Two Republican pundits told Newsmax that President Donald Trump was making a mistake by launching seemingly sexist attacks on MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and female journalists.
During a Monday panel, Republican strategist Melik Abdul expressed his wish that Trump would stop insulting women, following the president’s comments calling Greene a “dumb person” and attacking a CNN reporter as “nasty.”
“Donald Trump is going back down the road of attacking Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Abdul told Newsmax host Shaun Kraisman. “And I just wish that Donald Trump would spend more time talking about the people who actually support him. He can have issues with Marjorie Taylor Greene, but I noticed that Donald Trump didn’t have the same language about Elon Musk, who really is a person who suggested that Donald Trump is a pedophile. He campaigned against Donald Trump’s agenda.”
Abdul continued, “At the end of the day, this is somebody who has been supportive of Donald Trump. I just wish Donald Trump would stop all of the name-calling because it’s unnecessary. I just wish he would stop.”
Former Delaware Trump State Chair Rob Arlett agreed that Trump should cease insulting people. “Other than, I think it’s silly middle-school optics, to be honest,” Arlett said. “It does not help the Republican movement. It does not help the MAGA movement. And certainly does not really help the American people.”
“Let’s focus on great policies that can win the American people,” he added. “And next November, I think all of the good quality policies that deliver to the American people matter more than the middle-school optics.”
The Newsmax host, however, voiced support for Trump’s frank language. “You want to put Trump in this box, right?” Kraisman said. “This political box. Here’s how you fit. Here’s what you don’t say. Here’s what you can say.”
“I kind of like knowing what he thinks,” he continued. “Like, you have access to the president of the United States as every thought. You may not like his every thought. There’s things that he says that I don’t like everything that he says, but I have access to it.”
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/12/middle-school-optics-newsmax-gop