At a rally at the Mayo Civic Center (apt name) in Rochester, MN, Thursday night, President Donald Trump mocked former Democratic Sen. Al Franken—not for the sexual harassment allegations that ended Franken’s career, but for Franken’s decision to resign after his party all but forced him out.
Trump, who was campaigning for Republican Karin Housley, the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in the special election against Sen. Tina Smith, said “no one knows who the hell [Smith] is” before starting on Franken.
“She took a wacky guy’s place, he was wacky,” Trump said. “Boy did he fold up like a wet rag.”
“It was like, ‘Oh, he did something,’ ‘Oh I resign. I quit,’” Trump added eloquently.
Last November, Franken was accused by news anchor Leeann Tweeden of groping her and trying to force her to kiss him during a USO tour in 2006. Before Franken ultimately resigned in December, seven more women had come forward to accuse him of groping them or attempting to forcibly kiss them. At the time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also said that Franken should resign, which is bizarre to read just as McConnell officially begins his attempt to ram through a Supreme Court nominee who’s been accused of sexual assault.
It should be noted that not every Democrat was happy with Franken’s resignation. HuffPost reported in August that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the first senator to call for Franken’s resignation, had lost the support of some liberal donors, namely George Soros, for her willingness to speak out against a member of her own party. Franken, because time is a flat circle, was last spotted writing a USA Today op-ed about Republican hypocrisy during the first round of hearings for the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.
Apart from Kavanaugh, Trump himself has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least 19 different women. So, maybe he should take a hint from Franken.