By now, you’ve probably heard about The Squad, which refers to four women of color in Congress that are getting a lot of love from progressives: Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Donald Trump has taken to bashing them especially hard lately, which may be what got some Republicans on board with a now-viral meme that is, to put it delicately, shameful.
In this case, the Illinois Republican County Chairman’s Association (RCCA) Facebook group shared a meme that depicted the four members of The Squad. Instead, however, it labeled them as the Jihad Squad. Other text on the image included the phrase, “Political jihad is their game,” and, “If you don’t agree with their socialist ideology, you’re racist.” On the bottom right corner of the meme is the Illinois Republican group’s logo.
As a reminder: Tlaib and Omar are the first Muslim women ever elected into Congress. Ever.
If you’d rather not look at the sickening meme (embedded in the tweet below), here’s a description of the visual setup. It’s basically modeled after the movie poster for Gangster Squad, an action movie that came out in 2013. In this case, Omar has a rifle, Pressley has a handgun, Ocasio-Cortez is surrounded by flames, and Tlaib is holding a gun.
After much outrage on social media, the post was deleted from Facebook. But people aren’t forgetting. By the way, this is it:
The association’s president, Mark Shaw, shared a statement on the Facebook page where he states that he didn’t authorize the image being shared. He called it an “unfortunate distraction from the serious debate surrounding the policies advocated by these four socialist members of the United States House of Representatives” and clarified that he “strongly disagree[s]” with their “socialist” ideas. He then offered an “apology” in the form in case “anyone who saw the image was offended by the contents.” This feels far from an actual apology.
Tim Schneider, the Illinois GOP chairman tweeted out a statement as well:
Here’s what Trump said just today:
But as we remember, his attacks on these four congresspeople have been growing. You might recall the “send her back” chants against Omar, and his tweets about these Democratic leaders going “back” to the “crime infested” places they came from. All within the last week!
Some members of The Squad have taken to embracing the phrase, including Tlaib below:
And Pressley on social media:
As well as responding to Trump directly:
With Trump spreading such vile messages, it’s no surprise—though still disgusting—that other Republicans are following suit. And, apparently, expecting to get away with it.