Eric Holder Says New Democrats Will “Kick” Enemies When “They Go Low”

At a campaign rally in McDonough, Georgia this weekend, former Attorney General Eric Holder said that Democrats could no longer afford to take Michelle Obama’s “turn the other cheek” advice when it came to dealing with the Republican Party.

On the stump for Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Holder recalled what the former First Lady said on the campaign trail: “When they go low, we go high.”

“No, no,” he said. “When they go low, we kick ‘em. That’s what this new Democratic Party is about.”

Perhaps sensing that such a remark was apt to land badly in an environment where other Democrats have already caught heat for inciting their supporters, Holder clarified what he meant later on in his speech.

“When I say we, you know, ‘We kick ‘em,’ I don’t mean we do anything inappropriate,” he said. “We don’t do anything illegal. But we got to be tough, and we have to fight for the very things that John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Whitney Young – you know, all those folks gave to us.”

Holder might have been trying to stave off controversy with those later remarks, but it’s not clear that it worked very well. By the middle of the week, Republicans on Capitol Hill, the RNC, and the White House were condemning the former Obama administration official for his rhetoric.

“Maxine Waters incites violence against @realDonaldTrump’s cabinet,” wrote RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Twitter. “Cory Booker pleads for activists to ‘get up in the face of some congresspeople.’ Hillary Clinton says ‘you cannot be civil with’ Republicans. Now Eric Holder wants the mob even angrier.”

Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado tweeted: “You have other party leaders saying Michelle Obama was wrong when she said ‘when they go low we go high.’ But rather when they go low ‘we kick them.’ This is not who we are.”

And in an interview with Steve Doocy of Fox & Friends, President Trump said Holder should “be careful what he is wishing for.”

“That is a disgusting statement for him to make,” Trump said. “They have to be careful with the rhetoric because it is very dangerous what Holder says. Holder was held in contempt by Congress. Holder went after Christians. He went after our great evangelicals. He went after the Tea Party people. You know that. IRS just settled that case. Holder, he has got some problems.”

Holder, he has got some problems.

You really can’t say it any better than that, so why try?