House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has called on Twitter to ban Oregon congressional candidate Mark Roberts from its social media platform after Roberts shockingly referred to first lady Melania Trump as a “hoebag” in a crude tweet.
Roberts was replying to a tweet Monday afternoon that read, “Did you know: There are 39 fewer staffers dedicated to The First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) than under Obama — there are only five staffers dedicated to Melania Trump vs. 44 staffers who served Michelle Obama.”
Shockingly, Roberts tweeted back in response,”Did you know the First Lady works by the hour? #thinkdirty #hoebag.”
That awful comment about Melania Trump prompted McCarthy to tweet to CEO Jack Dorsey late Monday night: “@Jack this attack on @FLOTUS is disgraceful. Comments like these have no business on any platform. This account should be banned ASAP.”
Roberts, a political independent who calls himself a conservative on his Twitter handle, has a very strange Twitter presence — he refers to himself, for example, as a “superfan” of Bravo network television personality Andy Cohen.
This “candidate” — one wonders if he’s truly serious, after all — roundly deserves to be banned from Twitter for disparaging our first lady, or any first lady of our nation for that matter.
Whoa dude where’s my car. Will I finally get the congratulatory tweet from @Andy I’ve been waiting for? #Bravo https://t.co/aFdcVhLCpY
— Mark Roberts (@RobertsforCD2) July 31, 2018
Sadly, in today’s coarsening society, even our remarkable and hard-working first ladies are the targets of people with a Twitter account or other megaphones or microphones at their disposal. Randa Jarrar, an associate professor of English at Fresno State University in California, this year disparaged first lady Barbara Bush immediately after Mrs. Bush’s death, calling her “an amazing racist” and “a war criminal” — even as tributes poured in for the deceased first lady.
Unfortunately, outrageous and disgusting comments get attention on social media — but that doesn’t make them right or fair or acceptable.
Roberts, meanwhile, seemed to revel in the disapproval of others.
Twitter users of all stripes disavowed the politician’s out-of-line words. “And for the record I’m a moderate and did not vote for Trump,” tweeted one person. “This is not a political stance I’m taking here. This is a ‘you don’t belong in public office representing anyone’ stance.”
Another tweeted, “Wow no class Mark. You’re definitely using liberal tactics and it makes me wonder if you really are a conservative at all. You have no game so you have to make a sensational statement by calling Flotus names.”
Wow no class Mark. You’re definitely using liberal tactics and it makes me wonder if you really are a conservative at all. You have no game so you have to make a sensational statement by calling Flotus names.
— Lisa Milicaj ? (@Lisa_Milicaj) July 31, 2018
“Twitter is good for lots of things, but it’s really bad for even more things,” one 21-year-old Boston-area college student said to LifeZette. “It’s [become] a sort of cesspool where everyone has a say — even high-profile people are getting more ‘out there,’ pushing the edges.”
This insightful student also noted that “basic character seems to be changing, from a quiet intention, I guess, to make the world better, to, ‘Look at me, see how many likes and retweets I can get.’ I think it’s a psychological addiction for some personality types.”
One hopes that McCarthy, who is running to replace Paul Ryan as speaker of the House, will get an answer from Twitter CEO Dorsey — or at least some movement on his request to ban Roberts.
.@jack this attack on @FLOTUS is disgraceful. Comments like these have no business on any platform. This account should be banned ASAP. https://t.co/sIGO4ggeAM
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) July 31, 2018
Laura Ingraham, host of “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News and a co-founder of LifeZette, also called on Dorsey to ban Roberts, tweeting, “Why has @jack not taken this tweet down and suspended the account?”
Let the donations begin in 3 2 1.. https://t.co/LYb3obxraT
— Mark Roberts (@RobertsforCD2) July 31, 2018
As of this writing, Mark Roberts’ Twitter account appears active.
And others on social media, meanwhile, are still complaining about Roberts’ despicable comments about Melania Trump.
I feel bad for you mark Roberts how dare you show disrespect to the First Lady like that! Disgusting.
— Travis Tygart (@JuicyT55) July 31, 2018
This Mark Roberts, who is running for Oregon, should not even be ELECTED! For someone to say such thing's about Our FLOTUS like that, that should tell you what he's about, NO VOTE, EVERYONE! Take down HIS TWEET! I'm a Oregonian ; )
— Anderson Robyn (@Robyn4Trump2020) July 31, 2018
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