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Ex-Canadian PM apologizes for 'rooting' for Hurricane Dorian to hit Trump's Mar-a-Lago

Campbell, the first and only female prime minister of Canada, was excoriated online for her remark.
Image: Former Prime Minister Kim Campbell
Former Prime Minister Kim Campbell.Blair Gable / Reuters file

Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell apologized Friday for posting a tweet "rooting" for Hurricane Dorian to hit President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort as the storm barrels toward the Florida coast.

"I have deleted my tweet about the hurricane & Mar a Lago and sincerely apologize to all it offended," Campbell said in a tweet. "It was intended as sarcasm-not a serious wish of harm. Throwaway lines get a life of their own on Twitter. I sh[oul]d know better. Mea culpa."

On Wednesday, as it became clearer the storm could track toward Florida, Campbell tweeted: "I'm rooting for a direct hit on Mar a Lago."

Campbell, who served as first and only female prime minister in Canada for less than five months in 1993, was excoriated online for her remark, which some characterized as insensitive.

Eric Trump, the president's son, called Campbell "classless" in a tweet Friday morning.

"Our family is rooting for the safety of millions of homes, businesses, families and wonderful people in a great State of Florida. #Classless," he wrote.

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and ally of the president, called her joke "sick & twisted," pointing out that workers at the club could be hurt by the hurricane if it crosses that way.

The National Hurricane Center placed the 126-room Mar-a-Lago mansion and grounds — built by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in Palm Beach, Florida, in the 1920s — in the path of Dorian.

Dorian strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane Friday evening, the hurricane center said. As the storm approaches Florida on Sunday and Monday, it is expected to slow down and increase in size.

Dorian could be the first Category 4 or higher hurricane to make landfall on Florida's east coast since 1992, when Hurricane Andrew was blamed for 44 deaths in the state. Anything at Category 3 or above is considered a major hurricane.

Earlier this year, Campbell was also criticized for calling Trump an expletive in a tweet and for suggesting he was mentally ill.