Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) responded to backlash to a X.com post – in which he called Iran bypassing a U.S. blockade “awesome” – by attacking the social media platform and those who use it.
“Awesome,” the U.S. senator replied on X.com Monday to a now-debunked story claiming that “at least 26 Iranian shadow fleet vessels” had bypassed the U.S. Navy’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Replies to his comment were swift, fierce and overwhelmingly negative, with many calling his remark traitorous.
On Tuesday, instead of apologizing, Sen. Murphy issued an indignant “clarification” expressing indignation that his critics on “Twitter” (X.com) were too dumb to realize he was being sarcastic:
“Ok Twitter, I can’t believe I need to clarify this but obviously Trump’s bungled mismanagement of this war is not ‘awesome’. As I have said a million times here, it’s a disaster and he should end the war immediately. My tweet was something called ‘sarcasm’.”
Then, in an on-camera interview with Fox News, the unrepentant Sen. Murphy called X.com a “cesspool” and again mistakenly referred to the platform by its previous name:
“Twitter has become kind of a cesspool. I probably should give up on sarcasm on Twitter.
“Obviously, anybody who has seen anything that I have said about Trump’s war knows that I think it’s bungled, mismanaged and we should end it as quickly as possible.
“But, sarcasm is not something, I guess, that’s allowed on Twitter any longer.”
Asked if he regretted the post and planned to take it down, the unrepentant Democrat refused to answer the question, but replied “I guess I just have to be more careful about sarcasm on Twitter.”
For their part, X.com users largely aren’t buying Murphy’s claim he was being sarcastic. Some informed him that Twitter is now named X.
Radio host Dana Loesch told Murphy that it’s obvious that his “awesome” comment was not sarcastic and called his clarification nothing but a “cop-out.”
Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist, reminded him of the time he “held secret meeting in Munich with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif.” “A reminder of what I exclusively reported in 2020. You later admitted my reporting was correct,” Hemingway told Murphy in her post.
