A2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019
sense.
“It’s not about data. It’s about
that feeling,” she added.
Other Democratic candidates
are also pushing rhetorical
boundaries. Sen. Cory Booker
(D-N.J.), who in his campaign
appearances emphasizes love and
unity, didn’t mince words during
Trump’s speech Monday.
In a private text message his
campaign manager shared on
Twitter, Booker wrote: “Listening
to the president. Such a bulls---
soup of ineffective words. This is
so weak. We should quickly con-
demn his lack of a real plan.”
Though Booker did not share
the message himself, it’s hard to
imagine his campaign manager
tweeted it without the candidate’s
permission.
But Beasley cautioned that the
standards are gendered: While a
male candidate using profanity
can be viewed as relating to “how
people in America really talk,”
female candidates, because of
sexist stereotypes, might be seen
as showing “too much emotion” i f
they curse.
For instance, Sen. Bernie Sand-
ers (I-Vt.) on the debate stage last
week shouted, “I wrote the damn
bill!” in response to a question
about Medicare-for-all; he’s now
selling merchandise with the
phrase on it.
By contrast, the female candi-
dates have all largely avoided
swearing on the campaign trail so
far, even though Sen. Kirsten
Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in past years
has been known to invoke an
f-word or two when discussing
Trump.
Sen. Kamala D. H arris has been
loath to even quote the president
when it comes to his remarks on
“shithole countries,” instead say-
ing “S-hole countries” on the cam-
paign trail. On Monday, she
stopped short of saying “b---shit.”
“You can hear the frustration
in my voice because here’s the
thing: I’m sick of all the grand
gestures,” Harris said in a phone
interview with MSNBC about
stalled gun-control legislation.
“A ll kinds of grand gestures. All
kinds of proclamations about
B.S.”
Harris then immediately apol-
ogized for saying “B.S.” on air.
“The very same thing that peo-
ple will praise men for doing as a
form of leadership — like direct
speech — for women it’s s een as ...
well, you know, it rhymes with
rich,” Beasley said, herself side-
stepping a curse word in an inter-
view. “ These communication pat-
terns create another barrier for
women, and that seems unfair.”
Meanwhile, O’Rourke, who
went viral for his unfettered
thoughts in El Paso, took to Twit-
ter later to defend his response,
profanity and all.
“I stand by what I said,” he
tweeted.
[email protected]Chelsea Janes contributed to this
report.are mindful of the importance of
“acting presidential,” she said —
which in the past meant staying
calm.
In the past, there were penal-
ties for losing your cool. A scream
essentially ended Howard Dean’s
campaign in 2004. During the
2000 campaign, George W. Bush
described a New York Times re-
porter as a “major league a--hole”
on a live microphone, causing a
minor furor and a subsequent
statement of regret.
But Trump’s behavior since
taking office — the round-the-
clock tweets, the inflammatory
rallies, the profane tirades about
everything from the Mueller re-
port to foreign countries — has
scrambled politicians’ under-
standing of how a candidate
should act.
“I think the question becomes:
What does looking presidential
look like?” Beasley said, pointing
to a division among the Demo-
cratic field between those like
former vice president Joe Biden,
who has promised a return to
normalcy, and others who insist
there is no “normal” after a
Trump administration.
There’s another factor, too.
Candidates’ language, Beasley
said, may reflect the genuine fear
and anger they — and voters —
are feeling.
“When I watched Beto last
night on television, he was [re-
sponding] as a community mem-
ber.... If he hadn’t reacted that
way, it would have been weird,”
Beasley said. “The moment to
show that there is something that
makes you kind of lose your mind
and not be calm is now, both in a
strategic sense and an affectO’Rourke continued. “He’s not
tolerating racism. He’s promoting
racism. He’s not tolerating vio-
lence. He’s inciting racism and
violence in this country. So, you
know, I just — I don’t know what
kind of question that is.”
The willingness of candidates
to cross this line is a sign of the
times, said Vanessa Beasley, a
communications professor at
Vanderbilt University who stud-
ies presidential rhetoric.
“The norms for presidential
decorum are in flux right now,”
Beasley said. Usually, candidatesthings better, he let loose.
“Uh, what do you think? You
know the s--- he’s been saying.
He’s been calling Mexican immi-
grants rapists and criminals,”
O’Rourke said, at times throwing
his hands up and stammering in
exasperation. “I don’t know. Like,
members of the press: What the
f---? Hold on a second!”
“It’s these questions that you
know the answers to. I mean,
connect the dots about what he’s
been doing in this country,”opened fire Saturday morning at
a Walmart in the city, killing at
least 22 and injuring dozens of
others. A manifesto authorities
are investigating for ties to the
suspected shooter said the vio-
lence was motivated by fears of a
“Hispanic invasion.”
For weeks, O’Rourke has been
calling out Trump’s rhetoric on
the campaign trail as racist.
When a reporter asked O’Rourke
on Saturday whether there was
anything Trump could do to makeBY AMY B WANGAs President Trump addressed
the nation after a weekend of
mass shootings, Rep. Tim Ryan
(D-Ohio) was watching.
Reading from a teleprompter,
Trump condemned the “barbaric
slaughters” but did not blame lax
gun laws for the 31 deaths in El
Paso and Dayton. In his closing,
Trump asked God to “bless the
memory of those who perished in
To ledo,” naming the wrong Ohio
city.
Shortly thereafter, Ryan, who
rushed to Dayton after the trag-
edy, took to Twitter. “Toledo. Fck
me,” he wrote.
Ryan is the latest Democratic
presidential candidate to unleash
his anger and frustration with
raw, emotional language that
would have been considered ta-
boo in a pre-Trump era.
Ryan spokesman Michael Zetts
said the tweet was the congress-
man’s spontaneous response to
the president’s flub. The day be-
fore, Ryan expressed frustration
on MSNBC with years of inaction
on gun control policy by saying
Republicans “need to get their s---
together and stop pandering to
the NRA.”
“It affected him, being at the
vigil with the community,” Zetts
said. “I think those emotions just
kind of came through, and those
frustrations came through. And
there’s no action [in Congress].
Years go by with just nothing.”
Former congressman Beto
O’Rourke, an El Paso native, also
left the campaign trail abruptly
this weekend after a gunman
Huntsman praised the U.S. Em-
bassy staff, saying they had en-
dured “unprecedented expul-
sions, forced departures and
enormous professional disrup-
tions.”
He urged the administration
to continue to hold Russia ac-
countable for its behavior but
said it is critical to work for a
better relationship.
“No reset or restart is going to
help, just a clear understanding
of our interests and values — and
a practical framework for sus-
tained dialogue,” he wrote.
[email protected]
[email protected]En glund reported from Moscow.nadian diplomats. Huntsman
said that “children should not be
used as pawns in diplomatic
disputes.” Last week, Russia is-
sued visas to seven teachers,
enough to allow current students
to return but leaving the enroll-
ment of 50 pupils uncertain.
Huntsman also has taken an
unusually direct involvement in
the case of Paul Whelan, an
American who has been detained
on suspicion of spying. Hunts-
man visited Whelan when he was
arrested two weeks after an ac-
cused Russian spy, Maria Butina,
pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal
court to trying to influence
U.S.-Russian relations.
In his resignation letter,Huntsman to resign after what
they saw as an embarrassing
summit in Helsinki between
Trump and Russian President
Vladimir Putin. Asked about
th eir conversation on Russian
interference in the 2016 elec-
tion,Trump defended Putin over
the conclusions of U.S. intelli-
gence agencies. Huntsman re-
fused to step aside, citing the
“fragile” moment in U.S.-Russia
relations.
The tensions have not abated.
Last month, Huntsman com-
plained publicly about Russia’s
refusal to issue visas to 30 new
teachers who had been hired to
work at a school that educates the
children of U.S., British and Ca-BY CAROL MORELLO
AND WILL ENGLUNDJon Huntsman, the U.S. am-
bassador to Russia, is resigning
from the diplomatic post he has
held for almost two years, a
period marked by growing con-
frontation and friction between
Moscow and Washington.
In a resignation letter sent
Tuesday morning to President
Trump, Huntsman characterized
his tenure as a “historically diffi-
cult” time in bilateral relations.
His resignation takes effect
Oct. 3.
Huntsman’s resignation is fu-
eling speculation that the former
two-term governor of Utah may
make a third run for the office. He
resigned during his second term
in 2009 and became the U.S.
ambassador to China under the
Obama administration. He left
that post two years later for an
unsuccessful run for president.
When he became Trump’s a mbas-
sador to Moscow, he said he
would take the job for two years.
In his resignation letter, which
was first reported by the Salt
Lake Tribune, Huntsman, 59,
said he wanted to return to his
home state “to reconnect with
our growing family and responsi-
bilities.”
Huntsman’s decision to step
down has been rumored for
months. Last year, he announced
that he had been treated for
Stage 1 melanoma, a serious form
of skin cancer.
Huntsman’s time as ambassa-
dor was difficult from the begin-
ning. He arrived shortly after
Russia expelled hundreds of U.S.
diplomats in retaliation for U.S.
sanctions, and the Trump admin-
istration responded by closing
three Russian diplomatic facili-
ties in the United States.
In 2018, critics called forKLMNO
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CORRECTIONSl An Aug. 6 Page One article
about the mass shooting in
El Paso used an incorrect
pronoun in referring to Alvaro
Mena, whose stepfather was
killed and mother was injured
in the attack. Mena is male.l A July 24 Food article about
the struggle of black farmers
and their descendants to hold
on to their land contained many
errors and omitted context and
allegations important to
understanding two families’
stories. For details on the
correction, see Page E1. For an
updated version of the story, go
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Post’s reader advocate, who can be
reached at 202-334-7582 or
[email protected].Ambassador Huntsman to leave post in Russia
After spate of mass shootings, Democrats curse inaction on guns — literally
ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jon Huntsman entered the job shortly after Russia expelled U.S. diplomats in retaliation for sanctions,
and the Trump administration responded by closing three Russian facilities in the United States.SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
Presidential candidate and Ohio congressman Tim Ryan visits Dayton on Monday. After President
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