OPINION:
Tomi Lahren, Fox News contributor and bold-to-the-point-of-brash political pundit, was verbally assaulted and physically hit with the contents of a drink by a bunch of angry brunchers at a Minneapolis restaurant.
And get this: Even Kathy Griffin says that’s not “cool.”
Yes, the same Griffin whose career suffered a major dent after she held a mock severed head of President Donald Trump for a photograph, then refused to apologize, saying it was all a joke.
Griffin tweeted: “I couldn’t disagree more with @TomiLahren, but I don’t think it’s cool to resort to physical actions to make your point. The first amendment is a beautiful thing — use it.”
Griffin’s comments came after Lahren, who was eating in a restaurant with her mother and father, was subjected to angry, vulgar rants by diners, one of whom then threw a drink at her. Video of the scene taken by one of the diners went viral and Twitter, by and large, rose in support of Lahren.
Griffin, of course, is quite right. and what makes her comment all the more spectacular is that Griffin is left-of-left, a true anti-Trumper, a real Hollywood bubble dweller.
On Fox & Friends, Lahren said this: “This was something that was embarrassing for me and embarrassing for my family. At the end of the day, I’m a person too. I do get humiliated and embarrassed just like anyone else, but I’m tough, my family is tough, we can handle it. I think those that threw the water, that were applauding and laughing about it, wanted to get their 15 mins of fame by making a video of me. I think looking back, those are going to be the ones who are embarrassed by their actions, I think their parents raised them better. And furthermore you don’t have to like me, you don’t have to agree with my political opinions, but you don’t have the right to throw things at me. Is that the point that we got in this country that you can’t disagree with someone civilly without resorting to something like that? It’s really disheartening. But again, I’m tough. I can handle it.”
And on Twitter, Lahren responded to all the fan encouragement with her own tweet.
“I appreciate the words of support — even from those who normally dislike me,” she wrote. “Free speech is a gift — no need to resort to that kind of attack.”
Exactly. And what’s more, free speech flows both ways — liberal and conservative, Democrat as well as Republican. The left, with all its anti-Trump attacks on Make America Great Again hat- and T-shirt-wearers over the past year or two, assaults on Republicans at baseball practices in Northern Virginia, and now this, against Tomi Lahren, could use a refresher course on that portion of the Constitution, it seems.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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