Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested the president “knock it down a notch” and “aim higher” with his comments on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other progressive members of her squad in a Monday morning interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.”
“Aim higher. We don’t need to know anything about them personally. Talk about their policies,” Graham implored.
Graham’s right, and the president would be well-advised to heed his counsel.
Democrats have begun eating their own. Allow them to feast undistracted, and a 2020 win is in the bag for the Republican Party. Democrats’ natural, politically cannibalistic impulses will be their undoing, but only if they’re permitted to maintain focus on wresting power from their party comrades rather than their ideological foes.
“We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of communists. They hate Israel. They hate our own country. They’re calling the guards along our border, the border patrol agents, concentration camp guards. They accuse people of who support Israel of doing it ‘for the benjamins.’ They’re anti-Semitic. They’re anti-America,” Graham acknowledged.
Asked if he thought the president went too far with his recent tweets admonishing the “squad,” Graham said, “They are American citizens. They won an election. Take on their policies."
If President Trump tempers his tweets and embraces the sentiments expressed by Sen. Graham this morning, he will enjoy an additional term in office. If he does not, his re-election chances may dim significantly, and along with it, our chance to repair the damage done by Democrat-initiated policies and our chances to reclaim our Constitutionally-defined roots.
Over the weekend, the president tweeted a series of attacks on the “The Squad.” “The Squad” is a quartet of House freshman, all of whom are young women of color. They include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run.
"Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done.
"These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!” Trump tweeted on Sunday, emphasis added.
The predictable firestorm that followed re-focused the whole of the Democratic Party on lobbing accusations of racism at the president, rather than at one another. And they were doing a pretty good job of tearing each other apart on this very issue prior to the president weighing in.
Nancy Pelosi is now reportedly planning to introduce a resolution condemning President Trump’s remarks. That will likely command an entire news cycle, at least on legacy media.
How could they not? Though he likely did not mean it as it sounded, the president served that opportunity up to them on a silver platter. “Go back to where you came from” is an undeniably racist trope, and Trump’s use of it—even if wielded without racist intent—puts him in a position of having to defend himself for using it.
Only one of the four members of The Squad was born in a foreign country, and all are American citizens who were duly elected to Congress.
As loathsome as their policies, words, and actions may be—and some are utterly heinous—these Congresswomen arrived at their current positions of political power in the same way the president did—by a vote of the people.
Later on Sunday, to his credit, President Trump ratcheted down the rhetoric somewhat.
“So sad to see the Democrats sticking up for people who speak so badly of our Country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion. Whenever confronted, they call their adversaries, including Nancy Pelosi, ‘RACIST.’
"Their disgusting language and the many terrible things they say about the United States must not be allowed to go unchallenged. If the Democrat Party wants to continue to condone such disgraceful behavior, then we look even more forward to seeing you at the ballot box in 2020!” he said in a two-part tweet.
Monday morning, the president again tweeted a series of remarks about the Democrats in general and the Squad in particular. He called out the party for “unit[ing] around the foul language & racist hatred spewed from the mouths and actions of these very unpopular & unrepresentative Congresswomen.”
In addition, he asked when an apology to the country, to the people of Israel, and to his office might be forthcoming from the Squad for the “foul language” and “terrible things they have said.”
The chances of that are about equal to a snowball’s chance in Hades.
Interestingly, the president also indicated in the tweet that comments from the anti-Semitic “Radical Left Congresswomen” had “made Israel feel abandoned by the U.S.”
A bit later Monday morning, the president quoted Graham in his appearance on Fox & Friends in a trio of tweets.
With 2020 election campaigning in full swing, the president would do himself, the Party, and the country a great service by embracing Graham’s advice.
“Make [The Squad] the face of the future of the Democratic Party—you’ll destroy the Democratic Party,” said Graham, but with the following caveat. “Make it about their policy, not about them.”