Donald Trump referred to impeachment proceedings against him as a “lynching” in a Tuesday morning tweet, sparking condemnation for using such a racially charged word to describe his political predicament. “So some day,” the president wrote, “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!”
The California representative Karen Bass, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Trump’s “lynching” tweet was consistent with his pattern of throwing out “racial bombs” to give “red meat” to his base when his back is against the wall. “You think this impeachment is a LYNCHING?” tweeted the Illinois representative Bobby Rush. “What the hell is wrong with you? Do you know how many people who look like me have been lynched, since the inception of this country, by people who look like you. Delete this tweet.”
Even Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a stalwart Trump ally, said the president had spoken poorly.“Given the history in our country I would not compare this to a lynching,” McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill. “That was an unfortunate choice of words.”Some elected officials defended Trump. Senator Tim Scott, the sole African American Republican in Congress apart from one retiring representative, is from South Carolina.