Yesterday saw most of the Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives make the historic decision to formally impeach President Donald Trump.
While the debate and vote were underway, however, Trump paid a visit to Battle Creek, Michigan for one of his many political rallies. As usual, he made a speech to the crowd of supporters gathered around him, but this one included an aside that carried particular relevance for the region.
The reception of his statements among attendees was not mirrored by the public at large due to a joke at a dead congressman's expense.
According to The Detroit Free Press, he took a moment to address a Democratic representative from Dearborn, Michigan named Debbie Dingell.
As he said, "You have Dingell from Michigan, have you ever heard of her? Debbie Dingell, that’s a real beauty."
What apparently set her apart from the other 229 representatives that did the same concerned the "A-plus" treatment that he claimed to give her husband, John Dingell after his death in February.
As The Detroit Free Press reported, this claim led to some confusion as Dingell's remains apparently were not placed in the Capitol Building before his burial in Washington D.C. nor before his interment in the Arlington National Cemetery.
Meaning that whatever President Trump may have said he did is likely, um, not true.
As he said, "She called me up and said it was the nicest thing and John would have been so thrilled."
He then added that she said John Dingell would be looking down from Heaven at his memorial.
The implication here being that John Dingell would be looking up from Hell.
"But let's assume he's looking down," he said, downplaying what he had implied just before.
Trump's "looking up" statement was also condemned by other politicians including Presidential Candidate Joe Biden and Michigan GOP representative Paul Mitchell.
A clip depicting the joke in question and the crowd's reaction to it are available here.
