McConnell and other Senate Republicans criticize Trump’s speech on immigrants
When Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, was asked about former President Donald J. Trump’s now standard statement that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” Senator McConnell gave an indirect but dismissive answer.
“Well, it strikes me that he wasn’t bothered when he appointed Elaine Chao to be secretary of transportation,” said Mr. McConnell, the Senate minority leader. Ms. Chao, who was born in Taiwan and immigrated to America as a child, is married to Mr. McConnell.
Mr. McConnell referred to a A feud that has been simmering for more than a year about the former president’s racist attacks on Ms. Chao. Mr. Trump, who often referred to her by the derisive nickname “Coco Chow,” has suggested that she — and by extension her husband, Mr. McConnell — are beholden to China because of her connections to the country.
Mr Trump repeated his claim of ‘blood poisoning’ at a rally in New Hampshire on Saturdaywhich prompted an outpouring of criticism from Senate Republicans this week.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine told a reporter from The Independent that the former president’s comments were “deplorable.”
“It was appalling that these comments are commonplace – they have no place, especially from a former president,” Ms Collins said.
Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, denounced Trump’s language as “unacceptable.”
“I think that rhetoric is very inappropriate,” Mr Rounds said, according to NBC News. “But this government’s policy responds directly to this. And so I don’t agree with that. I think we should celebrate our diversity.”
McConnell’s own sideline response, in which he did not directly criticize Trump’s language, indicated that even some of the former president’s boldest Republican critics on Capitol Hill are treading lightly as he dominates the polls in the Republican presidential race.
Mr. McConnell has spent years trying to steer the party away from Mr. Trump after the riot at the Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, largely because he considers the former president a political loser. Often as Mr. McConnell criticizes Mr. Trump He does this by expressing his behavior would make it difficult for him to win another presidential election.
Senate Republicans are also trying to strike a deal with the White House, proposing sweeping migration restrictions in exchange for approving additional military aid to Ukraine and Israel, a top priority for President Biden.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and Senate Majority Leader, denounced Trump’s comments on Tuesday as “despicable” but indicated that Senate Democrats would move forward with negotiations on border restrictions.
“We all know there is a problem at the border,” Mr. Schumer said. “The president does. Democrats do. And we are going to try to solve that problem in accordance with our principles.”
Other Senate Republicans more subtly warned Mr. Trump about his comments, citing their own immigrant heritage or the principle that America is a nation of immigrants.
“My grandfather is an immigrant, so I don’t share that view,” said John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. said in a CNN interview on Monday. He added, “We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws,” describing illegal immigration as “a runaway train at the southern border.”
But other Republicans in the Senate embraced Trump’s language. Senator Tommy Tuberville, who had defended white supremacists serving in the military for retract his comments said this year that Trump’s attacks on immigrants did not go far enough.
“I’m angry he wasn’t stronger than that,” Mr. Tuberville said told a reporter from The Independent. ‘When you see what’s happening at the border? We are being swamped. They’re taking us over.”
Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio said it was “objectively and clearly true” that “illegal immigrants were poisoning the blood of the country.” He also scolded the reporter who asked him about Mr. Trump’s comments, accusing her of using Mr. Trump’s words to try to “reduce the boundaries of the debate about immigration in this country.”
Representative Nicole Malliotakis, the only Republican in a New York City House of Representatives seat, denied that Trump’s comments referred to immigrants.
“He didn’t say the words ‘immigrants,’ I think he was talking about Democratic policies,” she said in a CNN interview on Monday. “Look, I know some are trying to give the impression that Trump is anti-immigrant. The reality is that he married immigrants and hired immigrants.”