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Donald Trump Manages to Find a New Low by Calling the Impeachment Inquiry a “Lynching”

And here's who's defending him.

A close-up of Donald Trump pointing at something.

Donald Trump has repeatedly called the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry (as well as Robert Mueller’s investigation before it) a “witch hunt,” a “fraud,” a “hit job,” and the like. But he reached a new low in his gaslighting self-victimization Tuesday when he referred to the inquiry as a “lynching.”

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It’s one thing to so completely misrepresent this process (impeachment IS due process!), but to call it a lynching. Trump once claimed that “There has been no President in the history of our Country who has been treated so badly as I have.” Melania said she was “the most bullied person in the world.” These are not people with self-awareness.

But “lynching” is so specifically rooted in a history of brutal racism that Trump’s usage is shockingly offensive, even for him.

Of course, there are some Republicans still clamoring to defend Trump, even here. The always terrible Lindsey Graham said this “is a lynching in every sense.” (He also called it “un-American,” as if our country weren’t built on a foundation of violent racism.)

Ted Cruz also defended Trump (obviously).

Newt Gingrich defended Trump on The View while also admitting “there are things he does that make it harder” to do so.

Ohio’s Jim Jordan is also defending Trump by saying “he’s frustrated,” which is, at its core, just a rewording of a “you brought this on yourself” sort of sentiment.

Here is a great thread, by the way, for anyone who doesn’t understand why “lynching” is not a word to throw around just because someone is “frustrated.” (Click through for more resources.)

(image: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Author
Vivian Kane
Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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