'We should be so far beyond that': GOP senators back on defense as Trump attacks backfire

Donald Trump's decision to make personal attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris in front of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Chicago last week has Republican senators who had lined up behind his bid for a return to the Oval Office scrambling to come up with words to defend it or fleeing reporters looking for comment.

According to a report from the Washington Post, Republican lawmakers were enjoying smooth sailing backing the former president as the focus of the election was on whether President Joe Biden was up to running for re-election.

That all changed when Biden stepped aside and Harris stepped into the spotlight as the apparent Democratic presidential nominee.

ALSO READ: We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast.

The report notes that things took a turn for the worse for GOP senators who had grown weary of defending Trump over the years and were enjoying the respite.

After the former president made his highly-criticized comments about Harris' ethnic background, insisting that she had "turned Black" while also holding forth on "Black jobs" in front of the NABJ, GOP lawmakers are now back to trying to deflect questions about Trump's words.

According to the report, "...as Trump marched through the GOP primaries without any serious competition, and as voters soured on Biden amid questions about his capacity to serve, Senate Republicans embraced what they considered to be a certain victor, especially since he led them to believe that he was a different candidate," adding, "By 3 p.m. Wednesday, all those hopes for a unity-and-policy-centric campaign came undone."

The report notes that Sen. John Thune (R-SD), a senior GOP leader, had to be asked to stop and talk to reporters about Trump's latest behavior, where he offered up, "Um, the campaign is — needs to be — mostly about the issues. There’s plenty to talk about, and I just think that’s where the focus needs to be."

According to the Post's Paul Kane, "In the flip of a switch, Republicans were back on defense, reassuming the same roles they had been playing in years past."

While the Post is reporting the former president has a few defenders unconcerned about his latest attacks, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) used the opportunity to rage at how the Trump campaign is going so far.

“Think about it," she told reporters on Wednesday. "What have we been talking about all week long? Childless cat women, DEI candidates. Now, is she Black? Is she Indian?”

On Thursday she doubled down and bluntly stated, "A campaign built on insults of an individual — we should be so far beyond that. It should not be about which nasty name you can call somebody. It should be about the issues.”

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