Thanks to Democrat Marie Harf, even Fox News host Harris Faulkner had to agree that Donald Trump would never be able to “get away” with his tweeted attack on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand if he were the CEO of a private corporation.
In case you missed it, Trump made a shocking attack on Gillibrand today in the wake of her call for his resignation over sexual misconduct. In fact, Trump seemed to prove her point with his tweet suggesting that Gillibrand was willing to prostitute herself in order to get his money:
Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017
But leave it to Fox News to find a way to defend this. Trump sycophant and Outnumbered cohost Harris Faulkner cited Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s tweet in response to Trump as some kind of equivalence:
Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Do you know who you're picking a fight with? Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. Nevertheless, #shepersisted. https://t.co/mYJtBZfxiu
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 12, 2017
Faulkner refused to read the word “slut” in Warren’s tweet, as if it were somehow too obscene to mention. However, the fact that she called on cohost Harf next suggested she was not totally with Trump on this.
Harf did not mince her words:
HARF: Every day, I think he can’t get lower than he does on Twitter. Every day, I think he can’t debase the office more than he does and this morning, when I saw that, I do not know how there are not Republicans standing up, in the United States Senate, in the House, across the country saying, “This man does not represent us.” It is stunning.
But Faulkner gave it her best shot with some whataboutism:
FAULKNER: When you hear the other women chime in and you hear the language that Sen. Warren uses, that is not elevating the conversation. That is not taking the high road and –
Cohost Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery went along with the obvious partisan messaging: “You can’t accuse the president of using innuendo when Sen. Warren’s gonna use the exact same kind of language,” she said. Of course, a president accusing a U.S. senator of offering sex for money is far worse than someone using a slightly salty term to describe what he had done.
Yet Kennedy further suggested Trump deserved a pass (that Warren didn’t) by adding that she thinks that Trump sometimes “doesn’t realize he’s president.” Which after almost a year in office hardly seems like an excuse.
But Harf interrupted that messaging and reframed the issue magnificently. She even got Faulkner to agree with her.
HARF: He’s a jerk. He’s just a bully. I’m sorry. I’m gonna say that. Online, we would not let our children behave this way online, we would not – if we worked with someone and they behaved this way online, we would report them to HR. This is not behavior we would accept in a CEO, in a principal –
FAULKNER: Actually, that is true.
HARF (continuing): This is not behavior that we would accept in any other person. He’s the president!
Faulkner replied, “We’ll move on.”
Watch Harf take control of the discussion in a way that nobody could dispute below, from the December 12, 2017 Outnumbered.
