Why The Interior Secretary's Daughter Called Donald Trump A 'Know-Nothing Piece Of S**t'
In a heartfelt and, frankly, kick-ass rebuke, the daughter of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called Donald Trump a “disgrace” in an Instagram post and said he should “shut the fuck up” before going on to label him a “know-nothing, never-served, piece of shit.”
Yep, it’s downright shocking ― and certainly a first ― to see that kind of language coming from the daughter of a cabinet secretary about the president of the United States. But while her words may be a bit harsh for some, Jennifer Detlefsen’s sentiment is right on.
She’s a U.S. Navy veteran (as is her father, who is a former Navy seal). And she is outraged about Donald Trump’s ban on transgender troops. She clearly saw the president making an attack on her brothers and sisters who served alongside her, a vicious assault on men and women in the military. And she just had to speak out.
Detlefsen, on July 26, posted a National Public Radio article about the ban to her account, and then commented: “This man is a disgrace. I’ve tried to keep politics out of my social media feed as much as possible, but this is inexcusable. This veteran says sit down and shut the fuck up, you know-nothing, never-served piece of shit. #itmfa #wtf”
A post shared by Jennifer Detlefsen (@jendetlefsen) on
The hastag #itmfa stands for, “Impeach the mother-fucker already.”
The post didn’t begin going viral until last week, when Trump signed a memo on Friday ordering the ban and sent it to Defense Secretary Mattis. Detlefsen’s post was picked up by LGBT sites, the Billings Gazette (Zinke is a former GOP House member from Montana), CNN and other outlets.
Detlefsen, a Virginia based glass artist whose work is mostly in the color pink, declined an interview to CNN, but did send a statement:
My views are my own and not at all related to my father’s position; millions of other people have said the same as I did, and more eloquently. The thousands of transgender military service members who are under attack by this administration are the ones who should be given a chance to have their voices heard.
That’s pretty amazing. Detlefsen could have backed down, or removed the post. But instead, she doubled down about the “attack” on trans service members by this administration, and and kept her post up.
The office of the interior secretary also had no comment to CNN, which is startling itself, considering the strong language of the secretary’s own daughter about his boss. Add to that the fact that within the past week: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump only “speaks for himself” on American values; Defense Secretary Mattis appeared to rebuke Trump while speaking to troops in Jordan, telling them to “hold the line” until our country gets back to normal; and Trump’s economic adviser, Gary Cohn publicly chastised Trump for his Charlottesville comments.
We’ve been told by his supporters ― and even by White House staffers, like Kellyanne Conway ― that Trump is such a tough guy and hits back at anyone who attacks him. Then why, as he’s continues to sink in the polls, is he now letting his cabinet secretaries, his advisers and their families criticize him publicly, sometimes very harshly?
Whatever the reason, the criticisms are a testament to how even those around Trump, and their family members, are getting very concerned about his behavior, enough to go public.
Jennifer Detlefson, who said in her post that she “tried to keep politics” out of her social media feeds, could have remained silent. She had to know that speaking out would get a lot of attention and could bring ramifications. And for that reason she’s a hero to LGBTQ people.
Follow Michelangelo Signorile on Twitter: www.twitter.com/msignorile
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
