It was just reported that Robert Reich, a former member of the presidential administrations of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, as well as being the United States Secretary of Labor in the cabinet of former President Bill Clinton, came under fire for a tweet that may interpreted to be a call for violence against Democrat Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema.
“Tonight, Republican senators lined up to shake Kyrsten Sinema’s hand. Democratic senators should have given her the backs of their hands,” he said in a tweet he has since deleted.
According to Idiom’s The Free Dictionary there are two definitions for the term “give (someone) the back of (one’s) hand.”
The first definition, which many believed he was saying, is “to strike someone with the backside of one’s open hand.”
“Fun Fact: Robert Reich, the leftist who advocates for violence against women… is only 4’11”!” conservative talk show host Tim Young said.
“Robert Reich is 4’11”. If he wanted to backhand Sinema, he’d need a set of doggie stairs,” CTO Noam Blum said.
“Ah Clintonista Robert Reich… Proposing violence against women who won’t stay in their place…,” another Twitter user said.
“January 6th? More like January 20th when former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich called to overturn democracy by committing violence on a Democrat Woman Senator. Where were you when this happened?” another said.
But there is another definition for giving “(someone) the back of (one’s) hand.” And it is the one Reich leaned on after deleting his tweet and blaming conservative media for misrepresenting what he said.about:blank
That definition is “to reject, snub, or rebuke someone; to display to someone a show of contempt, scorn, or rejection.”
“Last night I deleted a tweet because it was widely misinterpreted and distorted by conservative media. ‘Back of the hand’ is an idiom for rebuke. I wholeheartedly condemn violence against women,” he said.
And you can guess how many people were buying it.
“Just admit it… you hate women, conservative media, and women IN conservative media,” conservative writer Beth Bauman said.
“Eh, saying ‘back of the hand’ is pretty much like saying ‘pimp hand’, and that’s considered a rebuke. No one misinterpreted the tweet. You’d have been better off just saying you didn’t know what ‘back of the hand’ meant,” another Twitter user said.
“Don’t try to backtrack. You meant what you said. And I’m not even shocked. 99% of what you tweet is hateful, abusive, and vile. It’s who you are,” another said.
