Well, Housing and Urban Development official Lynne Patton tried it with White House reporter April Ryan. And realized way too late that Ryan is really not the one.
Normally, in the black community, I feel we have a good idea of people not to test. We don’t test our grandmothers, we usually don’t test that one auntie who will ruthlessly clap back, etc.
Alas, Patton, a black conservative and an event planner who somehow landed a job in the Trump administration at HUD without any prior housing experience, apparently doesn’t have that sense of self-preservation and decided to come for Ryan, who is really that auntie.
It all started when Patton, who heads a regional HUD office overseeing New York and New Jersey, decided that it was a good idea to call Ryan “Miss Piggy” during a Twitter argument.
The now deleted tweet also had the hashtag #BankruptBlogger.
Apparently, according to the New York Daily News, the spat started when Ryan appeared on CNN and spoke about how she and other reporters have received death threats as a result of the president’s attacks on the press.
Patton, who planned Eric Trump’s wedding before she was appointed to HUD, took to Twitter to brush aside Ryan’s concerns.
“As a conservative black female who has publicly worked for & supported @realDonaldTrump, I’ve been getting death threats from fellow minorities on the left for the past 3 years — so welcome to the club. @AprilDRyan,” she wrote.
The two continued to go back and forth before Patton fired the final shot: “I hear #MissPiggys still on a rampage. Gee, I must’ve struck a nerve, @AprilDRyan! #BankruptBlogger.”
About an hour later, Patton came to her senses, tweeting out an apology.
“I deleted my last tweet by choice. No one from this Administration contacted me. It was beneath me & I apologize to @AprilDRyan,” she wrote in the tweet. “My parents raised me to respect others & I regret my response. I apologize to them, @SecretaryCarson & the Trump family. They deserved better.”
The apology came a little too late, though. Because, remember, Ryan is really not the one you should try. This is the same reporter who has fearlessly stood her ground amid the disrespect she has faced while reporting on the Trump administration. This is the same reporter who casually asked Donald Trump “Are you a racist?” during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at the White House.
So naturally, Ryan responded with a swift and expert level of clapback-ery that had me clutching at my pearls and probably made Queen Rihanna of Clapbacks proud.
First, because Ryan is a classy reporter, she of course had to fact-check Patton. She basically pulled a #FakeNews on a Trump official, and I’m here for it.
Then, of course, when you’re an event planner suddenly turned housing official, there are some receipts that have to be read.
Then, leaving no stone unturned, as a proper reporter should, especially in a dragging, Ryan hit her with the “Why are you so obsessed with me?” while seamlessly @ing Omarosa Manigault Newman, who has been accused of threatening Ryan.
Then, of course, with a Mariah Carey level of shade, she wrapped it all up with a smooth, “I don’t know her.”
But seriously, all drama aside, it is unthinkable that an official representing a presidential administration would conduct herself that way. Then again, everything is unprecedented and game in this administration, it seems, so perhaps it’s not that surprising.
That being said, political pundit Armstrong Williams tweeted out to Ryan that he had spoken to HUD Secretary Ben Carson, a longtime friend, who had attempted to reach out to Ryan on Thursday morning to apologize.
Ryan missed the call but is sure to follow up because, again—and hopefully for the last time so these people can know—April Ryan is NOT the one.