President Trump managed to reach a new low during a campaign rally in Mississippi Tuesday night, where he openly mocked Christine Blasey Ford, who says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when she was 15 and he was 17.
Trump expressed the kind of crude skepticism and misogynist resentment about Ford that had previously been left to Fox News hosts and your very worst uncle (and also Donald Trump while talking about other women). He mischaracterized Ford’s testimony about the alleged assault and was incredulous toward her claim that she only had one beer.
In response, the crowd cheered enthusiastically and women raised their “Women for Trump” signs above their heads.
I had one beer! I had one beer. Well, you think it was—? Nope—one beer!
How did you get home? I don’t remember. How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember. How many years ago was it? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know! I don’t know!
The crowd laughed and applauded. Trump continued.
What neighborhood was it in? I don’t know. Where’s the house? I don’t know. Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? I don’t know, but I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember.
Days earlier, Trump said Ford was a “credible witness” and said her testimony was “compelling.”
On Tuesday, Trump’s tone took a somber turn as he waxed poetic of Kavanaugh’s plight. “And a man’s life is in tatters,” Trump said, gravely. “A man’s life is shattered. His wife is shattered, his daughters—who are beautiful, incredible young kids—they [Democrats] destroy people. They want to destroy people. These are really evil people.”
Ford’s attorney, Michael Bromwich, tweeted the following statement in response to the president’s tirade: “A vicious, vile and soulless attack on Dr. Ford. Is it any wonder that she was terrified to come forward, and that other sexual assault survivors are as well? She is a remarkable profile in courage. He is a profile in cowardice.”
Politicians have also come out to denounce Trump’s statement, from senate hopeful Beto O’Rourke to New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio.
Senator Mazie Hirono, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was unsurprised by Trump’s comments. She told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “this is what he does.”
“We can always count on the president to go down to the lowest common denominator: Mock people, call people names, attack them,” said Hirono. “The thing that Dr. Ford did remember with 100 percent recollection was that it was Brett Kavanaugh who attacked her”
Lame duck Republican senator Jeff Flake spoke with the Today Show about Trump’s comments, calling them “appalling.”
“There’s no time and no place for remarks like that,” said Flake. “But to discuss something this sensitive at a political rally is just not right, it’s just not right. I wish he hadn’t done it.”
Powerful as usual, Jeff.