into cages at the southern border while children and their parents are forced apart. In an attempt to leverage money for a border wall, Trump has shut down part of the government.
That shutdown and Tlaib’s words were part of Trump’s rambling remarks Friday. “You can’t impeach somebody that’s doing a great job,” he said.
Heavy Rotation on Cable
As might be expected in the reality-show atmosphere of the Trump era, Tlaib’s video went into heavy rotation on cable news channels and right-wing radio. It was the lead item on the Rush Limbaugh show, anchored Friday by a guest host.
Both Republicans and Democrats tsked-tsked about lack of civility in political dialogue.
Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Dearborn, whose district is a neighbor of Tlaib’s, said “She’s one member. We’re a large caucus. . . . Impeachment would tear this country apart.”
Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy -- the dumb blond now in charge of House Republicans -- clucked “Look at the brand-new elected congresswoman and her language.” Tlaib responded with a tweet that said: “I will always speak truth to power.”
In the videotaped remarks Thursday, Tlaib also told supporters that one of her two sons told her: “Mama, look. You won. Bullies don’t win.”
That part remains to be seen. Trump is a bully who knows how to use the bully pulpit. In remarks about Tlaib Friday, he pretended she was a mystery to him.
“This is a person that I don’t know,” Trump said of Tlaib. “I assume she is new.”
At least he got that part right. Chances are, if we’re lucky, he’ll get to know her a lot better in the two years ahead.
The Headline-Making Outburst
Here's a five-minute clip of her remarks at a bar near the Capitol during a Thursday reception hosted by MoveOn.org:
