“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. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching. But we will WIN!” 

Trump has been in the hot seat after using the word “lynching” in his tweet (shown above), referencing that the movement to impeach him hurts his presidency with the same significance. He uses the phrase figuratively, but historically, lynching has been a word associated with a negative and racist connotation. In response to the president’s tweet, Bobby L. Rush, an Illinois representative, responded with a tweet stating, “You think this impeachment is a LYNCHING? What the hell is wrong with you? 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.” To lynch, by definition,  means to kill someone by hanging, without any alleged offence. After the American Civil War, racially charged lynchings of black men and women occurred in southern states. After Trump’s tweet, many have viewed his word choice as offensive.