Last week there was a bit of a scandal in the capital when a then-unidentified young woman was caught on tape yelling, “F*#^ YOU” at President Trump across the rotunda. Given the current state of decorum inside the beltway (or lack thereof), it was sadly not all that surprising. Still, people were wondering who the young woman was and precisely what she was so angry about. Also, if she was on someone’s staff, would she face any repercussions for her unprofessional behavior in such a setting?

Now those questions have all been answered. Her name is Caitlin Marriott and she’s a 21 year old intern working for Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire. So what’s going to happen to her? She’s been suspended from her duties for a short time, but will not be removed from her position. I suppose that tells us where the Senator stands on the question. (Washington Times)

Sen. Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire Democrat, defended not firing the intern of hers who yelled “f– you” at President Trump, in part because it was Mr. Trump.

Ms. Hassan told the Washington Post that the intern, identified Monday night by Fox News as Caitlin Marriott, had “took full responsibility” for her actions and been suspended for a week and restricted from the Capitol building, where the screaming attack took place.

Besides, Ms. Hassan said, the president was doing worse things and is ducking responsibility.

“This behavior shouldn’t be equated with the president’s destructive and divisive actions … this young woman immediately accepted responsibility for her actions and is facing consequences for them. The president is doing neither,” Ms. Hassan told The Post.

Is this part of the Total Social Warfare theory of governance at this point? The idea of a woke 21-year-old shouting an expletive about the President isn’t particularly surprising in the modern era, but doing so in the Capitol Rotunda would have been considered outside the bounds of proper conduct in earlier days. In her official response to the event, Hassan even admitted as much, saying “Her behavior violated the standards of our office about appropriate conduct.”

But since Marriott “took full responsibility for her actions” (according to the senator) she had her badge taken away for a week and will then return to her normal duties. How exactly does one take “full responsibility” for hurling an F-bomb at the President in such a setting? Was there an apology offered to Trump? Not that I’ve heard. Even Hassan didn’t apologize, instead going on to blame Trump for apparently driving the intern to her distressed display of vulgarity.

I spoke to Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) about her decision to suspend the intern who shouted 'F— you!' to President Trump. She said the intern accepted responsibility for her actions, something she said Trump has not done with his actions on health-care, etc. Her full comments: pic.twitter.com/NefhdgqCxI

— Sean Sullivan (@WaPoSean) June 26, 2018

So Senator Hassan has determined that a week’s vacation is the appropriate response. We’re getting closer and closer to having Congress turn into one of those South American legislatures where literal fist fights break out on the floor and members wind up hiding under their desks. I suppose I could sit here and wring my hands over this, but let’s face it… we’re sailing on uncharted waters these days and this is probably a minor event in the larger scale of things. We’ve lived to see interesting times as the old saying goes. Anyone want to take bets on how long it will be before one of the senators themselves lets loose with a couple of F-bombs on the floor of the chamber?