PresidentDonald Trumpsparked immediate across-the-aisle outcry on Tuesday after he called the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry “a lynching,” comparing the scandal engulfing his administration to the racist, extrajudicial killings of black people throughout American history.
Several lawmakers were outraged with the president’s word choice on Twitter as he tried to argue that the investigation came “without due process.”
While this was Trump’s first use of the phrase “lynching,” he previouslyretweeteda statement in September 2015 that referred to his treatment from journalists as a “disgusting lynching” during the 2016 election,CNNreported.
Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty
In a later thread, Rush tweeted, “If the President wishes to learn about actual lynching, I would encourage him to read, support, & pass my bill, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which makes lynching a federal hate crime.”
“Unfortunately for him, there are no anti-impeachment sections,” Rush wrote.
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Trump critic, also spoke out.
“We can all disagree on the process, and argue merits. But never should we use terms like ‘lynching’ here. The painful scourge in our history has no comparison to politics, and @realDonaldTrump should retract this immediately. May God help us to return to a better way,” hetweeted.
The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates weighed in as well.
Sen.Kamala Harriswrote that the president’s statementwas “disgraceful.”
“We’ll never erase the pain and trauma of lynching, and to invoke that torture to whitewash your own corruption is disgraceful,” she tweeted.
According to theWashington Post, former Vice PresidentJoe Bidenalso criticized Trumpbut soon apologized himselffor describing the impeachment of PresidentBill Clintonas a “lynching” in the ’90s.
source: people.com
