Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said she will not be drawn into the racist remarks made against her by Donald Trump.
Chao, who resigned from the Trump administration days after the January 6, 2021 attack at the Capitol, was given the chance to react to the xenophobic remarks the former president has said about her in recent months during an appearance on Fox News.
On Tuesday, Fox News host Stuart Varney asked Chao, the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, if she would like to respond to the attacks “on the grounds of your ethnicity,” which Trump has made towards her.
“The president says many things. I don’t make a point of responding to his comments,” she replied.
Varney did not press Chao for further comment, but told her that “we were all appalled at what he said.”
Trump has made a number of racially charged statements involving Chao, who was born in Taiwan, while attacking her husband McConnell.
In a September 30 post on Truth Social, Trump referred to Chao as “Coco Chow.”
“Is McConnell approving all of these Trillions of Dollars worth of Democrat sponsored Bills, without even the slightest bit of negotiation, because he hates Donald J. Trump, and he knows I am strongly opposed to them, or is he doing it because he believes in the Fake and Highly Destructive Green New Deal, and is willing to take the Country down with him?” Trump said.
“In any event, either reason is unacceptable. He has a DEATH WISH. Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow!”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House communications director, was one of the few GOP figures to condemn Trump for his attack on Chao.
“This isn’t some crazy person on the internet, this is the GOP front-runner for President if the Party doesn’t wake up & demand better,” Griffin tweeted on October 1 while sharing a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post.
“He’s not even trying to hide the racism at this point. Just despicable.”
Trump repeated the name in another Truth Social post in November in which the former president blamed McConnell for the GOP’s disappointing midterm performance.
“It’s Mitch McConnell‘s fault. Spending money to defeat great Republican candidates instead of backing Blake Masters and others was a big mistake. Giving 4 Trillion Dollars to the Radical Left for the Green New Deal, not Infrastructure, was an even bigger mistake,” Trump wrote.
“He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow!”
In another social media post in August, Trump called his former cabinet member “crazy” and accused McConnell of trying to get “rich on China.”
Trump has been contacted for comment.
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