SE Cupp presses ex-GOP lawmaker on Trump tweet: ‘Would you call me human scum?’

CNN’s S.E. Cupp pressed former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), who is now a CNN contributor, on whether he agreed with President Trump’s characterization of Republican critics, including herself, as “human scum.”

“I know you are a stand-up guy, a family man. You teach your kids good values. Would you, sir, call me human scum?” the commentator asked Duffy as the two appeared on the network on Saturday.

{mosads}Duffy, who resigned from Congress citing his newborn child’s complex health needs, responded that “it’s not the language I’d use” but added, “I think it’s important to go not ‘What did Donald Trump say?’ but ‘Why is he saying it?’”

“I actually want to talk about what he said, because he called people like me ‘human scum,’ ” Cupp responded, prompting Duffy to say “I don’t think you’re scum, and I know a lot of Never Trumpers,” adding that Trump was “frustrated he’s been investigated for two years.”

Cupp went on to press Duffy about Trump’s approving quote of a claim that impeaching him would lead to a “civil war.”

“Republican voters, Trump supporters, are wildly angry he could be taken out by this sham of a process. They’re really angry,” Duffy said in response. Pressed on the “civil war” language specifically, Duffy said, “I don’t know if you’d have civil war where people are taking up guns, but I think you’d have a political civil war.”

The White House has defended Trump’s tweet calling his Republican critics “human scum,” with press secretary Stephanie Grisham saying last week, “The people who are against him and who have been against him and working against him since the day they took office are just that.”

“The fact that people continue to try and negate anything that he’s doing and take away from the good work he’s doing on behalf of the American people, they deserve strong language like that,” Grisham added.