Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., just can’t catch a break.
Between the president claiming she’d do anything for a campaign contribution and being ogled by members of her own party, she seems to have to put up with a lot of gendered ugliness in her line of work.
Trump blew up the news cycle early Tuesday morning with a suspiciously timed (and worded) attack on Gillibrand, who called on him this week to resign over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
“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,” the president tweeted.
He added, “Very disloyal to [Bill Clinton] & Crooked-USED!”
It’s worth noting that Gillibrand isn’t the first member of Congress to call on Trump to resign. She is, however, the first member of Congress to attract a rebuke of this sort from Trump. This has, of course, fed into the belief that the president’s Tuesday attack held hints of sexist, if not an outright sexual, undertones.
“Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame [Gillibrand]? Do you know who you’re picking a fight with? Good luck with that. Nevertheless, #shepersisted,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., tweeted at the president in a moment of shameless self-promotion.
I have no interest in defending Trump from claims his Gillibrand tweet was overtly sexist. That’s a fool’s errand. He doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt for the simple reason that he talks like a horny 14-year-old boy when it comes to discussing women, their accomplishments and their looks. He’s also infamous for disparaging women with sexually charged remarks.
Sure, it’s possible the president didn’t mean to suggest anything obscene Tuesday morning, but it’s on him to make that clear. He lost the right for people to assume the best of him a long time ago.
That said, if Trump was making an overtly sexist comment about Gillibrand, it wouldn’t even be a first for her.
In fact, you could argue that former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said worse about Gillibrand in 2010 when he said she was the “hottest” U.S. senator.
Remember that?
It was seven years ago at a fundraiser for then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg that Reid made Gillibrand blush with his offhand remark about her looks.
“[M]any senators are known for many things,” Reid reportedly told the room.
He then turned to Gillibrand and said, “We in the Senate refer to Sen. Gillibrand as the hottest member.”
Reid’s comment reportedly caused “a stir” with the crowd he was addressing.
Reid’s spokesman defended his boss at the time by saying, “What can I say, she made The Hill’s ‘Most Beautiful’ list. Of course, he also went on to praise her skill and tenacity and described her as an effective member of the New York delegation as well.”
Uh-huh. That’s about as convincing a defense as the one being mounted right now for Trump.
If nothing else, a Trump defender can at least say the president’s Tuesday tweet is cloaked enough as to leave him wiggle room to deny he was being sexist or overtly sexual. Reid, on the other hand, just came right out and flew his sexist flag high.
To be clear, this is a defense of neither Trump nor Reid. It’s merely to note everyone is awful, all the time, including Sen. Gillibrand, who, funnily enough, really is a shameless and craven opportunist.
God bless U.S. politics.
