Trump’s ‘Lynching’ Comment Already Has Republicans Tripping Over Themselves

WASHINGTON — President Trump sure isn’t making it easy for Republicans to stand by their man.

Trump threw his latest test at Republicans Tuesday morning when he compared the impeachment inquiry to a "lynching," forcing them to grapple with his racially charged remarks even as they look to defend his actions.

“All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here — a lynching,” Trump tweeted.

That description put Republicans in a familiar position: distancing themselves from the president's statements while maintaining their support for him.

“That statement was wrong. I condemn that statement,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) told VICE News Tuesday morning. “The historical reference is very problematic and it's just wrong.”

Read: The Impeachment Investigation Might Get Its Most Damning Testimony on Tuesday

Stefanik made those comments as she left the GOP’s weekly press conference, where as a member of the House Intelligence Committee she lambasted Democrats for what she described as a secretive and unfair House impeachment process.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) was even more frustrated with Trump’s comments, tweeting that the president should “retract” his racially loaded comments immediately.

The handful of Republicans who’ve shown some independence from the president were harsher with their descriptions.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who’s facing a tough reelection fight, said Trump should “retract” the statement.

"Lynching brings back terrible images of a dark chapter in our nation's history, and the president never should have made that comparison,” she told VICE News.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), said she hadn’t seen the tweet but called the remark “disturbing.”

Even Trump’s own spokesman struggled to reframe his remarks.

“The president’s not comparing what’s happened to him to one of the country’s darkest moments,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters.

Republicans have been down this road before, condemning Trump’s rhetoric even as they refuse to stand up to his controversial actions. But there seems to be a growing weariness among some lawmakers who are sick of having to defend the president amid the impeachment inquiry and his controversial decision to abandon the Kurds in Syria.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), whose entire Tuesday morning press conference (and much of his leadership) was aimed at defending Trump, wasn’t thrilled with the remarks.

"That's not the language I would use,” he told reporters.

McCarthy declined to explain why he took issue with Trump’s language, however.

"I don't agree with that language. Pretty simple,” he said when VICE News asked why he wouldn’t use that language, before ignoring a follow-up question.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also expressed discomfort with the president's language.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a Trump defender facing a potentially tough reelection, offered similar remarks.

“I get his frustration. But I probably wouldn't have used that language,” she told VICE News. "I just wouldn't use it."

Yet their concern wasn’t shared by everyone in the party. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s most ardent backers, forcefully defended the president, calling the impeachment inquiry “a lynching in every sense.”

Cover: President Donald Trump gestures while speakings during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)