President Trump has been tweeting up a storm Friday morning as the House holds its second televised day of impeachment hearings, and in one tweet attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi he refers to her "District of San Francisco" as a "dangerous & disgusting Slum."
Say what you will about the open-air drug use and general insanity of mid-Market and Tenderloin, but can we all agree San Francisco isn't exactly a "slum"? Also, it's not so dangerous — the homicide rate is set to hit a historic low this year!
But here I am trying to respond rationally to our irrational, petulant president, who was just doing all he knows how to do as the public phase of the impeachment inquiry ramps up. Trump seemed to be echoing the misinformed accusations he previously made in September, along with his EPA chief Andrew Wheeler, about homeless feces and hypodermic needles getting systematically dumped into the ocean.
......filth pouring into the Pacific Ocean is rapidly becoming an environmental hazard, is getting NOTHING DONE. She is a Do Nothing Democrat as Speaker, and will hopefully not be in that position very long. Approve USMCA, which has been sitting on her desk for months!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
This Twitter activity came barely an hour before Trump used the platform to attack one of today's hearing witnesses, career diplomat Marie Yovanovich. Trump appears to be justifying why Yovanovich was removed from her post, but Rep. Adam Schiff took a moment out from the hearings to react in real time to the president's tweets, calling them witness intimidation.
Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
....They call it “serving at the pleasure of the President.” The U.S. now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. It is called, quite simply, America First! With all of that, however, I have done FAR more for Ukraine than O.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
Asked to respond, in real time, to the president's commentary on Twitter, Yovanovich said, "I actually think that where I served over the years, I and others have demonstrably made things better for the US as well as for the countries that I've served in."
Schiff said that Trump choosing to attack witnesses as they testify, and he told Yovanovich, "I want to let you know, ambassador, that some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously."
As New York Magazine writes, "Schiff’s reading of Trump’s tweets was the most dramatic moment yet in the impeachment hearings, which were criticized early this week for lacking pizzazz. But Yovanovitch was already a compelling witness and Trump’s attack only made her seem more sympathetic, and him more petulant."
Yovanovitch responds to Trump attacking her on Twitter as she testifies before Congress: "I actually think that where I served over the years, I and others have demonstrably made things better for the US as well as for the countries that I've served in." pic.twitter.com/TCDXY3pzfP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 15, 2019
Schiff on Trump attacking witnesses as they testify before impeachment investigators: "I want to let you know, ambassador, that some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously." pic.twitter.com/JLT9yN57cc
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 15, 2019
I still can't believe I'm actually awake and this is the world we live in.
Photo: Michael Vadon/Wikimedia
