Donald Trump created controversy on Tuesday by describing the impeachment inquiry launched by House Democrats as a “lynching,” adding that this paves the way for future presidents to be impeached “without due process or fairness or any legal rights.”
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
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!
This isn’t the first time that the racially charged word was used in a high-profile political battle. Back in 1991, now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said his confirmation process was like a “high-tech lynching.”
Trump’s choice of words was criticized by Democrats with Congressman Bobby Rush, tweeting, “You think this impeachment is LYNCHING? 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.” (FOX News)
Hot Takes:
- Trump seems to frequently press racial hot buttons.
- What happened to the “witch hunt”? I wonder if witches have been offended by the use of that term?
- Trump is trying to get sympathy from his supporters, but I don’t know if anyone else is buying it.