ILLINOIS — The president of the Illinois Republican County Chairman’s Association apologized for what he called an unauthorized post on the organization’s Facebook page on Friday. The image, with the text “the Jihad Squad” alongside four freshman minority congresswomen, has since been deleted.
The image, shown below, is in the form of a movie poster. It depicts U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota with a shotgun, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan yelling in anger, Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts with a handgun and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a tight-fitting red dress that turns into a ball of fire.
“If you don’t agree with their socialist ideology, you’re racist,” the poster says.
The group of representatives, lately dubbed “the squad,” has been the target of attacks by President Donald Trump, whose supporters at a rally chanted “send her back” in reference to Omar. The chant came after Trump tweeted “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Related: IL Rep. Kinzinger ‘Disgusted’ By Trump Rally Chants
Chicago Tribune reporter Rick Pearson saw the image Sunday and tweeted it. Hours later, it was removed from the Illinois RCCA Facebook.
Mark Shaw, president of the Illinois RCCA, condemned the “unauthorized” posting, saying it distracts from their real goal of opposing “socialist” policies.
“Republican opposition to their proposed ‘Green New Deal,’ elimination of all private health insurance, open border and anti-Semitic posturing has nothing to do with these Representative’s (sic) races or religion,” he said in a statement on the RCCA’s Facebook page.
The “anti-Semitic” comments made by Omar consist of her criticism of U.S. politicians supporting Israel based on donations from groups supporting pro-Israel causes. “…[N]othing I said, at least to me, was meant for [an anti-Semitic] purpose,” she said in an interview with CBS.
Illinois GOP Chairman Tim Schneider made a statement on the image, condemning “evoking race or religion as the basis for political disagreement.”
“Bigoted rhetoric greatly distracts from legitimate and important policy debates and further divides our nation,” Schneider said.
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