Photo Credit: Screen Shot from https://twitter.com/D0wn_Under/status/1216667026191605760

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and many on the left are indignant over President Trump’s retweet of an edited photograph of him and House Speaker Pelosi dressed in Muslim garb standing before an Iranian flag. The caption reads, “The corrupted Dems trying their best to come to the Ayatollah’s rescue.” One of the responses says, “Ayatollah Schumeini is furious (with laughing emojis).”

The corrupted Dems trying their best to come to the Ayatollah's rescue.#NancyPelosiFakeNews pic.twitter.com/a0ksPHeXCy — داون آندر (@D0wn_Under) January 13, 2020

Former Obama administration officials and, of course, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), immediately pounced.

Dana Shell Smith, a former ambassador to Qatar during the Obama administration, tweeted, “The President of the United States is engaging in hate speech against an entire religion. And because he is President, it is in our name. It is on all of us – especially our elected officials- to demand that it stop.”

Another former Obama administration official tweeted, “The picture highlights a deeply disturbing truth, which is that this President thinks that a good way to insult someone is by painting them as Muslim or as sympathetic to a Muslim country.”

The original tweet was posted by a young man who goes by the twitter handle of @DOwn_Under and it is hilarious. It’s an edited version of the photograph taken of Schumer and Pelosi delivering their response to Trump’s border wall address in January 2019. The picture was ridiculed then because Schumer and Pelosi reminded everyone of the farmer and his wife in Grant Wood’s famous “American Gothic” painting.

President Trump is not Islamophobic. He has been genuinely supportive of the Iranian people as they stand up for freedom while Schumer and Pelosi and most other Democrats have remained silent.

Aside from the fact that the photograph is hilarious, President Trump may have been trying to make a larger point. When asked on Fox News today why Trump retweeted the picture, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham replied:

I think the president is making clear that the Democrats are, have been parroting Iranian talking points and almost taking the side of terrorists and those who were out to kill the Americans. I think the president was making the point that the Democrats seem to hate him so much that they’re willing to be on the side of countries and leadership of countries who want to kill Americans.

Ever since the U.S. strike on the murderer, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Democrats and the media, with Schumer and Pelosi leading the charge, have been trying to position themselves to maximize the political opportunities his death provides.

They called it a reckless act which would immediately draw the U.S. into a long, bloody, costly war with Iran. Pelosi quickly introduced and passed a resolution in the House to limit Trump’s power. After Iran’s mild retaliation, it became clear that war was off the table, at least in the near future. They were disappointed because that would have hurt Trump’s chances in November.

Several days ago, Pelosi compared the strike on Soleimani to another country assassinating the number two most powerful U.S. official. She equated a man who made a career out of plotting murders and sowing instability throughout the Middle East with the Vice President.

Pelosi has spent the past three years of her life plotting and implementing ways to destroy President Trump.

So, the President sees a humorous photo, which had comedic value even before it was edited, and shares it. A laugh at Schumer and Pelosi’s expense. They’re both public figures. It’s fair game. After all they’ve done to this man, I’d suggest that they and the rest of the Democrats sit this one out.



MBA, former financial consultant, options trader

Mom of three grown children, grandmother

Email Elizabeth at



Writer at RedStateMBA, former financial consultant, options traderMom of three grown children, grandmotherEmail Elizabeth at [email protected] Read more by Elizabeth Vaughn