Stanford Law professor Pamela Karlan quickly emerged as a star witness in the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump.
The purpose of the hearing was to get insight from legal experts as to whether the offenses committed by Trump (and revealed by witnesses who testified before the House Intelligence Committee) warrant impeachment.
Karlan's impassioned arguments in the case for impeaching made for some of the hearing's most informative moments.
But a single sentence in one of her answers to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) was seized on by the President's supporters.
When highlighting for Jackson Lee the ways founding fathers wanted the powers of a president to differ from the powers of a king, Karlan noted that the constitution forbids "titles of nobility."
Then, in a play on words, Karlan said:
"[W]hile the President can name his son Barron, he can't make him a baron."
Watch below.
The President's son is, in fact, named Barron.
It's also a fact that the Constitution does not allow Trump to give him a noble title of baron. But the President's allies soon claimed that she was attacking Barron, who is 13 years old.
Before the hearing concluded, First Lady Melania Trump tweeted that Karlan "should be ashamed of [her] very angry and obviously biased public pandering." During his questioning, Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said the comments were "mean."
Republican outrage shot Barron's name to the top trending topic on Twitter, and Karlan soon apologized—but she still didn't let the President off the hook.
Karlan said:
"I want to apologize for what I said earlier about the president's son. It was wrong of me to do that. I wish the President would apologize, obviously, for the things that he has done that's wrong but I do regret having said that."
As far as the President's refusal to apologize, Karlan is right.
Despite his numerous gaffes, outright lies, and belligerent comments to lawmakers and journalists, the President has not posted a tweet with the words "i apologize" or "I'm sorry. The President has tweeted over 46,000 times in ten years.
The few times the President has apologized on camera or in interviews—most notably for the devastating "grab her by the p---y" tape—these apologies are qualified by blaming others or diminishing the impact of his actions.
Trump, did, however make fun of 16 year old climate activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter only a couple of months ago, sarcastically calling her a "happy young girl" with a "bright and wonderful future" attached to a video of Thunberg warning against the dangers climate change posed to the futures of people her age.
Unlike Karlan, Trump did not apologize.
People applauded Karlan, even if they thought an apology was unnecessary.As for Republicans taking umbrage at Karlan saying the name of the President's son, people couldn't help but point out the hypocrisy.
Far-right Fox News host Laura Ingraham tweeted that the remarks were a "cheap shot."
Just last year, Ingraham lost around two dozen advertisers for mocking then-high schooler and Parkland Shooting survivor David Hogg for his college acceptances.
Selective decency is itself indecent.
The book REPUBLICHRIST: RELIGION - POLITICS - HYPOCRISY is available here.
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