The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board on Thursday condemned Missouri’s Republican delegation and Republicans across the U.S. for their “shameful silence” about President Trump’s attacks on a group of minority congresswomen.
The board wrote that Trump telling the women to “go back” where they came from was “racist to its core,” arguing that “those who don’t call it out enable it.”
“Yet of the almost dozen Republican members of Congress who represent Missouri and southern Illinois, precious few have made any public statements at all about it, clearly fearful of upsetting Trump’s base,” the board wrote, before noting how some GOP lawmakers have responded to the president’s latest comments.
The board particularly took issue with Rep. Jason Smith’s (R-Mo.) defense of Trump’s comments, saying that the congressman should read the president’s tweets again.
But overall, the board voiced the most outrage over what it calls the “cowardly, mute void” of GOP lawmakers from the region.
“Given the bright red line that Trump has so enthusiastically crossed this week, the question of whether to continue supporting him — either assertively or through inappropriate silence — is no longer merely an indicator of party loyalty or policy priorities; it has become a test of courage, character and fundamental decency,” the board concludes. “And these elected officials have failed it.”
The editorial comes days after Trump sparked an uproar by telling four minority congresswomen to go back to the “crime infested places” they came from before speaking out about the U.S. government.
Trump also claimed that the Democrats — Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) — were “from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe.” Omar is the only one among the four to be born outside the U.S. They are all U.S. citizens.
The comments were followed by a North Carolina rally crowd on Wednesday repeatedly chanting “send her back” as Trump singled out Omar.
The House on Tuesday voted to condemn Trump’s remarks as racist. Four Republicans, as well as Independent Justin Amash (Mich.), joined every Democrat in approving the resolution.
Trump has stood by remarks about the lawmakers, saying that they should leave the U.S. if they aren’t happy. He said Thursday that he disagreed with the chants that rally attendees engaged in.