The coronavirus hit the Senate this week when Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced he had become the first U.S. senator to contract the disease. Many were concerned by his whereabouts that day. He reportedly used the gym that same morning and all week he had been having lunch with his colleagues. But that didn't stop those same colleagues from sending him well wishes.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's daughter, however, chose to celebrate Sen. Paul's illness on Twitter. In her callous message, she suggested that Sen. Paul's neighbor was "right" for attacking him in November 2017. Sen. Paul had been wearing headphones and doing yard work at the time and was completely blindsided. He suffered six broken ribs and an injured lung, which required surgery. It took him months to overcome the pain. A few months before that ambush, Paul had been on the baseball field when a crazed gunman opened fire on Republicans during their congressional baseball practice in June 2017.
Knowing all that, Pelosi still choose to make light of Paul's most recent health scare. It was so despicable that Twitter has since removed the tweet from their platform and temporarily suspended her account.
Twitter has removed Nancy Pelosi's daughter's tweet where she endorsed the assault of Sen. Rand Paul. pic.twitter.com/RYOu2rgWjS
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) March 24, 2020
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) saw it before it disappeared, and knew exactly what to say to Ms. Pelosi.
This is sick & twisted. Rand has contracted coronavirus; in 2017, in a violent criminal attack, he suffered 6 broken ribs, pneumonia & had part of his lung removed—all of which puts him at much greater risk from this deadly virus—and you’re siding w/ the attacker? #LoveEachOther https://t.co/YiE7wGW2UD
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 23, 2020
As more than one spectator noted, Pelosi's message didn't exactly sound like the "prayerful" attitude her mother has been asking everyone to take as we try to get a handle on the coronavirus outbreak.
Before we learned that Sen. Paul had contracted the illness, we heard that a couple of congressmen, Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) and Ben McAdams (D-UT) had also tested positive. Utah Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, who said they were in close contact with Sen. Paul lately, announced that they would be taking precautions and going into self-quarantine. Romney's COVID-19 test, it was just revealed, came back negative.