When President Donald Trump fired off his racist tweets about Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), he sent Trumpworld and the GOP into a tailspin.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday that, like he so often does, Trump acted alone when he tweeted last week that the four American congresswomen should “go back” to the “crime infested places from which they came.” And when he did, aides and allies tried to convince him that it was a bad idea–without actually telling him so directly.
“You put your head up, and you get it cut off,” an unnamed staffer involved with fundraising for Trump’s reelection campaign told the Post. “And then everyone remembers you weren’t loyal when this blows over.”
Though only four House Republicans broke rank to vote with Democrats to condemn Trump’s tweets, several GOPers and Trump’s own aides behind the scenes were reportedly at best uncomfortable with Trump’s racist rhetoric.
Trump’s campaign and the National Republican Committee were silent about the tweets. A senior Republican senator told the Post it was “dumb politics.” And above all, “nobody wanted to touch it.”
But Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), like some of Trump’s other allies, just wanted to ride out the disaster.
“Well, he always doubles down,” Graham told the Post. “Then he adjusts.”
Trump’s response to the Post’s story on Sunday morning was fairly predictable:
The Washington Post Story, about my speech in North Carolina and tweet, with its phony sources who do not exist, is Fake News. The only thing people were talking about is the record setting crowd and the tremendous enthusiasm, far greater than the Democrats. You’ll see in 2020!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2019
