Politico | Donald Trump fires back at ‘Wacky Nut Job’ Ann Coulter
- Coulter in recent months has emerged as one of Trump’s most vehement antagonists among right-wing media figures
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Quint Forgey on politico.com on March 9, 2019.
US President Donald Trump branded former ally Ann Coulter a “Wacky Nut Job” – less than a month after insisting he did not follow the conservative commentator and blamed journalists for exaggerating her influence over White House decision-making.
Coulter in recent months has emerged as one of Trump’s most vehement antagonists among right-wing media figures who urged the administration not to cede ground to Democrats in negotiations for funding the construction of a border wall separating the US and Mexico.
Coulter's protestations, echoed by members of the House Freedom Caucus and other conservative lawmakers, were partly blamed in December for Trump’s decision not to sign a stopgap funding proposal that allocated far less than the US$5.7 billion he had demanded for the wall – plunging the federal government into a 35-day partial shutdown.
In February, Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border after approving a spending accord reached by congressional deal makers that apportioned US$1.375 billion toward border security measures.
US Senate seems to have votes to reject Donald Trump’s national emergency
The emergency declaration, which both chambers of Congress are poised to formally denounce, would allow the White House to redirect billions of dollars more toward fulfilling Trump’s campaign-trail promise.
The move faces a series of legal battles.
Coulter slammed the bipartisan agreement and Trump’s declaration, remarking at the time in an interview with a Los Angeles radio station: “The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot.”
During a February news conference in the White House Rose Garden to announce his decision to invoke emergency powers, Trump insisted that conservative media figures “don’t decide policy”, singling out Coulter and praising Fox News personalities including Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, as well as radio host Rush Limbaugh.
“Ann Coulter, I don’t know her. I hardly know her. I haven’t spoken to her in way over a year. But the press loves saying ‘Ann Coulter’. Probably if I did speak to her she’d be very nice. I just don’t have the time to speak to her,” Trump said.
The president also said Coulter was “off the reservation”, adding: “But anybody that knows her understands that. But I haven't spoken to her. I don't follow her. I don't talk to her. But the press loves to bring up the name Ann Coulter.”
