'What the Hell Is Wrong With You?': Outrage Erupts After Racist Trump Calls Impeachment Inquiry 'A Lynching'

President Donald Trump took his hysterical response to House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry to a new level Tuesday morning by calling the congressional proceedings “a lynching,” a term that evokes the long history of racist violence against black people in the United States.

“So some day, if a Democrat becomes president and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the president, without due process or fairness or any legal rights,” Trump tweeted. “All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here—a lynching. But we will WIN!”

The president’s tweet equating the constitutional process of impeachment to extrajudicial killings sparked outrage from lawmakers and commentators familiar with the horrific history of lynching.

“You think this impeachment is a LYNCHING? What the hell is wrong with you?” tweeted Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.). “Do you know how many people who look like me have been lynched, since the inception of this country, by people who look like you? Delete this tweet.”