Trump Surrogate Quotes Beyoncé’s “Formation” to Criticize Clinton

The singer’s lyrics, the surrogate argued, are just as vulgar as Trump’s langauge.


During an appearance on CNN on Monday night, former New York Lieutenant Gov. Betsy McCaughey insisted that it’s hypocritical of Hillary Clinton to criticize Donald Trump over his sexually explicit remarks. Why? Because Clinton loves Beyoncé.

On Friday, the Washington Post published a tape in which Trump, on an Access Hollywood bus, describes kissing and groping women without their consent. The revelation led dozens of Republicans to withdraw their support from Trump and drew criticism from the Clinton campaign and from Clinton herself during Sunday night’s presidential debate.

“I wanted to point something out,” McCaughey said of Clinton on Monday, after explaining that she doesn’t like lewd language and doesn’t listen to rap. “Hillary Clinton expresses that she finds the language on that bus horrific, but in fact she likes language like this. Quote, ‘I came to slay bitch, when he F me good I take his ass to Red Lobster.'”

That is a line from Beyoncé’s “Formation.” Host Don Lemon, looking confused and laughing uncomfortably, asked McCaughey if Clinton said those words. “That happens to be a line from Beyoncé,” McCaughey responded, “her favorite performer whom she says she idolizes and would like to imitate. So you know what I’m saying to you? There’s a lot of hypocrisy in Hillary Clinton expressing such horror at the language on the bus.”

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate