Screenshot / C-SPAN
As the members of the House were voting on his impeachment, President Donald Trump was blustering on stage at a campaign rally in Michigan.
He shocked his own supporters by suggesting that a deceased WWII vet and esteemed Congressman, John Dingell, is “looking up” from hell. The next day, the White House Press Secretary defended the comment.
The words were nasty—even by Trump’s standards—and have been widely condemned. Even the crowd at his rally wasn’t wholly receptive to the joke. Looks of shock can be seen crossing many faces, and boos can be heard mixed in with the cheers and laughter.
Absolutely disgusting. One of the worst things this very horrible man has ever said. And that’s not easy.
He just joked about an esteemed Congressmen who recently passed away, John Dingell, being in hell.
— Shaun King (@shaunking) December 19, 2019
Representative Debbie Dingell has taken the high road, however, refusing to go “tit-for-tat” or stoop to “his level.” In an interview with CNN, after witnessing the clip, Dingell responded with sincerity asking the President to “set politics aside.” Dingell continued,
“My husband earned all his accolades after a lifetime of service. I’m preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder.”
“We should take a lesson from this and all respect each other, period. … Some things should be off limits,” @RepDebDingell says after President Trump implied that her late husband, Rep. John Dingell, is “looking up” from hell. https://t.co/jUmIBg9w9t pic.twitter.com/4lgaU0xdw1
— New Day (@NewDay) December 19, 2019
But on Thursday morning, the White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham went to bat for the President in an interview on “Good Morning America.” Grisham called Trump a “counter-puncher” claiming that he was under a lot of pressure.
“He was at a political rally. He has been under attack, and under impeachment attack, for the last few months, and then just under attack politically for the last two-and-a-half years. I think that as we all know, the president is a counter puncher.
It was a very, very supportive and wild crowd, and he was just riffing on some of the things that had been happening the past few days.”
Yes, Trump is a”counterpuncher”—against dead people. It is a classic bully move, picking on people who can’t fight back.