Always the sensitive, classy guy, Newt Gingrich wrote Axios’ Mike Allen,
“We are living in two alternative political universes. In one, Manafort-Cohen is dispositive. In the other, illegal immigrants killing Mollie Tibbetts is dispositive.”
“If Mollie Tibbetts is a household name by October, Democrats will be in deep trouble. If we can be blocked by Manafort-Cohen, etc., then GOP could lose badly.”
Apparently, Gingrich didn’t think that Mollie’s family would have any problem with that, and therein lies the rub.
Samantha Lucas, Tibbets’ second cousin tweeted
“Hey, I’m a member of Mollie’s family and we are not so f–king small-minded that we generalize a whole population based on some bad individuals. Now stop being a f–king snake and using my cousin’s death as political propaganda. Take her name out of your mouth.”
Tibbetts’ aunt, Billie Jo Calderwood, also seemed to push back against Mollile’s death being discussed in the context of illegal immigration.
“I don’t want Mollie’s memory to get lost amongst politics,” Calderwood told CNN. “It’s not about race, it’s about people joining together to do good,” Calderwood said. “Evil comes in EVERY color.”
These ladies have a mature grasp on the situation. It is a tragedy that Mollie was murdered, but they’re not about to jump on the racist GOP bandwagon and demonize the entire immigrant population because of it.
And by the by, the accused was working legally in the country, so there goes that talking point.
Come up with something else, Newt, and be quick about it, because you’re not going to capitalize on this family’s tragedy. Shame on you for even thinking of it.
