Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionSpeaker Nancy Pelosi swears-in new
representative Rashida Tlaib
US House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi Speaker has shrugged off a new lawmaker’s use of a
profane epithet to assail President Donald Trump.
Democrat Rashida Tlaib courted controversy when she used
explicit language while calling for the president’s
impeachment.
Ms Pelosi on Thursday said while she would not use such
language, it was no worse than things Mr Trump has said.
The controversy comes amid renewed talk of impeachment among
lawmakers.
The Republican president called her comments “highly
disrespectful” to the US in a news conference on Friday.
“I thought her comments were disgraceful. This is a person I
don’t know, I assume she’s new,” he told reporters.
“I think she dishonoured herself and dishonoured her family
using language like that in front of her son and whoever else was
there.”
When asked about her call for impeachment, Mr Trump responded:
“You can’t impeach somebody that’s doing a great job that’s the way
I view it.”
Earlier on Friday, he tweeted that his political enemies only
want to remove him from office because he is “the most
successful”.
What did Ms Tlaib say?
Michigan’s Ms Tlaib made the remark to supporters at a reception
hours after she was sworn in on Thursday as one of the first two
Muslim women members of Congress.
“People love you and you win,” she said. “And when your son
looks at you and says, ‘Momma, look you won. Bullies don’t win.’
And I said, ‘Baby, they don’t.’”
She added that they would impeach Mr Trump, using a profane term
to describe him.
Ms Tlaib had also co-authored an
opinion piece calling for impeachment[1] that was published
in the Detroit Free Press earlier on Thursday.
On Friday, she was unapologetic about the furore over her
remark.
The new congresswoman took her oath of office using a family
Koran while wearing a traditional garment stitched by her
Palestinian-born mother.
Palestinian dress worn in
new US Congress[2]
What did Pelosi say?
Speaking at an MSNBC town hall on Friday, Ms Pelosi said while
she may have a “generational reaction” to the language, she is “not
in the censorship business”.
“I don’t like that language, I wouldn’t use that language, but I
wouldn’t establish any language standards for my colleagues.
“But I don’t think it’s anything worse than what the president
has said.”
On impeachment, Ms Pelosi has been cautious, saying Democrats
must “wait and see” what happens with special counsel Robert
Mueller’s inquiry into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US
election.
Mr Trump told reporters on Friday Ms Pelosi assured him in
budget negotiations that House Democrats were not looking to
impeach him.
to impeach a president?
What did other Democrats
say?
A number of Democratic congressmen rebuked the new lawmaker.
Civil rights icon John Lewis said Ms Tlaib’s comments were
“inappropriate” and “distracting”. The Georgia congressman also
said talk of impeachment was “a little premature”.
Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri said: “What she said yesterday was
wrong. Wrong is wrong.”
Jerry Nadler of New York told CNN: “I don’t really like that
kind of language, but more to the point it is too early to talk
about [impeachment] intelligently.”
But Ms Tlaib is not the only hardline Democrat to call for Mr
Trump’s removal from office.
Brad Sherman of California and Al Green of Texas on Thursday
reintroduced articles of impeachment against the president.
Mr Sherman responded to claims that impeachment talks were
distracting from the shutdown battle by saying: “Does it compete
for attention? Yes. So do the Lakers’ games,” the Associated Press
reported[3].
As for Ms Tlaib’s controversial language, much like Ms Pelosi,
California congresswoman Maxine Waters said Mr Trump was
responsible for starting all the incivility.
“He’s opened up a new way of talking, a new way of addressing
these issues in ways that we never heard before,” Ms Waters
said, according to The Hill[4].
“That gives others the permission to speak passionately about it
in the same manner that he has done.”
moments as new US Congress opens
Itching for a fight
Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News,
Washington
The newly elected Democrats in the House of Representatives
don’t look like the membership of past Congresses. It appears they
won’t sound like them, either.
While the party elders, from Nancy Pelosi on down, are preaching
restraint and patience with their newly gained power, the rank and
file may have different ideas. They are itching for a fight, and
they’re more than willing to let everyone know.
Rashida Tlaib, with her obscenity laced call for the president’s
impeachment Thursday night, only drives that point home.
Ms Pelosi has earned a reputation as a skilled manager and
tactician, but she must now walk a fine line in expressing
disapproval of Ms Tlaib’s remarks – which could complicate ongoing
negotiations with Republicans over the budget – while acknowledging
the power of the sentiments that they reflect. This will only be
the first test of her ability to bridge the generational, strategic
and stylistic divides within her party.
The reality, however, is that the civility ship has long since
sailed in American politics. Donald Trump did not win the
presidency by following the rules and norms of discourse, and the
new Democrats appear more than ready to join the fray on his terms,
whether Ms Pelosi wants them to or not.
How did Republicans react?
Republicans were quick to condemn the remarks.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Ms Pelosi ought to
make clear to Ms Tlaib that such language is unacceptable.
“I think this is a role as a leader and a speaker to have a
conversation with this member,” he told reporters on Friday.
“Are the House majority going to be serious about anything?”
References
- ^
an opinion piece calling for
impeachment (www.freep.com) - ^
Palestinian dress worn in new US
Congress (www.bbc.com) - ^
the Associated Press reported
(www.apnews.com) - ^
according to The Hill
(thehill.com)