\n<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t anything ambiguous in Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s racist rant at a rally in New Hampshire over the weekend. And yet, Republicans are once again bending over backward to pretend he didn\u2019t say exactly what he meant when he said<\/a> immigrants from South America, Africa, and Asia are \u201cpoisoning the blood of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think he was talking about the Democratic policies,\u201d New York Representative Nicole Malliotakis<\/strong> told<\/a> CNN\u2019s Abby Phillip<\/strong> Monday. \u201cI know some are trying to make it seem like President Trump is anti-immigrant. The reality is, he was married to immigrants\u2014he\u2019s hired immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n It was an absurd defense, as Phillip pointed out to the GOP lawmaker: \u201cHe was talking about people\u2014not policy,\u201d she said. But Malliotakis wasn\u2019t alone: While some of her colleagues on Capitol Hill were either trying to ignore the remarks or dismissing them as merely \u201cunhelpful,\u201d as North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis<\/strong> described them<\/a>, others have joined her in defending Trump against critics, who have pointed out the similarities between his rhetoric and that of Adolf Hitler.<\/p>\n \u201cI could care less,\u201d Lindsey Graham<\/strong> said<\/a> on Meet the Press<\/em> when asked about Trump\u2019s outrageous rally remarks. \u201cThe president has a way of talking sometimes I disagree with,\u201d he added. But \u201cif the only thing you want to talk about on immigration is the way Donald Trump talks, you\u2019re missing a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s obviously not just Trump\u2019s manner of speaking or hysteria over \u201cmean tweets,\u201d as far-right Senator Mike Lee<\/strong> implied<\/a> Monday; Trump\u2019s rhetoric is an expression of the authoritarian agenda he hopes to execute if he returns to power. He has been open<\/a> about those plans of late, campaigning on a promise to seek \u201cretribution\u201d against \u201cvermin\u201d and not even denying his desire to be a \u201cdictator\u201d like the various autocrats he can\u2019t stop praising. The Republican response to all this? To pretend he\u2019s not speaking literally, but in political poetry, open to interpretation. \u201cWe all know Trump uses unique expressions when he explains things,\u201d House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer<\/strong> said of Trump\u2019s \u201cdictator\u201d comments<\/a> last week, which even Trump critic Mitt Romney<\/strong> downplayed as the ravings of a \u201clittle baby\u201d that need not be taken \u201cliterally or seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n But Trump, incapable of being anything but totally obvious, can only<\/em> be taken literally. There\u2019s no mystery to the man, no riddles in his rhetoric. When he says he wants to be a dictator, expresses admiration for authoritarianism, and talks about prosecuting political opponents, he likely means it. But Republicans\u2019 complicity in Trump\u2019s anti-democratic ambitions makes it hard for them to really reckon with them, so they have tried to frame questions about his intentions as ones merely about his choice of words. \u201cLooks like I\u2019m looking forward to another year,” Indiana Senator Todd Young<\/strong> lamented<\/a> to Politico, \u201cof answering these questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n