'Something is wrong inside you': Ex-Trump aide unleashes on MAGA senator
The co-hosts of "The View" opened Tuesday by continuing discussions about the assassination of Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota over the weekend — and their shock over the way some Republicans have responded.
Minnesota's Sen. Tina Smith (D) confronted colleague Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on Monday over his comments on X, implying that the assassin was a leftist and linked to Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN).
"This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way," Lee wrote in a post that was still on his account Tuesday.
Lee also parroted tech billionaire Elon Musk, who claimed that the left was "murderously violent." A friend of the alleged shooter told CNN that he was very supportive of President Donald Trump. The friend told CBS News that the suspect would "be offended if people called him a Democrat." Prosecutors claim he had a hit list that included "mostly or all Democrats."
"You're the problem," said "The View's" Sara Haines about Lee.
"I see a lot in the show, how is social media hurting our young people," began Alyssa Farah Griffin, President Donald Trump's former communications director. "But I want to ask, how is social media hurting 54-year-old U.S. senators?"
"The best I can deduce with Sen. Mike Lee is that he has more of a desire for clicks and for re-tweets and to feed the far-right base he relies on than to have humanity in light of a tragedy happening," she continued. "When you hear that people die, if your first instinct in your heart is, 'Ooo, what can I do to get some re-tweets out of this? How can I feed the base?' Something is wrong inside you."
She said that Smith's staff also reached out to Lee staff with their own comments.
"Why would you use the awesome power of a United States Senator's office to compound on people's grief? Is this how your team measures success? Using the office of a U.S. senator to post not just one but a series of jokes about an assassination?" a statement from the deputy chief of staff said.
It goes on to say that the victim "was a force, a human being, and I beg you to exercise some restraint on social media."
"What are we doing?" asked Griffin. "We wouldn't let our kids react to a tragedy this way, but a United States senator can for clicks."
Sonny Hostin agreed, saying she would be "horrified" if one of her children did something like that on social media.