Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., center, accompanied by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., right, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, to unveil their Medicare for All legislation to reform health care. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

In case you missed it, Donald Trump has been engaged in a battle of wits on Twitter with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. The casus belli was Gillibrand’s call, yesterday, for Trump to resign.

President Trump should resign. But, of course, he won't hold himself accountable. Therefore, Congress should investigate the multiple sexual harassment and assault allegations against him. — Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 11, 2017

Bull, meet red cape. Red cape, meet bull.

Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017

Gillibrand responds:

You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. https://t.co/UbQZqubXZv — Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 12, 2017

Gillibrand: "It was a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice, and I will not be silenced on this issue; neither will the women who stood up to the president yesterday." pic.twitter.com/8TyohNzWs9 — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 12, 2017

And because Twitter traffic is all that counts, TheSecondMostSlappableFaceOnTheInternetTM call’s the fight for Gillibrand:

This Gillibrand tweet has more than 4 times as many retweets as Trump’s (and counting). https://t.co/96vl0tkaG6 — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 12, 2017

And Louise Mensch has ordered the Marshal of the Supreme Court to haul Trump away.

But somewhere along the way, Trump’s tweet became sexual harassment:

Trump insinuating Senator Kirsten Gillibrand would perform sexual favors for campaign contributions is a form of verbal sexual assault. No one can condone this sort of talk from a public official, especially the president of the United States. He must resign for this. He must. — Scott Dworkin (@funder) December 12, 2017

Good morning @presssec what does the president mean when he says Senator Gillibrand "would do anything" for campaign contributions? https://t.co/McsN6FXpeU — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) December 12, 2017

In most workplaces, I imagine that suggesting one of your colleagues (which Gillibrand is to Trump, in a way) has sex with people to help their career (which Trump suggested in this tweet) would be a form of sexual harassment, itself. — Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) December 12, 2017

Senator Gillibrand is fighting for the women who Trump sexually assaulted and his response is to call her a floozy. This is the EMBODIMENT of sexist bullshit. https://t.co/6ewHJLi9UA — Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) December 12, 2017

This is all nonsense. Gillibrand has made whatever national profile she has on the issue of sexual harassment. As you can see by the images in this tweet (full disclosure, I don’t have a clue as to who this person is nor do I endorse them, I’m just using the tweet for the images) this aversion is rather new-found:

And it is a poorly kept secret that Gillibrand fancies herself running for president in 2020. But she isn’t the only woman senator with her eye on the White House. Elizabeth Warren, when indulging in firewater, also sees herself as president. So she comes to the aid of her colleague in a way calculated to raise eyebrows:

Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Do you know who you're picking a fight with? Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. Nevertheless, #shepersisted. https://t.co/mYJtBZfxiu — Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 12, 2017

Whoa…whoa! Slut-shaming?

Liz Warren suggesting Gillibrand sleeps around for campaign donations is not how I saw this day going but here we are https://t.co/nimLyxhEFV — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) December 12, 2017

When did we suddenly go from “do anything” being allegedly an oblique reference to Gillibrand being willing to exchange sex for campaign donations (let me say, I don’t see her being able to actually finance a campaign like that and still have time be a candidate) to an acknowledgement that she is, in fact, rather round-heeled but that it was inappropriate to bring her behavior to public scrutiny?

And just in case the inference was lost on anyone:

A visibly angry Warren, who almost never talks to reporters, just now on Trump’s tweet about Gillibrand: “Disgusting. It was disgusting. It’s clear what he was getting at.” — Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) December 12, 2017

I can’t say it better than this:

Tfw you want to weirdly and implicitly call a 2020 rival a slut while purporting to defend her while reminding everyone of your greatest Twitter moment pic.twitter.com/3rX8bZDrqm — John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) December 12, 2017