Donald Trump is not happy with critics of Gina Haspel, his choice for CIA director. Haspel was nominated to replace Mike Pompeo at the CIA, and is scheduled to have a confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
In March, reports revealed that Haspel had once overseen a US torture site abroad, where detainees were found to have been waterboarded. She later offered to withdraw her candidacy. But Trump, who has several times expressed his support of torture, including waterboarding, today tweeted defending Haspel as “the most qualified person, a woman, who Democrats want OUT because she is too tough on terror.”
The New York Times notes, “It was not immediately clear what Mr. Trump meant by highlighting in his tweet that Ms. Haspel is a woman.”
Here are a few possible interpretations:
- The most qualified person for a job is a woman… wait, what?
- These are very dangerous times, so choices are restricted. We had to settle for a woman.
- A person can be a woman!
- Women are too tough for terrorists.
- Women are too tough for Democrats.
- Democrats are just never happy.
- “Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Nobody.”