Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Thursday took to Twitter to push back against Trump supporters “offended” by President-elect Joe Biden’s former campaign manager cursing when talking about GOP lawmakers in a recent interview.
Republicans took aim at incoming deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon after she called GOP lawmakers “a bunch of f—ers” and said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is “terrible” in an interview published by Glamour on Tuesday.
Clinton responded to the criticism in a tweet Thursday, writing, “People who stood by Donald Trump for the last four years are now claiming to be offended that a Democratic campaign manager used a curse word? I don’t think so.”
Users who responded to Clinton’s tweet were quick to point out Trump’s past use of explicit language, especially in a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video clip which surfaced weeks before the 2016 election in which he bragged about kissing and groping women without their consent.
Others on Twitter have also vocalized their grievances with the attention placed on O’Malley Dillon’s remarks, including NBC and MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle, who wrote that more focus should instead be given to the people who have lost jobs during the coronavirus pandemic and that “Over 300,000 Americans have died from COVID.”
Biden spokeswoman and incoming White House communications director Kate Bedingfield on Wednesday also defended O’Malley Dillon, writing in a tweet, “so @jomalleydillon would be the first to tell you her mom doesn’t approve of the spicy language, but I would be the first to tell you that the point she was making in this conversation with @GlennonDoyle is spot on: unity and healing are possible — and we can get things done.”
During the Glamour interview, O’Malley Dillon defended Biden from criticism within his own party over his insistence that Republicans would warm to the idea of working with him.
“In the primary, people would mock him, like, ‘You think you can work with Republicans?’ I’m not saying they’re not a bunch of f—ers. Mitch McConnell is terrible. But this sense that you couldn’t wish for that, you couldn’t wish for this bipartisan ideal? He rejected that,” she told Glennon Doyle.
O’Malley Dillon continued, saying that the former vice president, “Set out with this idea that unity was possible, that together we are stronger, that we, as a country, need healing, and our politics needs that too.”
Despite the support O’Malley Dillon has received from fellow Democrats, Axios reported Wednesday afternoon that some advisers close to Biden were frustrated over the Glamour interview.
“For those of us who, from Day One, bought into Biden’s calls for civility and a return to normalcy, this isn’t just beyond the pale — it’s plain stupid,” one Biden donor told Axios.
The news outlet also reported that some donors want O’Malley Dillon to apologize to both Biden and congressional Republicans.