Politicians have used 'lynching' as a metaphor for decades, but has time changed its impact?

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump called the House impeachment inquiry a "lynching" last week, setting off a debate about its use as a metaphor for current-day politics and prompting the resurfacing of similar comments by Democrats in the past.

But some scholars and historians say metaphorical use of the term is problematic because it erases the history of racist violence at the core of the practice, when current efforts to educate the public on lynching are moving forward.

Lynching happened commonly in the wake of the Civil War and segregation. From 1882-1968, 4,743 documented lynchings occurred in the United States. They were vigilante murders by mostly white Americans aimed mostly at black people, with nearly three-quarters of victims being African American, according to the NAACP.

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"All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching. But we will WIN!" Trump tweeted Tuesday, sparking condemnation that rippled through D.C. and around the country, only for his supporters to point back at Democrats like former Vice President Joe Biden who have also used the metaphor throughout the years.

Trump has repeatedly said the impeachment process has been unfair. The GOP has denounced the inquiry as a "sham," a "Soviet-style process" and as happening in "secret," though House Republicans on the committees leading the investigation have access to the closed-door proceedings.

The comparison sparked a debate over whether the term "lynching" can be divorced from its historical context of lawless violence, to apply to situations like impeachment proceedings.

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Historians chimed in on Twitter in an attempt to remind people of that history.

Marcia Chatelain, a professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University, said she believes politicians use lynching as a metaphor because it was a practice steeped in unfairness and violence. But, she said, use of the word demonstrates the lack of respect for the pain and suffering of African Americans.

"Something as terrible as lynching becomes a metaphor for scrutiny, becomes a way of talking about a process that people with power deem unfair," Chatelain added. "And it only serves to further lessen the opportunities for people to learn the real history of lynching and other forms of racialized violence."

Some point to when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas used the metaphor during proceedings over sexual harassment allegations from Anita Hill during his confirmation hearing in 1991.

"And from my standpoint, as a black American, as far as I am concerned, it is a high tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas," Thomas said.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich attempted to excuse Trump during an appearance on The View, saying, “Well, it’s exactly the same term that Clarence Thomas used when he said he was guilty of a white-collar lynching."

And GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a fervent Trump ally, defended the president's word choice as "pretty well accurate."

"What does lynching mean?" Graham said. "That a mob grabs you, they don’t give you a chance to defend yourself, they don’t tell you what happened to you, they just destroy you. That’s exactly what’s happening in the United States House of Representatives right now.”

Eddie Glaude, a Princeton University professor of African American studies said on MSNBC that to reference lynching is "to play fast and loose with our dead."

"I understand what Donald Trump is doing, I understand what Lindsey Graham is doing," Glaude said. "But out of the tradition I come, lynching represents a particular kind of horror."

Several in the GOP were swift to point out other instances where Democrats have used the word.In 1998, during the height of the impeachment inquiry into former Democratic President Bill Clinton, multiple Democrats called it a lynching.

Biden apologized Tuesday night after a 1998 clip surfaced of him saying the impeachment of Clinton could be seen as a "partisan lynching," but quickly made a distinction between himself and the president by inferring and trying to refocus on Trump being racially divisive.

More: After slamming Trump for 'lynching' tweet, Biden apologizes for using the term about Clinton impeachment

"Trump on the other hand chose his words deliberately today in his use of the word lynching and continues to stoke racial divides in this country daily," Biden tweeted.

"What [Biden] may be noticing is that there is a larger number of Americans who realize what this history means, who can be more critical of him for using that language," Chatelain said. "But nothing has changed in the past 20 years that has made it appropriate or politically sophisticated to evoke lynching as a way to critique a process that you think is unfair."

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Lawmakers to echo the phrase included Rep. Danny Davis of Illinois, then-Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid of Nevada, former Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York and former Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington.

Meeks told The Washington Post of his 1998 comments: "Yes, I said those words, but context matters. There is a difference when that word is used by someone of my experience and perspective, whose relatives were the targets of lynch mobs, compared to a president who has dog-whistled to white nationalists and peddled racism."

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, the current chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, accused Republicans of running a "lynch mob" against Clinton at the time of his impeachment proceedings.

“This day feels to me like we're taking a step down the road to becoming a political lynch mob," McDermott said at the time. "We are going to find a rope, find a tree and ask a bunch of questions later.”

Historian Kevin Kruse said in a tweet that it doesn't matter when the comparison was made or by whom: "No one should ever compare impeachment to lynching."

Chatelain also said that lynching as a metaphor was inappropriate back then and continues to be now, noting that lynching was not just about a miscarriage of justice, it was a targeted attempt to terrorize and disenfranchise African Americans.

"When we conjure up lynching to describe things that are not lynching, what we do is not only dishonor the memory of the people who suffered under this system and this form of violence," Chatelain said. "What we also do is to take away the power of that legacy."

"I just hope that after the dust settles in this moment, people are really compelled to learn the real facts of not only lynching individual victims, but the incredible legacy it has had in keeping people from exercising their rights," Chatelain said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden and Donald Trump both used lynching metaphor for impeachment