The private angst over Donald Trumps racist attacks on Elaine Chao goes public

Over the past several months, the leading Republican presidential candidate has launched a series of racist attacks on the wife of the Republican Partys Senate leader, a woman who once served in his Cabinet.

But while former President Donald Trumps taunts at Elaine Chao demeaning her as Coco Chow or a variation of Mitch McConnells China-loving wife have been mostly met with silence from fellow GOP officials, the main target of them is now speaking out.

When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation, Chao said in a statement to POLITICO. He doesnt seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans.

Chaos statement is an extremely rare case of the former Transportation Secretary wading into the political thicket that her former boss has laid around her since the end of his administration. It suggests that discomfort with Trumps anti-Asian rhetoric has reached a new level amid several high-profile shootings targeting Asian Americans.