The Republican Party Is All But Fundraising On Trump’s Sexist Smear Of Kirsten Gillibrand

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet.

On Tuesday morning, as thousands of Alabama voters cast their ballots for a Republican candidate accused of sexually abusing multiple teenage girls decades ago, Donald Trump launched a Twitter strike on one of the most prominent female politicians in the country. Now, the Republican Party is using his sexist smear to help raise money for the RNC.

Whereas Trump’s tweets about Hillary Clinton have largely focused on allegations of corruption, his latest assault on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was distinctly sexual in nature.

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. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017

Just what exactly did the president of the United States mean by that parenthetical? Republicans can’t say. Sen. Bob Corker insists he hasn’t seen the tweet, and when asked if he cared to read it, declined. “I don’t know that I want you to show it to me,” he told reporters later in the day. “I can’t respond if I don’t know anything about it.”

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) sounded as though she’d just as soon walk into a cornfield than answer questions about the president’s activity on social media. “I’m sorry, I don’t follow his Twitter,” she told Igor Bobic of HuffPost. Like Corker, Ernst was also offered the chance to see Trump’s tweet. And like Corker, she refused: “No, I would rather not. Thank you.”

As of this writing, not a single Republican senator has condemned the president for insinuating that one of their Democratic colleagues offered to perform sexual favors in exchange for campaign contributions.

The GOP’s silence is galling if entirely unsurprising. This is the same party, after all, that reversed its decision to cut off funding to Roy Moore’s senate campaign after seven women came forward with allegations of harassment and abuse—a decision that ultimately led an RNC committee member to resign in disgust. (Trump himself has been accused of sexual misconduct by 19 women and counting.) Still, it was jarring to see the RNC piggyback on the president’s disgusting remarks with an attack of its own.

Inbox: “The Gillibrand Grift.”

The RNC blasts out its opposition research points on Sen. Gillibrand after Trump’s sexually suggestive tweet about her.

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) December 12, 2017

The RNC’s hits on Sen. Gillibrand are that she has shifted positions on a number of issues, which she has.

So has Trump.

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) December 12, 2017

Watch as the GOP attempts to use the *exact same script* they used on HRC on Gillibrand. https://t.co/DAFqKVB5v9

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 12, 2017

Earlier this week, Trump recorded a robocall for Moore ahead of Tuesday’s special election. “Hi, this is President Donald Trump and I need Alabama to go vote for Roy Moore,” the recording began. “It is so important. We’re already making America great again.”