Donald Trump has moved on from mocking Christine Blasey Ford. Now he is calling out protestors who confronted Senators over Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination as “paid professionals.”
The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it! Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love! #Troublemakers
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2018
Hmmm, perhaps Trump got the idea for that tweet after watching this segment on Fox Business Network?
Maria Bartiromo asked Chuck Grassley this morning if he thinks George Soros is paying the elevator protesters. "I have heard so many people believe that. I tend to believe it," Grassley said. Trump tweeted the accusation about 80 minutes later pic.twitter.com/az8QtMZwma
— Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) October 5, 2018
The protesters-paid-for-by-Soros theory has been a popular one among conspiracy-minded conservatives since Trump’s election. Trump himself has promoted the theory in the past, but it is possibly surprising that he chose to question the relatively small elevator protests rather than the thousands who marched to the Capitol on Thursday. Instead, by dismissing the professed survivors of sexual assault as liars, he took the theory into new territory.
One of the women who confronted Senator Jeff Flake outside an elevator last week is reacting to Trump’s tweet saying:
“No one can pay for someone’s lived experiences. The pain, the trauma, and the rage that I expressed when I spoke with Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator were my own, and I held it for more than 30 years to protect the people I love from it.”
Statement from Ana Maria Archila — the woman who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator last week — responding to Donald Trump's morning tweet pic.twitter.com/X40bxPfC9M
— Mary Ann Georgantopoulos (@marygeorgant) October 5, 2018
Of course, Trump’s tweet isn’t just a slap in the face to sexual abuse victims, it’s also hypocritical.
Just a reminder that President Elevator Screamers hired actors to cheer at his campaign announcement—then stiffed them on the bill until a complaint was filed with the FEC. https://t.co/yRF9cpE92l
— Jason Pinter (@jasonpinter) October 5, 2018