GOP Committee Tweet In Support Of Johnny Depp Verdict Viewed As Less Than Savvy

Replies to a June 1 tweet from the Republican side of the Judiciary House Committee, which shared a GIF from “Pirates of the Caribbean” in apparent support of the Johnny Depp verdict, continue to roll in.

Ellie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, cited the tweet after deadpanning in a previous post that she imagined all Depp supporters were also in the corner of E. Jean Carroll, who is suing former President Donald Trump for defamation. Former journalist Adam Nathaniel Peck, who now works in D.C. on the strategic communications side, observed of the GOP, “Not even their hatred of Disney can top their hatred of women.”

But perhaps one of the most intriguing replies to the GOP tweet comes from attorney A.J. Delgado, who was an adviser to the Trump presidential campaign in 2016 and also worked on his transition team. “Someone tell these morons Depp hates Trump so much he joked about killing him,” Delgado tweeted. “He isn’t your guy and probably would cringe at this.”

The Judiciary Committee features 24 Democrats and 17 Republicans, the latter group led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. It's unclear who actually manned the Twitter account at the time of the Depp tweet; it could be anyone from an intern to a higher-ranking office assistant. (Pundit Yashar Ali suggested that Jordan himself controls the account.)

Renee Bracey Sherman, an outspoken pro-abortion supporter, tied the Depp GIF to another recent missive from the GOP account. “The Republican House Judiciary Twitter account is the most disgusting in all of the government,” she insisted. “Two weeks ago they circulated edited videos to encourage harassment of abortion storytellers who testified. Now this. They use their reach to harass and vilify women who speak out.”

Podcaster Francesca Fiorentini joked that Congressional Republicans' next legislative initiative will be “getting the bride auction reinstated in the “Pirates” ride at Disney.”