DETROIT (AP) — Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s re-election campaign is promoting T-shirts with a slogan calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment that include a two-letter acronym for a profanity that she used in reference to the president early this year.
Tlaib’s campaign started promoting the T-Shirts that say, “Impeach the MF,” after she and other House Democrats this week launched an impeachment inquiry of Trump as part of a whistleblower complaint about his activities.
Tlaib, a Democrat from Detroit, drew criticism from Republicans and some Democrats after she used the profanity in reference to Trump in January. She was recorded telling a friendly interest group following her swearing-in, “We’re gonna impeach the mother——.”
Michigan Republicans said the language used on the T-shirts is inappropriate, as is any effort by Democrats to make money from the impeachment inquiry.
“First of all, my mother would have called me and told me, ‘Shame on you,'” said Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga, who represents parts of southwestern Michigan, told The Detroit News. “Then I would have heard from my Republican colleagues asking me, ‘What in the world are you doing?’ Then I would have to face myself in the mirror and my kids and explain what’s going on, at the same time I’m getting preachy about decorum and how we need civility in politics.”
Tlaib represents Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, which mostly votes Democratic and includes parts of Detroit and some of its western and southwestern suburbs.
Campaign spokesman TJ Bucholz defended the decision to offer the T-shirts to those who donate at least $29 to Tlaib’s re-election efforts.
“With the House moving forward as they are, we thought it was a good time to lean back into the phrase,” said Bucholz, who described the T-shirts as “a fun item” and “probably a collectible.”
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Tlaib’s campaign spokesman to Bucholz.
