The fact that Donald Trump went after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a week ago was not, in and of itself, remarkable. The former president condemns the Kentucky Republican so frequently — he told The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman on the record that McConnell is “a piece of s—” — that the rhetorical offenses barely raise eyebrows anymore.
Part of what made Trump’s attack last week stand out, however, was just how far he was willing to go. As we discussed, the former president whined a bit on his Twitter-like platform about congressional spending packages and the Green New Deal, before concluding that McConnell “has a DEATH WISH.”
For good measure, the same Trump message added, “Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow!”
This was, of course, a reference to Elaine Chao — who served as Trump’s transportation secretary for four years.
In other words, the former president not only raised the specter of political violence against his own party’s Senate leader, he also published a racist message against the senator’s wife, who happens to have served in Trump’s Cabinet.
The question was not what this told Americans about Trump’s character. We’ve known that answer for quite some time. Instead, the question was how his party might respond to such garbage.
While nearly all congressional Republicans, including those close to McConnell, said literally nothing, one member of Congress stepped up this week to deliver an unambiguous denunciation:
“Former President Trump’s inflammatory and racist attacks directed at Senator McConnell aren’t helpful to the nation or our democracy. Worse yet, they could incite political violence, and the former President knows full well that extremists often view his words as marching orders. While unsurprising, these attacks are not indicative of a leader and clearly set a poor example for future generations of Americans. I strongly condemn these attacks — as should all of my Republican and Democratic colleagues. We need to be better than this.”
That statement came from Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who, among other things, chairs the bipartisan select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Or put another way, a prominent Democrat defended the Senate Republicans’ leader in ways other Republicans would not.








