The Illinois Republican Party deleted a Facebook ad that identified four freshmen congresswomen as “The Jihad Squad.”
Someone posted an image of the poster on the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association Facebook page Friday night. The poster identified Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts as “The Jihad Squad,” a play off the group’s nickname, “the squad.”
“Political jihad is their game,” the poster says. “If you don’t agree with their socialist ideology, you’re racist.”
This is on the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association’s Facebook site: pic.twitter.com/0qzKsiRzzq
— Rick Pearson (@rap30) July 21, 2019
The GOP group removed the post Sunday after it gained traction on social media. State party Chairman Tim Schneider apologized for the post and its “bigoted rhetoric.”
“The recent social media post coming from the IRCCA does not reflect my values or the Illinois Republican Party’s values,” Schneider said in a statement. “My intense disagreement with the socialist policies and anti-Semitic language of these four congresswoman has absolutely nothing to do with their race or religion. I urge everyone who opposes them to keep the rhetoric focused on policy and ideology.”
The IRCCA said it is reviewing its process for posting to social media.
The post came amid an escalating feud between President Trump and members of the squad. Last week, Trump tweeted that the four liberal congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
On Wednesday, a crowd of Trump supporters at a rally in North Carolina chanted “send her back” as the president launched into criticisms of Omar. Trump’s tweet and the crowd chant both ignited media firestorms around Trump and renewed accusations of racism and xenophobia.
