To the extent that there was ever a meaningful political debate over Donald Trump’s character, the underlying questions were answered years ago. That does not mean, however, that the president can’t further undermine his own reputation for lacking honor and decency.
On Thanksgiving, for example, a reporter asked Trump whether he would attend U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom’s funeral in West Virginia. The Republican initially said he didn’t know, before pivoting seconds later to boasting about how impressive his election victory was in the state — as if that were the most important detail about the shooting that killed Beckstrom.
At the same event, the president, who has a knack for routine misogyny toward women who work in media, told a reporter she was “a stupid person” for asking a question he didn’t like.
Hours later, as Thanksgiving neared its end, he published an item to his social media platform in which he condemned Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, as “seriously retarded.”
The fallout was swift. NBC News reported:
Indiana state Sen. Michael Bohacek said Friday that he wouldn’t support an effort in his state to redraw congressional district lines that favor Republicans after President Donald Trump used a slur for those with intellectual disabilities to describe Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. “This is not the first time our president has used these insulting and derogatory references and his choices of words have consequences. I will be voting NO on redistricting, perhaps he can use the next 10 months to convince voters that his policies and behavior deserve a congressional majority,” Bohacek wrote in a Facebook post after explaining that he has a daughter with Down syndrome. For the White House, the announcement was no small detail. As Indiana’s state legislature moves forward with plans to consider a newly gerrymandered district map, there are already indications that the partisan gambit lacks the votes it needs to succeed. By using disgusting and offensive language, Trump set back his own cause for no reason. With this in mind, on Sunday night a reporter asked the president, “Do you stand by that claim of calling Tim Walz ‘retarded’?” Trump replied, “Yeah. I think there’s something wrong with him. Absolutely. Sure.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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