WSJ Denounces Trump’s ‘Death Wish’ Attack on McConnell and His Wife: ‘Ugly’ Even By ‘Trump’s Standards’
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The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board blasted former President Donald Trump and accused him of fomenting violence with his latest attack on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
“We live in a polarized political age when rabid partisans don’t need provocation to resort to violence,” the board wrote in an editorial released on Sunday. “This makes Donald Trump’s latest verbal assault against Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell all the more reckless.”
The board made it clear they were directing their criticism at Trump’s Truth Social post, where he stormed at McConnell and said he “has a DEATH WISH” for approving legislative bills that Democrats sponsored. This was the same post where Trump took a racially-charged shot at Chao by saying, “Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow!”
“This continues Mr. Trump’s attacks on Elaine Chao, Mr. McConnell’s wife, for being Chinese-American,” The board continued. Even though Chao is an American citizen whose family has business dealings with China, the board determined that “her real offense was resigning as transportation secretary after Mr. Trump’s disgraceful behavior on Jan. 6. His feud with Mr. McConnell is also personal, as the Kentucky Senator condemned Mr. Trump’s Jan. 6 actions and hasn’t spoken to him since.”
The op-ed continued:
The “death wish” rhetoric is ugly even by Mr. Trump’s standards and deserves to be condemned. Mr. Trump’s apologists claim he merely meant Mr. McConnell has a political death wish, but that isn’t what he wrote. It’s all too easy to imagine some fanatic taking Mr. Trump seriously and literally, and attempting to kill Mr. McConnell. Many supporters took Mr. Trump’s rhetoric about former Vice President Mike Pence all too seriously on Jan. 6.
The piece references a recent conversation Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) had with The New York Times after a vandal broke a window of her house. Collins spoke about the increasing trend of violent threats toward lawmakers, and she said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed” amid these “active threats of violence and real violence.”
“Five weeks from Election Day, Mr. Trump could be working and spending money to elect a GOP Congress or to help his home state of Florida recover from Hurricane Ian,” the WSJ board concludes. “Instead he’s attacking Mr. McConnell and his wife as part of a personal political vendetta, and putting every Republican candidate on the spot to respond to questions about the Trump rant. Mr. Trump always puts himself first, and with this rhetoric he may put others at genuine risk of harm.”
