Elaine Chao, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation and wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), criticized media outlets referencing former President Donald Trump’s “racist taunt” on Thursday.
Chao, who served for nearly four years under the former president until her resignation after last year’s Jan. 6 insurrection, weighed in on Trump’s nickname for her – which he has used toward her in the past – during an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. (You can hear Chao’s comments below).
Trump used the term – which has been viewed as racist and anti-Asian – on Truth Social twice since Monday to refer to Chao, the first-ever Asian American woman to serve in a U.S. president’s cabinet.
Chao told Collins, who showed the post that included the slur to CNN viewers, that it’d be “really helpful” for the media to not repeat Trump’s racist language.
“If it were the N-word, or any other word, the media would not repeat it. But the media continuously repeats his racist taunt,” Chao said.
“And so, he’s trying to get a rise out of us. He says all sorts of outrageous things, and I don’t make a point of answering any of one of them,” Chao added.
Trump’s most recent use of the moniker came during a dig at McConnell for his support of the $1.7 trillion spending bill Congress passed last week.
Chao, who immigrated from Taiwan, chose not to weigh in on the former president’s nickname when he used it last week and called on Asian Americans “to rise above divisive rhetoric,” the San Francisco Standard reported.
“I say to my fellow Asian Americans, number one: don’t be afraid of the country,” Chao said. “Always be proud of our heritage because now America is more diverse.”
