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.
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However, things didn’t go exactly according to plan.
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.
In Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena, President Trump held what has been described as a “Merry Christmas” rally.
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.”
In particular, he singled her out for voting in favor of his impeachment.
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.
Trump reportedly went on to say that part of said treatment involved opening the Capitol Building rotunda for his memorial.
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.
It is also worth noting that Congress controls how the rotunda is used, not the president.
Meaning that whatever President Trump may have said he did is likely, um, not true.
In any case, Trump said that his treatment of Dingell’s memory inspired an emotional phone call from Debbie Dingell.
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.
After sharing that conversation snippet, however, Trump said, “Maybe he’s looking up, I don’t know.”
The implication here being that John Dingell would be looking up from Hell.
After uproarious laughter and cheers from his gathered supporters, Trump tried to backtrack.
“But let’s assume he’s looking down,” he said, downplaying what he had implied just before.
Before the night was out, Debbie Dingell responded with the tweet shown here.
Trump’s “looking up” statement was also condemned by other politicians including Presidential Candidate Joe Biden and Michigan GOP representative Paul Mitchell.
Mitchell and other Michigan lawmakers have called for an apology from the president.
A clip depicting the joke in question and the crowd’s reaction to it are available here.
