When Donald Trump signed an executive order late last month that banned Syrian refugees and the nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the country, it was enough to move Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to tears.
Sen. Schumer, fighting back tears: “This executive order was mean-spirited and un-American… It must be reversed” https://t.co/dxZ3XtJV7H pic.twitter.com/6hUlVkRVoG
— CNN (@CNN) January 30, 2017
Trump later made fun of Schumer’s emotions and called them “fake tears,” and Schumer, whose great-grandmother was murdered during the Holocaust, responded by saying that name-calling wasn’t going to help solve the administration’s self-inflected problems.
Now, a week later, the man everybody has been waiting to hear from finally weighed in on the controversy. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and the two-time presidential candidate, what do you think about all of this?
Breaking news from Hollywood! Sen. Chuck Schumer cast in lead role for remake of "Boys Don't Cry."
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) February 5, 2017
Fair enough. But here’s a response that really should answer the question that Huckabee brings to the equation and … oh, the internet responded already? Oh, and it was even more intense than you might have thought?
Before you start reading, keep in mind that Boys Don’t Cry, the 1999 film that won Hilary Swank an Oscar, is based on a true story about a transgender man who was beaten, raped, and eventually murdered in small-town Nebraska.
.@GovMikeHuckabee Hard to laugh at your "jokes" bc I think of when your son tortured a dog to death & you pressured cops to not investigate.
— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) February 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/atrubens/status/828045150047739905
This is a cool tweet bc you managed to be transphobic under the cover of mocking Schumer.
— Krister Johnson (@KristerJohnson) February 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/cxcope/status/828049353633886208
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/828107263592108032
.@GovMikeHuckabee Seriously. How dare someone shed a tear being reminded of their relatives dying in the Holocaust.
— Dane Rauschenberg 🏃 (@SeeDaneRun) February 5, 2017
It also led to plenty of donations for Translife, a nonprofit that helps the well-being of transgender people.
Tonight we made an awful joke into $10k worth of ❤️. Goodnight all! https://t.co/ds26GeAfvC pic.twitter.com/bHEIKrdfAJ
— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) February 5, 2017
Perhaps next time when Huckabee has the chance to make fun of a man whose family was killed in the Holocaust by invoking the murder of a transgender person, he’ll take a deep breath and delete the tweet before hitting publish.