Donald Trump attacked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday with a tweet so vile it led the USA Today editorial board to call him “not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush.” But the Republican National Committee had a rather different response: attacking Gillibrand some more.
Where Trump said that Gillibrand “would do anything” for campaign contributions, the RNC focused on Gillibrand having moved left over the years, beginning after she moved to the Senate from a relatively conservative House district. Not exactly titillating stuff, but both Trump and the RNC were suggesting that Gillibrand would on some level sell herself out, for contributions or a new constituency. But why the RNC decided to attack Gillibrand is more interesting. It seems likely that the Republicans just dumped some of their existing opposition research on Gillibrand to get Trump’s back. Who Trump attacks, the RNC attacks. Mother Jones points out:
… the email marks the second time in recent weeks that the RNC has rushed to back up Trump in a fight over sexual misconduct allegations. In November, the RNC cut off its fundraising support for Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore following accusations that Moore had sexually assaulted teenage girls—accusations Moore denies. But the RNC quickly reversed course earlier this month, once again throwing its support behind Moore after Trump endorsed him. As one RNC official told CNN at the time, “The RNC is the political arm of the president and we support the President.”
So no matter how low Donald Trump goes, the RNC will follow him there and join in the attack.