During his Sunday tweetstorm, Donald Trump alluded to the Civil War by posting a quote from Pastor Robert Jeffress that warned that the president’s removal from office would spark a similar conflict. The tweet drew criticism from many , including Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who called the comment “beyond repugnant.”
On Monday, progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared her thoughts on the controversial comment and expressed an equal amount of disgust.
“I truly can think of few things less patriotic, more cowardly, and plainly pathetic + reckless than amplifying calls for civil war within your own country. This President has never been interested in leading. He’s interested in consolidating power with a cult of personality,” she tweeted .
Trump also went on a Twitter rampage on Saturday and mentioned Ocasio-Cortez . He suggested that — along with Jerrold Nadler and Adam Schiff — Ocasio-Cortez is a “savage” and wondered what would have happened if former president Barack Obama was attacked by Republicans.
Although social media outbursts are not out of the ordinary for Trump, his recent comments are a direct result of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of formal impeachment proceedings. The process was sparked by Trump’s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which, according to a whistleblower, he allegedly attempted to bribe Zelensky to dig up dirt on Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Dear #Trump ’sters: just read this from the #Ukraine call #transcript . What he said is clear: ‘You need money, I have money…& I need a favor.’ This is an outrageous abuse of power & extortion of an ally who’s desperately fighting a war with our enemy #Russia . This is ok w/you? pic.twitter.com/SoJkHIXD49
— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) September 30, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez previously criticized Republicans who haven’t taken the time to read the whistleblower complaint on Trump’s phone call, Business Insider reports.
“There is almost no excuse for a member of Congress to have not read the whistleblower report by now,” she tweeted. “It’s a few pages. This is literally our jobs. If you don’t have the commitment to be here and do the work, cut your fancy fundraisers & make the time, or quit.”
According to the report, White House officials were alarmed by Trump’s conversation with Zelensky — so much so that they attempted to bury the transcript of the call on a secure server that is only accessible to a few members of the U.S. government.
The scandal surrounding Trump doesn’t end with Ukraine, either. On Monday, The New York Times reported Trump is also being accused of attempting to pressure Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to work with Attorney General William Barr to discredit Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. According to two U.S. officials familiar with the call, Trump’s phone called echoed his call with Zelensky.
Mueller’s report concluded that Trump’s campaign did not collude with Russia to interfere with the election and did not find sufficient evidence for obstruction of justice charges against the president. However, Mueller stopped short of exonerating Trump.