Mitch McConnell On President Trump’s ‘Lynching’ Claim: ‘Unfortunate Choice Of Words’
As he regularly manages to do via social media, President Donald Trump sparked a round of fierce backlash from critics and allies on Tuesday morning after posting a tweet in which he compared the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry to a “lynching.”
After tweeting out a few relatively harmless posts about poll numbers and other political issues, the bomb dropped when he claimed that Republicans are “witnessing a lynching” over the impeachment inquiry that was sparked by his phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Critics of the president claim he attempted a quid pro quo exchange with the foreign leader in an effort to bolster his chances at winning in 2020.
“So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here — a lynching. But we will WIN!” Trump tweeted.
His choice of words drew harsh criticism immediately, with responses from a host of cable news pundits, 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, and even some of his top allies, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, according to U.S. News and World Report.
While talking with reporters on Tuesday, McConnell said the president’s message “was an unfortunate choice of words.”
“Given the history in our country, I would not compare this to a lynching,” McConnell added, referring to Trump’s impeachment inquiry battle.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, California Sen. Kamala Harris quickly condemned the president for comparing an impeachment inquiry to a “lynching,” which is widely viewed as a stain on American history.
“Lynching is a reprehensible stain on this nation’s history, as is this President. We’ll never erase the pain and trauma of lynching, and to invoke that torture to whitewash your own corruption is disgraceful,” Harris tweeted.
A growing number of lawmakers slammed the president’s usage of the term, calling for him to retract his message. As of this writing, the tweet is still published on the president’s official Twitter account.
The Congressional Black Caucus strongly rebuked the president’s comparison, proclaiming that using such a loaded term that described the torture and killing of African Americans is unacceptable. The caucus chairwoman, Rep. Karen Bass, also accused the president of using inflammatory racial rhetoric in times of political turmoil before suggesting that Trump visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.
In contrast, another top Republican ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, defended Trump’s usage of the term while speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill.
