Trump claims Nancy Pelosi's teeth are falling out, gets a taste of his own medicine

Donald Trump has proven time and time again that he is not above mocking others, even while he sits in the nation's highest office. He has made fun of a disabled reporter, taunted a 16-year-old climate change activist on the autism spectrum, and most recently, he went after Speaker Nancy Pelosi, claiming in a tweet that her teeth were "falling out of her mouth" as she spoke about the impeachment proceedings. 

It was a strange choice for many reasons, but then again, Donald Trump hasn't always thought about his actions before going ahead with them. The tweet that started the storm was actually a quoted retweet of a quoted retweet by Republican congressman Mark Meadows. 

Meadows retweeted a video posted by The Hill that shows Nancy Pelosi responding to the question of why she didn't decide to include bribery in the articles of impeachment. She responds, "This was a decision that was recommended by working together with our committee chairs, our attorneys, and the rest." Of course, Republicans jumped on this response as evidence that Trump did nothing wrong. And Trump himself couldn't help contributing to the conversation.

His response, of course, led so many to point out that there have been several instances where it seemed that his teeth were falling out of his mouth, but first, I want to address the context of his response. In the video, a reporter asks Nancy Pelosi why bribery wasn't included in the articles of impeachment. Congressman Mark Meadows responds and says, "Because it isn't true," it, ostensibly, being the bribery.

But then Trump chimed in with, "Because Nancy's teeth were falling out of her mouth, and she didn't have time to think!" With this tweet, Trump is suggesting that bribery wasn't included because Nancy's teeth are falling out of her mouth. He's not piggy-backing off of Meadows and saying that the bribery didn't happen. He's blaming Nancy's teeth for the lack of bribery in the articles of impeachment. I don't think that's what he meant to do, but that's the effect of the tweet. He doesn't actually deny the bribery, which you would think would be his first priority. Instead, he just makes fun of Nancy Pelosi. 

Many on Twitter, including actress Mia Farrow, immediately pointed out that with this tweet, Trump is a pot, Pelosi is a kettle... you get the rest. "Funny — as you slur your words so frequently, many of us wonder if YOUR teeth keep falling out," Farrow wrote in response. Others retweeted the below video from 2017 in which it seems like Trump is trying to save his dentures. 

The criticism was swift and plentiful. Trump's tweet, since being posted 17 hours ago, has garnered 34,000 responses. One thing is certain; this man definitely knows how to get a reaction. "Just when you think Trump can't go any lower, he always finds a way," one person wrote.   

Many others reminded Trump that his wife Melania's White House "Be Best" campaign is all about anti-bullying. But the president has never seemed to be able to give up his penchant for mocking and putting others down. Trump's behavior has been normalized at this point, but Dr. Eugene Gu's response reminds us just how abnormal and unheard of this entire situation is: "Nancy's teeth were falling out of her mouth? That's the most ridiculous, outlandish statement making absolutely no sense other than being just pure spite and preschool meanness, and it is truly unbelievable that it came from the President of the United States."

"It's not even clever or funny or anything other than completely random and incoherent," he continues. "I don't know what Trump is even trying to imply. Is he making fun of her age? Accusing her of having dentures? Trump must have had a nightmare of his own teeth falling out and he is projecting."

"The president is throwing schoolyard insults at other adults in government. This is where we are at around 5:20 p.m. on a sleepy American Sunday in December 2019," another person wrote. No matter your politics, no matter your thoughts on impeachment, any real adult would recognize that this is not normal. This is not OK. 

The President of the United States should serve as an exemplary leader, not use their massive platform to make fun of people they don't like. And yet, he still has so many defenders, not only in the public but in government as well. Other fully grown adults are also condoning — and participating in— this childish behavior.

The impeachment trial seems imminent, which is clearly having an effect on Donald Trump. His latest tweet on the matter claims that "the Impeachment Hoax is the greatest con job in the history of American politics!" It's unclear at this point if Trump will actually be impeached, and either way, we don't know how it will influence the 2020 election and beyond. What we do know is that the man in the White House has fast fingertips, a penchant for saying whatever he wants, and a directly platform to the rest of the world. That seems like a bad idea.