Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is absolutely right about Donald Trump
New Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who was already receiving positive attention from the American mainstream for being a trailblazer, and negative attention from the far-right for being everything they fear, suddenly finds herself at the center of everyone’s attention thanks to the remarks she made last night about Donald Trump. Here’s the thing: she’s right about what she said, and given the circumstances, she’s right for having said it how she said it.
If you’ve been living under a rock today, Rashida Tlaib was captured on video last night saying that she and the Democrats are going to “impeach the motherfucker” in reference to Donald Trump. This prompted Trump supporters everywhere to immediately attack and condemn her, which is laughable when you consider what comes out of Trump’s mouth. It’s true that we shouldn’t stoop to Trump’s level, but that’s not what this is. Not at all.
Rashida Tlaib didn’t resort to some kind of bigoted attack aimed at hurting a demographic of people. She didn’t use slurs. She didn’t resort to making up lies. She simply used the most fierce and direct word possible to describe a guy who committed treason by conspiring with a foreign enemy to rig the election in his favor, and who is now illegally occupying that office while everyone tries to figure out how to oust him and put him in prison for it.
Tlaib isn’t cursing at Trump because she disagrees with him on a partisan or legislative issue; he’s a monstrous racist traitor who’s no different than the likes of Benedict Arnold or Osama Bin Laden, and she’s calling him out for what he is. As a freshman member of Congress who doesn’t hold a leadership position and therefore doesn’t have to represent her entire party when she speaks, Tlaib is in a position where she can say something like this and get away with it, so she should say it.
Democratic leaders are also responding to Rashida Tlaib’s words in a manner that’s appropriate for their roles. Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated today that she wouldn’t have said what Tlaib said, but she also pointed out that Donald Trump has said far worse. House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler said that it’s too early to be talking about impeachment. But in his role as the head of the committee where articles of impeachment originate, he should be saying that it’s too early to talk about impeachment until he’s actually bringing articles of impeachment – and yes, that’s coming.
Political parties need their leaders to choose their words carefully, and at times they need their rank and file members to serve as firebrands. Rashida Tlaib just took a flamethrower to Donald Trump, and she did the right thing. The reality is that Trump is precisely what Tlaib said he is. Pelosi can’t curse at Trump without creating a scandal for the entire Democratic House. Nadler can’t talk about impeachment yet without potentially screwing up the impeachment process But Tlaib can, and she just did, and good for her.
