He has to stop, but he won’t
Sen. Susan Collins is right. After President Donald Trump’s vulgar tweet Thursday morning that TV and radio host Mika Brzezinski (“low I.Q. crazy Mika,” according to Trump) was “bleeding badly from a facelift” while staying at Mar-a-Lago, the Republican senator from Maine said, “This has to stop. We don’t have to get along, but we must show respect and civility.”
She was talking about the president of her own party. Shame on him.
Trump denies he has a problem with women, and then he turns around and makes clear just how big a problem he does have. Disrespect. Objectification. Vulgarity. Knee-jerk animosity.
This is the man who called former CEO and presidential candidate Carly Fiorina “ugly,” the man who doesn’t need to ask but just grabs women by their private parts, the man who responds to criticism of him with comments about a woman’s menstrual cycle.
Brzezinski can take care of herself. She has a microphone and a Twitter account as well. And in response to the president’s attack, she hit back on his level, posting a picture of a box of Cheerios with the slogan “Made For Little Hands,” a reference to the president’s supposed sensitivity about the size of his.
Touche for Mika, who is in the media business — another strike against a president who is supposed to be in a different business. Is this really how he thinks he is going to win Susan Collins’ vote to give tax cuts to the richest Americans and take health care away from millions of the oldest and neediest?
Republicans were all over him on Thursday, and the only ones defending him were on his payroll.
“Obviously, I don’t see that as an appropriate comment,” Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said. Sen. Lindsey Graham took to Twitter himself: “Mr. President, your tweet was beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America.”
I don’t care what Joe Scarborough and Brzezinski have said about the president on their MSNBC show, “Morning Joe.” He should not be responding like a blogger from Breitbart.
If Collins gets that, and the speaker of the house gets it, and Republican Sen. Graham gets it, why doesn’t President Trump?
The answer, of course, is that he does. He knows that neither George W. Bush nor George H.W. Bush would ever make that kind of public statement, nor would Ronald Reagan, nor would any of the Republican Party’s past presidents or nominees. This is Politics 101. This behavior demeans the presidency.
But this president doesn’t think he needs to emulate his predecessors. He doesn’t need to “behave” like other presidents.
The rules don’t apply to him.
He knows them, and he chooses to ignore them.
He is above it all. At least in his own mind. At least so far as the courts and Congress will let him be.
Collins is right that it has to stop. It is bad for America, bad for our position in the world, bad for policy and for politics, and it’s a horribly bad lesson for the next generation. Being president of the United States is different than being the host of a reality show, where you have to keep things hot. It is not the same as being the nameplate for a luxury brand that celebrates excess. The temperature in politics, and in public discourse, is way too high right now, and it’s just making everything uglier and more difficult. The swamp isn’t getting drained; it’s being filled with toxic waste.
But this much should be clear by now: President Trump has been told to stop with the tweets. He has no doubt heard, more times than he would care to, about being “presidential.” I am sure his daughter Ivanka has advised him about the way he talks about women. He has heard the advice. He knows the rules. He chooses to reject that advice and to disregard the rules of civility. These are his choices — not the fault of his beleaguered staff. He has to stop. But he won’t.
The fish rots from the head.
Susan Estrich is syndicated by Creators Syndicate.