The Facebook group for the Republican County Chairman's Association of Illinois posted and has since deleted, an image mimicking promotional movie posters with images of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley, calling them "The Jihad Squad." The post came after President Donald Trump took to Twitter to criticize the four congresswomen, questioning their love for the country and calling for them to leave.

"I don't believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country," Trump tweeted. "They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!"


Sunday night, the organization's president, Mark Shaw, issued an apology for the post, claiming that the post "was not authorized". Shaw also called the four congresswomen "socialist" and hoped that attention could be put back on the policies that need further discussion, such as the "Green New Deal."

Despite the apology, the group has been called out from all sides for the post, with Cook County Republican Party Chairman Sean Morrison calling the post racist to NBC.

"There are civil ways to express political differences that do not involve going to racist extremes," Morrison said. "The Illinois Republican County Chairman's Association's post only serves to further the hateful divide within our country, when we should instead strive for an intelligent, civil and thoughtful discussion of the philosophical differences between Republicans and Democrats."

The Illinois incident was not the only case of one of the congresswomen being targeted after Trump's comments. A Louisiana officer was fired after posting to his Facebook page an insinuation that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez should be shot, according to NOLA News.

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