Republican Strategist Can’t Believe Trump’s Thanksgiving Day Rant: ‘Bro, You Gotta Be Kidding Me’

A Republican strategist on CNN slammed President Donald Trump for calling Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) “seriously retarded” in a Thanksgiving Day social media post.

On Wednesday, two West Virginia National Guard members were shot in Washington, D.C. after being deployed there by Trump in August, one of whom died on Wednesday. The suspected gunman is a 29-year-old Afghan national who reportedly fought for a CIA-backed paramilitary unit during the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan.

On Thanksgiving, Trump posted on Truth Social that he is declaring a “permanent pause” on immigration from “Third World Countries.” The president has also singled out Somali immigrants, who are particularly prominent in Minnesota. Additionally, Trump slammed Walz as “seriously retarded” and criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a Somali immigrant, for being “always wrapped in her swaddling hijab.”

On Friday’s edition of The Arena on CNN, guest host Manu Raju read excerpts from the post before turning to Republican operative Melik Abdul.

“That was the language from the president of the United States on Thanksgiving night,” Raju said. “You’re the Republican in the room. Can you defend that?”

“No, and I never do,” Abdul replied, stating that Trump’s comments speak to “a very small base” of right-wingers. “So, I was one of those who said when I saw it yesterday, I was like, ‘Oh, bro, you gotta be kidding me now,’ because he said something, I think it was ‘swaddling.’ She was in a s’waddling hijab.’ Like, you’re using the image that we usually associate with Christmas and Christ and Jesus. And you’re saying that as a swaddling hijab.”

Abdul went on to say that Trump’s Thanksgiving remarks and others like them harm downballot Republicans.

“So what happens to the Republican Party?” he asked. “Not Donald Trump, but what happens to the Republican party? And I think that Donald Trump needs to also be focused, as much as he is on his own approval rating and MAGA on the rest of the party downballot, because these are one of the things that people say over and over again that they just do not like.”

Watch above via CNN.