Republican strategist Sarah Longwell is furious with former President Donald Trump for his crass reaction to Thursday’s prisoner exchange with Russia, in which President Joe Biden’s administration freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and several other Americans.
“Between the Olympics, Simone Biles’ floor routine, the hostages coming home, the vibe right now should be like tattooing an American flag on your chest and running through the streets,” she told Jessica Dean on “CNN This Morning” Friday. “But what does this guy do?
“He sits there on his phone, grumpy that the hostages are home, mad that he doesn’t get to feign like he and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin have some special deal so he’s going to be able to negotiate this,” Longwell continued. “He’s always Trump first, America last, despite his rhetoric.”
Longwell, publisher of conservative outlet The Bulwark, is also executive director of the Republican Voters Against Trump initiative, which announced Wednesday that it had launched a $3.5 million campaign across swing states.
“Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us!” Trump wrote Thursday on his Truth Social platform. “I got back many hostages, and gave the opposing Country NOTHING — and never any cash. To do so is bad precedent for the future. That’s the way it should be.”
Biden confirmed Thursday that the White House had negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia, including former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and 12 political prisoners from Germany and Russia, and said at a press conference that “our alliances make Americans safer.”
The exchange also freed eight Russian nationals, some of whom are reportedly suspected of having ties to Russian intelligence. Several Republicans, including Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and former Trump White House national security adviser John Bolton, slammed the deal.
Longwell argued Friday that “people should be more offended” by Trump and his reaction.
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“One of the reasons I became a Republican was they felt like they loved America,” she said. “Like they thought America was a good place, that we were often in the right. But Donald Trump describes this as a dark place, isn’t excited when we bring the hostages home.
“He’s not even being cool about the Olympics,” continued Longwell. “And so, yeah, I think this is a stark contrast in people who are out there doing their jobs for America and somebody who’s sitting on his phone, sending out nasty tweets about America.”
Biles, who won her second all-around gymnastics gold this week, wielded Trump’s own words against him — after he claimed during the June 27 presidential debate that immigrants are “taking Black jobs.”
“I love my black job,” Biles wrote Friday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
