On Fox & Friends, Donald Trump threatened to retaliate against Democratic Senator Jon Tester who spoke out against the nomination of unqualified and unvetted Dr. Ronny Jackson to head the Department of Veterans’ affairs.
Donald Trump’s half-hour interview on Fox & Friends this morning was a trainwreck on so many levels. But one segment that caught my attention was the threat toward Tester, the ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee. As you probably know, he came forward this week as the messenger bringing very troubling information about Jackson’s behavior to the public. But Republicans on the committee, including chairman Johnny Isakson, have publicly raised concerns too. Jackson withdrew from the nomination this morning.
Yet Fox & Friends cohost Ainsley Earhardt goosed Trump to attack Democrats by suggesting Jackson’s problems were only a matter of obstructionism. Trump responded by making thinly-veiled threats of retaliation against Tester. It just so happens he’s facing a tough re-election campaign.
EARHARDT: Do you think the obstructionist window — as Dr. Jackson says, these allegations are baseless and they’re just attacking him? This is not true, he served our country but yet, he’s still withdrawing his name. So does the obstructionist win when your nominees don’t fight back?
TRUMP: Well, I could say yes. I can also say no because Doc Ronny — you know, we call him Doc Ronny, we call him Admiral Ronny. He’s an admiral, highly respected, a real leader. And I watched what Jon Tester of Montana, a state that I won by like over 20 points. You know, really, they love me and I love them. And I want to tell you that Jon Tester — I think this is going to cause him a lot of problems in his state. He took a man who was just an incredible man — an incredible man respected by President Obama. He gave him his highest rating. You saw what President Obama said.
[…]
You know, these are all false accusations that were made. These are false and they’re trying to destroy a man. By the way, I did say welcome to Washington. Welcome to the swamp. Welcome to the world of politics.
BRIAN KILMEADE, COHOST: Sure.
TRUMP: But for Jon Tester to start bringing up stuff like candy man and the kind of things he was saying, and then say well, you know, these are just statements that are made.
STEVE DOOCY, COHOST: Right.
TRUMP: There’s no proof of this. And he has a perfect record. He’s got this beautiful record unblemished. His son is a wonderful boy. Goes to Annapolis, at the top of his class. One of the finest cadets. For him to be doing this to this man and this family, I think Jon Tester has to have a big price to pay in Montana because I don’t think people in Montana — the admiral is the kind of person that they respect and admire and they don’t like seeing what’s happened to him.
Trump had just made mob-boss-like threats toward a United States senator for carrying out his Constitutional responsibility of acting as a check and balance to the executive branch! Yet not one of the three cohosts noted that disturbing behavior from Trump.
Instead, Doocy moved on to ask if Trump has another nominee in mind yet.
Watch Trump sound like a mob boss below, from the April 26, 2018 Fox & Friends.
(Transcript excerpts via The Washington Post, with my emphases added)
And while I’d like to believe that the Democrats have a chance in the House of Reps, the strong GOP gerrymandering of most of the country makes that extremely unlikely. It’s certainly possible, but I haven’t seen any charts that show this as more than a hopeful thought. The Senate, on the other hand, cannot be gerrymandered – and that’s the body that absolutely MUST be flipped if we are to have any sanity in our judiciary.
Trump’s bizarre outburst today just reinforces my hope and belief that the millions of Dems who stayed home in 2016 because they didn’t think it made a difference who won have learned their lesson. We need them to actually show up this year and in 2020.
While there’s a good chance the Democrats can win back the House, the Senate seems unlikely, but we’ll see.