Here it is: GOP Rep. Carter, asked about Murkowski: “Somebody needs to go over there to that Senate and snatch a knot in their ass.” @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/1CVcENn9Kq
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 26, 2017
It’s not often you have to decipher what our Senators have to say by looking their terminology up on Urban Dictionary, but that’s what many had to do after representative Buddy Carter made a strange remark about Senator Lisa Murkowski’s refusal to vote for reopening the discussion on healthcare reform. She was one of two female GOP senators who defected from the party line and has already been subject to multiple call outs by President Trump for her refusal to push the Better Care Reconciliation Act forward.
The exact phrase Carter used was that someone should “snatch a knot in their ass,” referring to Senator Murkowski. The phrase, according to Urban Dictionary, means “to hit someone, usually used in a threat of punishment or retribution.” Carter’s comment, made in an MSNBC interview, suggests that physical violence is the best way to keep lawmakers in line.
Carter indicated that the source of his frustration was the rejection of a bill he himself, along with many other Republican lawmakers, put many hours into. He explained, “I serve on the healthcare subcommittee. We met for twenty-seven and a half hours to come up with the American Healthcare Act. The American Healthcare Act is a good bill. It needs to be voted on. It needs to pass.”
This isn’t the only violent statement that has come out of the healthcare debate. On Monday, Texas representative Blake Farenthold said of the few who defected, “Some of the people that are opposed to this, there are female senators from the Northeast … If it was a guy from South Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.” Aaron Burr, third vice president of the United States, shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804 over comments Hamilton made that suggested Burr was unfit for politics. But for those who took this seriously, Farenthold assures listeners that his comments were “clearly tongue in cheek.”
In the last three days, Republican men in the house have threatened their female senate colleagues with shooting and beating. https://t.co/6OamaCo6lv
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 26, 2017
As Chris Hayes of MSNBC pointed out, that adds up to a troubling trend of violent rhetoric against female lawmakers who oppose Trump’s healthcare agenda. This comes after Trump commented that Murkowski “really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!” It looks like the President might not have to ramp up his attacks on Murkowski the way he did on Hillary Clinton and Mika Brzezinski, not to mention his recent tear into Jeff Sessions, given the way his Congressional allies are running with the rule of thumb.
(Via The Hill)