Lawrence O’Donnell destroyed the Trump White House for trying to save the job of serial wife beater Rob Porter.
Video:
Lawrence O'Donnell destroys the Trump White House for standing beside serial wife beater Rob Porter. #TheLastWord pic.twitter.com/Whe0zO6A1S
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 8, 2018
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
O’Donnell said in part, “So Rob Porter will go to work tomorrow in the White House, and we will pack his boxes. But he will take his place in that White House tomorrow beside John Kelly, working for a president whose first wife once accused him of rape, working for a president who is a self-confessed sexual assaulter who was caught on video bragging about his preferred methods of sexual assault. In other words, he will go to a White House where he fits in. And he will see his new girlfriend when he goes tomorrow because news organizations are reporting that Rob Porter is dating White House communications director Hope Hicks. That’s relevant because one of Hope Hicks’ duties was co-writing John Kelly’s statement about rob porter, with that in mind, co-written by the girlfriend, is worth reading once again. This is the statement of the White House chief of staff, defending a White House staff member against the charge of domestic abuse and it is a statement tonight that John Kelly says he still stands by and it was co-written by the accused man’s current girlfriend.”
Rob Porter would never have gotten a job in any other White House
Only a White House whose culture was established by having a serial sexual predator in the Oval Office would not only hire Rob Porter, but also promote him. If any other administration had such a high-level staffer accused of beating multiple women, it would have been a scandal that lasted for days or weeks. If a White House would have changed their story, or been reluctant to fire the man who committed acts of domestic violence the howls of scorn would have been volcanic, but in the Trump White House a man who commits crimes against women is a typical Wednesday.
This is how the bar has fallen. Trump has damaged the presidency to such a degree that the Rob Porter story doesn’t get the full attention that it deserves.
Lawrence O’Donnell was paying attention, and he gave the people who tried to keep a person like Rob Porter employed at the White House, the contempt, scorn, and disgust that they deserved.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
