President Donald Trump’s turkey-day tirade left a minimum of one GOP strategist in close to disbelief.
Melik Abdul appeared on CNN’s “The Enviornment” on Friday, the place visitor host Manu Raju requested him for his tackle the two-part Truth Social submit Trump made simply earlier than 11:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving. In it, the president claimed he would “completely pause” immigration from “all Third World international locations,” characterised Somali immigrants as “taking on” Minnesota, accused Somalia-born Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) of coming into the USA illegally, and known as the state’s Gov. Tim Walz “critically retarded.”
“You’re the Republican within the room,” Raju mentioned, earlier than asking Abdul if he may “defend” the language utilized by Trump within the submit.
“No, and I by no means do,” Abdul mentioned, including that Trump is “recognized to say issues” which can be “a bit inappropriate.”
He then recalled his preliminary shocked response.
“I used to be a type of who mentioned after I noticed it yesterday, I used to be like, ‘Oh, bro, you gotta be kidding me now,’” he mentioned.
The conservative commentator narrowed in on one comment he discovered particularly egregious. Trump had referred to Omar, who’s Muslim, as being “all the time wrapped in her swaddling hijab.”
Abdul continued, “As a result of he mentioned one thing, I believe it was ‘swaddling.’ She was like, in a ‘swaddling hijab.’ Like, you’re utilizing the picture that we often affiliate with Christmas and Christ and Jesus.”
Abdul argued that whereas Trump’s rhetoric might not damage him a lot personally, it may injury the GOP extra broadly, since his inflammatory feedback are “one of many issues that folks say again and again that they simply don’t like.”
“What occurs to the Republican Social gathering?” he requested. “Not Donald Trump, however what occurs to the Republican Social gathering?”
