Senator John Kennedy (R., La.) slammed House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi at a rally for Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone in Louisiana on Wednesday.
“In three short years, President Trump has doubled the growth in the greatest economy in all of human history. And do you know what our Democratic friends have done for him?” Kennedy asked an arena full of supporters in the city of Monroe, Louisiana. “Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to impeach him.”
“I don’t mean any disrespect, but it must suck to be that dumb,” Kennedy said.
House Democrats are conducting an impeachment inquiry into whether President Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to pressure the country to investigate corruption allegations into political rival Joe Biden.
Senator Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) said he was “disappointed” in Kennedy’s remark in comments to CNN on Thursday.
“I’m disappointed because I like John and for him to say that about Nancy Pelosi is so off the mark,” Brown said.
This is not the first time Kennedy has used this particular phrase with reference to a Democrat. In April of this year the Senator criticized Representative Richard Neal (D., Mass.) for requesting President Trump’s tax returns from the IRS.
“It must really suck to be that dumb,” Kennedy said at the time, referring to Neal. “Look, this is very simple. Mr. Neal wants to screw with the president.”
President Trump, who joined Rispone and Kennedy at the rally, is campaigning hard for Rispone’s bid to unseat the incumbent Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards.
A Republican victory in the Louisiana gubernatorial race would give Trump a win in the latest round of state elections, after Democrats took control of the Virginia legislature and unseated Republican Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin.