July 22, 2019

Trump’s Racist Comments Have Spawned Violent Threats Against Lawmakers of Color

Offensive Facebook posts are targeting the four congresswomen of color whom the president denigrated.

Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Ayanna Presley (D-Mass.).Carol Guzy/Zuma

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

President Donald Trump’s racist comments directed at four congresswomen of color have spawned escalating social media attacks on the group known as the Squad, sometimes advocating violence against the lawmakers.

In one episode, a police officer in Louisiana wrote on Facebook that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) should be shot. The officer from Gretna, Louisiana wrote, “This vile idiot needs a round……..and I don’t mean the kind she used to serve,” in response to a fake news post claiming that Ocasio-Cortez believed soldiers were paid too much.

In a press conference late Monday, Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson announced that the officer who wrote the post, Charles Rispoli, as well as another officer who liked it, Angelo Varisco, had been fired. “We have a zero-tolerance policy,” Lawson told reporters. “This incident, we feel, has been an embarrassment to our department, that these officers have certainly acted in a manner which was unprofessional.”

“Alluding to a violent act to be conducted against a sitting US congresswoman, a member of our government, we’re not going to tolerate that.”

In another Facebook post, the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association shared an image of Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ayanna Presley (D-Mass.), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) labeled “Jihad Squad.” The image spoofs a movie poster for the 2013 film “Gangster Squad.” The post was accompanied by the caption, “Political Jihad is their game. If you don’t agree with their socialist ideology, you’re racist.”

The attacks on the first-term congresswomen came less than a week after Trump stood idly by as his supporters chanted “send her back” in reference to Omar, a naturalized citizen from Somalia. Earlier last week, Trump had suggested that all four congresswomen of color—including those born in the United States—”go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate