Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday slapped down former President Trump’s statement that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” by pointing out Trump appointed his wife, Elaine Chao, who is Taiwanese American, to serve as secretary of Transportation in 2016.
Asked about Trump’s controversial comments, which have drawn comparison to Nazi rhetoric before and during World War II, McConnell pointed out the hypocrisy of the remarks.
“It strikes me that didn’t bother him when he appointed Elaine Chao the secretary of Transportation,” he said.
Chao also served in former President George W. Bush’s Cabinet as secretary of Labor, becoming the first Asian Pacific American woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet.
You can read McConnell’s statement as meaning, “Trump doesn’t really mean his racist bullshit, he’s just playing to the crowd.” i.e.: Why would Trump appoint Chao to Sec Transportation if he really believes immigrants are poison? Maybe there’s more context than in the article, but it only looks like a “slam” if you project anti-racist sentiment onto Mitch McConnell, a man who, despite his own wife, has long carried an anti-immigrant flag.