GOP strategist Tara Setmayer says Republicans will defend Trump until he uses the N-word

Republican strategist Tara Setmayer told a CNN panel that the only way the GOP is going to be willing to stand up to President Donald Trump is if he uses the N-word.

In a panel discussion with CNN's Jake Tapper, Setmayer said that the Republicans in office will bend over backward trying to defend everything the president says and does.

"I think we’re at the point where I think anything short of the N-word they will make excuses for because at that point there is really no question about it, right?" she said. "So, it is obvious to everyone else, it is amazing to me how many of the Republicans are going out there and I said this yesterday, try to white-splain to people of color what racism is and what it feels like to deal with that every single day."

She said that she doubted Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has ever been told to go back to "wherever the hell he came from" and she doubted Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has either. However, McConnell's wife, who is Chinese-American, likely has had the experience, Setmayer continued.

"These people are trying to trip over themselves and change the subject and deflect from the fact that the president of the United States is racist," she said.

Then cited George Conway's op-ed in the Washington Post where he talked about being half Filipino and what his experience was like when he was a kid. She said that it was something that truly resonated with her.

"This is a very powerful thing and I think the Republicans trying to sweep this under the rug, thank God for a few that came out," she said, wishing more would. "But the rest of them trying to act like this is about ideology is ridiculous. We’re talking about a president that doesn’t know what western-style liberalism is and you expect us to believe this is about ideology. This is about race."

Watch her full comments below: