On MSNBC, following Trump's racist Twitter rant calling the district of House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) "a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" where "no human being would want to live," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) condemned her Republican colleagues for only ever criticizing Trump's racism behind his back and behind closed doors.
"Elijah Cummings has responded in a very measured way, but to your point, he offers the dignity befitting the office that he holds, and I'm talking about Elijah Cummings," said anchor Alex Witt. "At what point do you think any Republicans ... might respond to this? Do you expect a response?"
"A couple weekends ago, when Trump tweeted those racist tweets at the four congresswomen — but it wasn't just at them, Alex. I'm one of only 14 naturalized U.S. Citizens who is a Congress member out of 535, born outside the United States, proudly here since I was 16 years old. So this is affecting everybody across the country," said Jayapal. "What one Republican told me a couple weeks ago when that tweet happened, he said, 'No, I'm so outraged by it, I told my children they should never say things like that.' I said, 'Sir, with respect, if you told your children that, say it publicly. We need you to come out and say it publicly.'"
"I'm trying to do what can, behind the scenes, not revealing names or anything like that, just wanting my Republican colleagues to remember that throughout the course of our country's history, we have needed great voices of moral clarity on either side to bring us back to the values that hold us together as Americans," added Jayapal. "And right now, that is sadly lacking on the other side of the aisle. And I don't believe it's because people don't know it's wrong. I believe it's because they're scared of the bully in the White House. And we should not allow our Constitution to be brought down because people are scared of a bully in the White House."
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