After President Donald Trump compared the impeachment inquiry into him to a “lynching” via Twitter on Tuesday, many are attempting to convey to the president, and anyone who may have believed the false comparison to be accurate, the gravity of his word choice.
So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching. But we will WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2019
CNN anchor Don Lemon specifically took to the air in an attempt to educate the president about the history and severity of lynching. Lemon was visibly disturbed by Trump’s words.
“Comparing impeachment, which is an investigation and trial by Congress provided for in our constitution, to the brutal murders of almost 5,000 Americans? Three-quarters of them Black,” Lemon says.
The CNN Tonight host acknowledges that other people have used the word in the same sense in the past, but admits that they, too, were wrong.
“Thousands of people who look like me were murdered simply for who they were,” Lemon continues.
He goes on to describe the horrendous acts of an actual lynching. He then references Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” in which she sings of public execution.
“Southern trees bear strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood on the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees,” her opening lyrics of the 1939 song read.
“That is what lynching is and nobody, nobody, especially this man in the White House, should be playing politics with that,” Lemon says.
The 53-year-old anchor isn’t the only one to voice their horror against the 45th president's use of the word.
Representative Bobby Rush (D-IL) called out the president’s ignorance, saying people who look like him have been lynched by people who looked like Trump. He also urged the president to take the time to learn about his proposed Emmett Till Antilynching Act.
You think this impeachment is a LYNCHING? What the hell is wrong with you?
Do you know how many people who look like me have been lynched, since the inception of this country, by people who look like you. Delete this tweet. https://t.co/oTMhWo4awR
— Bobby L. Rush (@RepBobbyRush) October 22, 2019
If the President wishes to learn about actual lynching, I would encourage him to read, support, & pass my bill, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which makes lynching a federal hate crime.
Unfortunately for him, there are no anti-impeachment sections. https://t.co/onWlWpifX6
— Bobby L. Rush (@RepBobbyRush) October 22, 2019
Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Representative Karen Bass questioned how Trump could compare the two.
You are comparing a constitutional process to the PREVALENT and SYSTEMATIC brutal torture of people in THIS COUNTRY that looked like me? https://t.co/3v4oMuPC6C
— Congressmember Bass (@RepKarenBass) October 22, 2019
Many other lawmakers also chimed in.
Lynching is a reprehensible stain on this nation's history, as is this President. We'll never erase the pain and trauma of lynching, and to invoke that torture to whitewash your own corruption is disgraceful. https://t.co/XOlsazwwRL
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 22, 2019
Lynching is an act of terror used to uphold white supremacy. Try again. pic.twitter.com/TcDR01XelB
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) October 22, 2019
Trump waged a campaign to have the Central Park 5 killed.
He claimed Barack Obama wasn't born here.
He called Nazis in Charlottesville "fine people"
He said African nations are "shithole countries"
He's a racist, and this lynching comment is just more evidence.
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) October 22, 2019
Using this term draws up some of America’s darkest history—Trump is yet again a disgrace and massively offensive.
Nobody is above the law, including him. He has abused his power—and he’s been caught. Do not get caught up in his latest distraction tactic. https://t.co/xjQfjyCDl8
— Yvette D. Clarke (@RepYvetteClarke) October 22, 2019
It is atrocious that the President would refer to one of the most horrifying, violent practices of white supremacists to pretend he is a victim of anything but his own actions.
Take this moment to learn abt this dark history,& why we should support the Commission on Reparations. https://t.co/UKmMdy7h0c
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 22, 2019
According to the NAACP, Black people were the victims of 3,400 of the 4,700 lynchings that took place between 1882 and 1968. Not all lynchings were recorded.
