Another day, another example of a Republican politician engaging in flat out foul behavior.
Michigan State Senator Peter Lucido, 59, has garnered controversy this week. CBS News reports that while being a interviewed on Wednesday by reporter Allison Donahue, the Senator reportedly told Donahue and a group of children visiting from a local all-boys catholic high school that, “You could have a lot of fun with these boys, or they could have a lot of fun with you.” Which, straight up, is fucking gross. When Donahue confronted him on how belittling his comments were he replied with, “I said it to an all-girls school last week: ‘How would you like to have all the boys from the Senate come over? It was nothing disingenuous. It was no harm.”
This man really tried to claim he wasn’t guilty of sexual harassment by providing another example sexual harassment. A 59-year-old thought it was okay to say that a group of teenage girls.
Y’all. I’m tired.
Lucido initially told the Detroit Free Press he didn’t owe Donahue an apology and that his comments were taken out of context. My question is what, exactly, would the appropriate context be for those comments? It seems like every time someone gets caught saying something foul the go-to defense now is “It was taken out of context.” Like bruh, you were wrong and there is no context in which you would be right.
Lucido would go on to issue a statement that said, “I apologize for the misunderstanding yesterday and for offending Allison Donahue.” He never apologized directly to Donahue and he would later tell WDIV-TV that he had been misquoted. This is exhausting.
Donahue was originally there to speak to Lucido about his involvement in a Facebook group that opposes Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who Lucido is reportedly considering running against in 2022. According to Donahue the group has posts “about graphic violence against Democrats, anti-Muslim rhetoric and degrading comments about women.” This guy is really trying to clinch that early nomination for Most Trash Republican of the Year.
Leaders from both parties in the Michigan State Senate have asked the Senate Business Office to investigate as to if Lucido’s comments amounted to sexual harassment.