President Trump turned his fire on members of his own party Wednesday—and they did not take kindly to being called "human scum." "The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left, are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats," the president tweeted. "Watch out for them, they are human scum!" Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger said it was time for lawmakers to talk to each other "as grownups," the Hill reports. "To call anybody human scum is beneath the office of the presidency. You can't say that, right? You're the president," he told CNN. "You have different standards."
Peter Wehner, a Trump critic who served in the previous three Republican administrations, said he considers the insult a "badge of honor," USA Today reports. "What those of us who are 'human scum' ... particularly appreciate is how you've more than validated our concerns about you-psychologically, morally/ethically and in terms of temperament/judgment," he tweeted. "You turned out to be at least as bad as we warned you'd be." Trump, in other tweets,criticized William Taylor, the former top diplomat to Ukraine who testified at an impeachment hearing this week. "It would be really great," Trump said, if people in his administration "could stop hiring Never Trumpers." (More President Trump stories.)