Former Republican President Donald Trump lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and tossed out a racist and xenophobic reference to McConnell's wife Elaine Chao while deflecting blame onto McConnell for the GOP's poor midterm election performance.
Trump's remarks came after the "red wave" Republican legislators and pollsters had anticipated failed to materialize and once Democrats officially secured control of the Senate after their candidates and Nevada and Arizona fended off Trump-backed candidates.
Trump called the lack of a "red wave" the "fault" of McConnell, whom he accused of "Spending money to defeat great Republican candidates" instead of supporting candidates like Blake Masters in Arizona, a conspiracy theorist backed by German-American billionaire Peter Thiel, who has made substantial donations to American right-wing figures and causes.
Trump then accused McConnell of supporting legislation sponsored by Democrats before attacking McConnell's wife, writing:
"Giving 4 Trillion Dollars to the Radical Left for the Green New Deal, not Infrastructure, was an even bigger mistake."
"He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow!"
You can see Trump's post below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
In many ways, this year's midterm elections were seen as a referendum on how much sway Trump and his rhetoric still have over the American electorate. The lack of a "red wave" indicates that many voters have repudiated his lies and blatant attempts to subvert the democratic process.
Trump has ramped up his attacks against the GOP in the process, at a time when reports indicate that dissension is growing within the ranks of the Republican Party, whose members have urged senior leadership to break from Trump following the GOP's disappointing midterm election performance.
Trump has also held a grudge against Chao for some time. Chao served as Trump's Secretary of Transportation until she became one of the first members of his cabinet to resign following the January 6 insurrection, the day a mob of Trump's supporters attacked the nation's seat of government on the false premise the 2020 election had been stolen.
Many criticized Trump in response, noting his use of a racial slur serves as a "dog whistle" to his most fanatical supporters who ate up his xenophobic rhetoric on China and COVID-19 when he was in office.
\u201cEvery time Donald Trump uses the racial slur of "Coco Chow" to describe Mitch McConnell's wife, it sends a racist dog-whistle to his most fanatic supporters. Unfortunately, Donald Trump's racially-motivated rhetoric will result in more violent hate-crimes against Asian Americans.\u201d— Dash Dobrofsky (@Dash Dobrofsky) 1668441785
\u201cHe will never take the blame for the distruction his big mouth and tiny brain caused to the United States.\u201d— Edward Higuera (@Edward Higuera) 1668414172
\u201cMore blatant racism and nobody calls him on it. \ud83e\udd2c\u201d— BitterAfterDark (@BitterAfterDark) 1668442846
\u201cTrump snaps at Mitch McConnell and launches another racist attack at his wife referring to her as Coco Chow. He once again proves how he lacks the integrity and the moral character to be elected in the first place. #DJTrumpIsAPoxOnDemocracy\nhttps://t.co/IGg0n7xvBk\u201d— Positively 4Th Street (@Positively 4Th Street) 1668357802
\u201cTrump recently launched racial attacks on Mitch's wife Elaine Chao calling her Coco Chow & VA Governor Youngkin as Young Kin. But why?\n\nTrump might've just been trying to ruin Biden's hopes for a successful meeting with Xi at the G20 by launching defamatory anti-Chinese slurs.\u201d— Trump Lost By A Lot (@Trump Lost By A Lot) 1668445369
\u201cTrump again calls Mitch McConnell\u2019s wife \u201cCoco Chow.\u201d Americans have rejected Trump-brand racism, voting his candidates out. Where are Republican @GOP voices denouncing Trump #racism? #StopAsianHate\u201d— Nancy Levine \ud83d\uddf3 (@Nancy Levine \ud83d\uddf3) 1668361307
\u201cRepublican Party leader Trump on Sunday pinned the blame for the disappointing midterms on Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell in a social media post Sunday.\n\n\u201cHe blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow!\u201d Trump wrote.\n\nThis is the GOP.\u201d— Ducker Carlson (@Ducker Carlson) 1668385449
\u201c\u201cYoung Kin,\u201d \u201cSounds Chinese,\u201d \u201cCoco Chow,\u201d \u201cChina-loving\u201d \u2026 Trump openly and repeatedly slurs Asian Americans, and no one in his party seems to care.\n\nAt some point, people will decide that the GOP\u2019s complaints about \u201cwokeness\u201d are cover for its tolerance of overt bigotry.\u201d— Will Saletan (@Will Saletan) 1668181293
\u201cTrump Revives 'Coco Chow' Insult in Mitch McConnell Attack #SmartNews - \u2014racial, ethnic, antisemitic slurs need to be called out by everyone. A former POTUS must be called out on this. Stop babying Trump! He must be told to stop!! https://t.co/R7ZbIgTFx5\u201d— bonnieT (@bonnieT) 1668378239
McConnell has criticized the former President more than once and indicated he is looking to move on to ensuring Republicans regain their majority in the Senate after experiencing significant setbacks under the Trump administration.
The relationship between Trump and McConnell has been largely strained since McConnell acknowledged Democratic President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 general election even as Trump mounted a failed campaign to overturn the election results that culminated in the Capitol riot.
According to New York Times journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns—who interviewed the Kentucky Republican for their book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for American Democracy—McConnell was "exhilarated" by the potential damage the insurrection would inflict on Trump.
McConnell felt “exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself,” according to the book. The exchange was reported by multiple news outlets ahead of the book’s publication earlier this year.