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When Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene stood on the House floor this month to announce a proposal to censure the only Somali-born lawmaker, she said, He said he is seeking punishment for this. ”
Earlier in the week, Texas Republican Rep. Troy Neals called the black husband of Missouri Rep. Cori Bush, a fellow Democratic woman of color, a “thug.” Additionally, she said, she has received so many death threats because Bush, who is also black, “always talked loudly.”
In a hearing on Capitol Hill, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, slammed TikTok CEO Shu Chiu’s country of origin. Mr Cotton repeatedly demanded to know whether Mr Chu, who is from Singapore, was Chinese, held a Chinese passport or was a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
“No, Senator, I repeat, I am Singaporean,” Mr Chew responded, agitated, after repeatedly saying he was not Chinese.
Around the same time, House Republicans released a report on their impeachment charge against Cuban-born Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the department’s first Latino head. In unusually conspicuous language for a committee report, the committee described its action as “removing Secretary Mayorkas from office.”
In private, the language was even uglier. In a closed session of House Republicans, the committee chairman, Rep. Mark E. Greene, R-Tennessee, called Mayorkas a “reptile” for refusing to resign, according to Politico. White House officials condemned the statement, noting that Mayorkas is Jewish and that the comment reflected an anti-Semitic trope.
And it all happened within a week.
Racist rhetoric by Republican lawmakers has become so commonplace, in both casual comments and public statements, that it often passes without serious condemnation from the party. Democrats have frequently asked for an apology but no longer expect any response. Accusations quickly disappear into the mire of polarizing content on social media.
This pattern is unfolding as the Republican Party once again unites behind former President Donald J. Trump. Former President Trump routinely made bigoted statements during his first White House campaign and throughout his presidency. His approach has encouraged some Republicans to freely use rhetoric that denigrates people based on ethnicity, religion, or national origin.
“The whole point of Trumpism is that it emboldens extremism,” said Rep. Richie Torres, a Black Democrat from New York. “Republican lawmakers have accused Asian witnesses of ethnic loyalty, dehumanized Cabinet members, accused Muslim women of treason, and described black men as thugs. You are crossing a line that should never be crossed.”
Torres said the sad reality is that “extreme elements have concluded that while racism may be morally bad, it is good politics.”
He said, “Rather than representing the best of America, Congress increasingly represents the worst.”
Republicans on Capitol Hill have similar concerns, but they rarely air them publicly. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office has not commented on the latest incident.
The Republican Party, which has relied primarily on white voters for decades, has struggled to win over black voters Willie Horton, whether it was Barry Goldwater, who vocally opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or George H.W. He has long used fear and prejudice to energize his support base, whether it be through hiring. 1988 presidential ad.
Mr. Trump has doubled down on that strategy, pushing the racist lie that President Barack Obama, America’s first black president, was not born in the United States and entering the national political debate.
As president, Trump has routinely made racist comments that go beyond dog whistles, calling African countries “shithole countries” and responding to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. “There are very fine people on both sides,” he told the four. Democratic Party members of color are known as the “squad” to “go back” to where they came from. (Of the four, only Omar was born outside the United States.)
Trump recently called Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants and a rival for the Republican nomination, “Nimrada,” a misspelling of her first name, Nimarata. He also expanded on social media posts falsely claiming that she was not born in the United States.
Trump campaign spokesman Steve Chiang did not apologize for Trump’s language, saying, “President Trump is a truth teller, and the more people who follow his lead and speak their minds, the better.” ” he said.
The racially offensive comments resonate with Trump’s coalition, a country that is 59% white and 85% white, although that number is getting smaller by the day. Republicans in Congress are also trying to capitalize on dissatisfaction among their base.
Greene is raising money for a censure proposal against Omar. The condemnation was written based on a mistranslation of a statement in Somali that went viral on right-wing social media, fueling the loop by amplifying hate and hatred. Misinformation on the internet.
“Ilhan Omar embodies the greatest threat facing America: hordes of immigrants entering our country without any real desire to assimilate or embrace what it means to be American.” ,” Ms. Green wrote in a fundraising appeal to small donors. Her statement embraces the core tenets of the conspiracy theory known as displacement theory, which explains demographic change as a conspiracy by Western elites, including Jews, to replace white people and usurp their power. There is.
Stuart P. Stevens, a former Republican strategist who has described the Republican Party as “the party of white discontent,” took a recent spate of racist comments directly at Trump.
“I don’t have to argue that President Trump has made people more racist, but I do dispute the fact that President Trump has given people permission to express racist views,” Stevens said in an interview. I don’t think I can do it,” he said.
“There’s a guy running for the Republican presidential nomination who’s mocking the ethnic heritage of his opponent,” he said, referring to Trump’s misuse of Haley’s first name. Ta. “There is no force in the Republican Party to punish this.”
The accusations by Democrats appear to have only emboldened Republicans.
In her censure resolution, Greene accused Omar of making “treasonous statements” and acting as a foreign agent of the Somali government. She falsely quotes Omar as saying that he is “Somalia first” and will influence U.S. policy towards Somalia, and Omar gives a speech in Somali that has been circulated on right-wing social media accounts. was reacting to the video.
That translation has since been debunked by multiple independent news outlets. In fact, Omar’s comments were consistent with the government’s official position on Somalia.
“As long as I’m in Congress, no one will take away Somalia’s seas,” she said. “And the United States is not going to help other people rob us.”
However, that did not prevent Ms. Green from continuing to push for her own measure, which cited the mistranslation. Some Republicans said they were unlikely to support the bill, but Greene insisted it was “not a repeal or a setback.”
Her actions drew condemnation from Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, and a social media feud began. When Mr. Greene teased Mr. McGovern about his bathroom habits, Mr. McGovern replied, “Aren’t you late for a Klan meeting?”
Democrats, meanwhile, argued that the “reptilian” comments about Mayorkas were evidence that the impeachment process itself was motivated by racism.
“Chairman Greene’s comments are clearly biased,” said Representative Delia Ramirez, D-Illinois. “This whole impeachment process has been a spectacle of bigotry and bigotry.”
Republicans are seeking to impeach a Cabinet member for the first time since 1876, but have not presented any evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors. Instead, he plans to call a second vote and accuse Mayorkas of intentionally encouraging an “invasion” of immigrants. on his impeachment on Tuesday after a first attempt failed.
The AAPI Victory Fund, a political action committee that supports Asian American candidates, called Cotton’s questioning of Chu “disgraceful, blatantly racist and extremely dangerous.” But the senator defended it in an interview with Fox News.
Mr Cotton said: “It is perfectly reasonable to proceed with a series of inquiries into whether he himself, like the company, is under the influence of the Chinese Communist Party.”
New York Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries called Neals’ “thug” comment “disgraceful” and “promoted with clearly racist and inflammatory language. ” he said. he demanded an apology.
No one came.
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