On Tuesday night, as President Trump was delivering his State of the Union Address, Senator Jeff Merkley’s Twitter account was quite active, tweeting critical responses as Trump delivered his message. The Twitter account of Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, issued this attack on Trump’s championing standing for the national anthem:
Trump had been speaking of 12-year-old Preston Sharp, who started a movement to adorn graves of soldiers killed in battle that eventually decorated 40,000 graves. Trump said, “Young patriots like Preston teach all of us about our civic duty as Americans. Preston’s reverence for those who have served our Nation reminds us why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and why we proudly stand for the national anthem.
Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro had a concise and blunt response to the Merkley tweet:
Merkley’s account may have received some blowback, as roughly an hour later, this tweet was issued to make it clear that Merkley himself wasn’t responsible; it was his chief of staff:
Zamore has his own Twitter account, though, so it would seem that Merkely is perfectly comfortable allowing Zamore to speak for him.