RUTHFULLY YOURS

Rashida Tlaib is one of the first Muslim women in Congress but last week the Michigan Democrat revealed something else about herself. The first time Tlaib said “mother,” she had learned half a new word, the same one she showcased after being sworn in as a representative of the people.

“When your son looks at you and said ‘Mamma, look, you won — bullies don’t win.’ And I said, ‘Baby they don’t, because we’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the motherfucker!’” The self-described Palestinian-American may be okay once she comes out of her shell, but Democrats had her back.

Rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been busy proposing tax hikes to 70 percent and abolishing energy from gas and oil. She took a break from building socialism to blast the “faux outrage” over Tlaib as “Republican hypocrisy at its finest,” citing Trump’s claim of “locker room talk” for his “sexual assault” of ladies.

“I probably have a generational reaction to it, but in any event I’m not in the censorship business,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters. “But I don’t think it’s any worse than what the president has said.” That is understandable from a woman whose favorite Stalinist was Soviet agent Harry Bridges, and who thinks walls are “immoral.” On the other hand, the parallel is not quite right.

Trump has said that we are going to “bomb the shit out of ISIS” and lamented “shithole countries.” During the primaries he mocked rivals but never said “I’m going to defeat the motherfuckers.” Trump once expressed a desire to put Hillary Clinton in jail but never called the Clintons “motherfuckers,” a term Bill and Hillary often used for each other, according to Christopher Andersen in American Evita: Hillary Clinton’s Path to Power.

As David Garrow noted in Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, the future president threatened to kick the ass of fellow Illinois legislator Rickey Hendon, who embarrassed him on the floor. Hendon quietly stacked some papers on his desk and replied, “Okay, motherfucker, let’s go!’ ” It’s not clear who prevailed in this case of workplace violence, but the future president learned something.

In Believer, by “Obama’s narrator” David Axelrod, the 44th President of the United States says “motherfucker’s never happy,” but he wasn’t talking about Vladimir Putin, Osama Bin Laden, or even 2012 opponent Mitt Romney. The never-happy motherfucker was the president’s own speech coach Michael Shaheen, but during eight years in the White House POTUS 44  may have disparaged others in similar style.

The Nixon tapes have the president calling Pierre Trudeau an “asshole,” which won the embattled Republican a few fans north of the border. George Bush and Dick Cheney were caught calling a reporter a “grade-A asshole.” Still, Republicans and Democrats do not normally call each other “motherfucker” in public.

The British House of Commons is more raucous than the American Congress, but the speaker does not say “order, order you motherfuckers!” And Prime Minister Theresa May does not say “I refer the honorable motherfucker to the answer I gave some moments ago.” And so on.

Aside from her colorful description of president Trump, Rashida Tlaib may have provided a valuable service. She’s newly elected, a reminder that the United States holds regular multi-party elections. She’s a Muslim, a reminder that the United States imposes no religious test for office. She invoked impeachment, a reminder that the United States does have a mechanism to remove the president.

If someone said of the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, “we’re going to topple the motherfucker,” that person might get more than a verbal response. The same would apply with the fun bunch who run the Islamic state of Iran, where no Catholic, Buddhist or Jewish immigrants appear to be running for high office.

Likewise, any Russian politician who told reporters “we are going to take that motherfucker Putin out of power,” would likely disappear in a matter of days. Anybody in North Korea who openly announced plans to dislodge “motherfucker” Kim Jong-un would be shot dead, the same way the hereditary Communist dictator took out rivals and relatives.

Kim Jong-un called President Trump a “dotard,” pretty mild compared to Rashida Tlaib. Ironically, she takes the seat of John Conyers, who stepped down over accusations of sexual harassment. Tlaib’s fellow Muslim Ilhan Omar replaces Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to congress, who also has issues with women.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib believes Democrats can impeach the President of the United States because they don’t like him. So Democrats will not be working with the president on a wall, border security, and the ongoing battle against radical Islamic terrorism. On the other hand the Muslim Democrats are certain to have policy goals.

Ilhan is from Somalia, where 98 percent of girls are subjected to female genital mutilation, FGM/C. Rashida Tlaib hails from Michigan, where female genital mutilation is on the rise. Republicans should watch for Democrat health proposals to include “safe and affordable” female genital mutilation in America.