Democratic lawmaker on Trump after Dingell comments: ‘Hell will be too good for him’

House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) excoriated President Trump on Thursday for his comments at a Wednesday rally suggesting the late Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) was “looking up” instead of down from heaven, saying the remark indicated Trump is “rotten to the core.”

“It’s moments like these that we are reminded that the president is not only a criminal, he is implusively [sic] cruel and truly rotten to the core,” Yarmuth, the only Democrat in Kentucky’s congressional delegation, tweeted Thursday. “Hell will be too good for him.”

It’s moments like these that we are reminded that the president is not only a criminal, he is implusively cruel and truly rotten to the core. Hell will be too good for him. https://t.co/AMZTAihjNh

— Rep. John Yarmuth (@RepJohnYarmuth) December 19, 2019

Trump made the comments at a rally in Battle Creek, Mich., after blasting Dingell’s widow and successor, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), for supporting the House’s impeachment articles after Trump lowered flags to half-staff after the death of her husband, a World War II veteran and the longest serving member of Congress in history. Trump claimed that Dingell had said of the honors for her husband, “John would be so thrilled. He’s looking down. He’d be so thrilled.”

“Maybe he’s looking up. Maybe, but let’s assume he’s looking down,” Trump added.

Dingell tweeted Wednesday night that Trump’s remarks “brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder.”

She spoke further on the matter Thursday morning, saying on CNN, “We’re a family grieving, so I think we should take a lesson from this and all respect each other, period … we need more civility in this country. Some things should be off-limits. And you know what? We’re all human beings.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also condemned the comments, telling reporters Thursday, “What the president misunderstands is that cruelty is not wit. Just because he gets a laugh for saying the cruel things that he says doesn’t mean he’s funny. It’s not funny at all. It’s very sad.”