Friday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) had an ominous warning about President Donald Trump’s attacks on the so-called “Squad,” made up of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-NY) Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
Murphy said, “So the crowd was chanting a recitation of the president’s tweets. The president can’t disavow because they were commanding what he had announced the day before, that Ilhan Omar and others who opposed him of a different skin color should go back to their country of origin, whatever that may be. So it’s totally bizarre that he thinks he can disavow something he originated. Republicans have to call him out on this. I understand that many are tired of having to constantly answer for the president’s outrageous behavior, but he crossed a line here that unfortunately many of his followers are willing to go with him on. And if we don’t collectively Republicans and Democrats say there’s no place in this country for the most important person, the president of the United States, engaging in overt racist language. I think we risk the whole democratic experience falling apart. I don’t think we should take for granted this miraculous experiment that’s lasted for 240 years, a multiethnic nation making decisions together through self-determination that hasn’t have to persist if we all fall back into our camps if we allow this president to divide us. I don’t think we should assume this sticks around for another 240 years. I think it’s that important. ”
He added, “I think we have all used, you know, our friendships and our relationships across the aisle to explain to them the political downside of getting crosswise with the president is a very small price to pay for the survival of the republic, and I know that sounds like hyperbole. I get it. A lot of the Republican friends will think I’m overhyping the threat. But I think if you let him get away with this, he’s telegraphing what this is the next year and a half is going to be like. He is telegraphing to you what his re-election campaign is going to be all about. And if that’s what we have to live through the next year and a half, it’s a danger to democracy.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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