Convicted felon former President Trump’s shitshow at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago on Wednesday had Congressional Republicans going back to their time-honored “I haven’t what he said yet” and “It wasn’t helpful” vintage of avoiding confronting the fat fuck’s racial malevolence, per quotes obtained by usually GOP-friendly outlets Axios and Punchbowl.

“Any time we’re commenting on anything but this Biden administration’s failed economy, failed border, failed national security, we’re not gaining ground,” North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said to Punchbowl. Asked if Trump should apologize, Tills said “I’ll leave that to President Trump.”

“I haven’t seen [Trump’s batshittery] and I haven’t seen the context in which they were made, so I don’t have anything for you,” creepy, grandmotherly Lousiana Senator John Kennedy told Axios.

“The president speaks for himself,” Wyoming’s John Barrasso repeated five times to Punchbowl. “I’m going to continue to talk about her record, and I think her record helps Republicans win.”

“Focus on policy… All we’ve got to do is focus on policy… Focus on policy… Focus on policy… Focus on policy. That’s what the American people want and where we win… We should be focusing on policy… Focus on policy,” South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds said to Punchbowl.

“No comment,” said California Congressman John Duarte to Axios. Josh Hawley said it’s “not a great idea for either of the parties to be playing racial identity politics,” lol. What a dick.

“I don’t think it was helpful,” Kansas Senator Roger Wicker told Axios. “I think the better approach is to focus on their policies of Kamala Harris… that’s what I’ve been talking about,” said Steve Daines.

Axios also got a few Republican House members quoted anonymously, because in their words they “did not want to put their names to criticisms of Trump – who is well known to try to exact retribution against GOP critics,” with one saying “It was awful… The entire exchange was embarrassing.”

“That was not a demonstration on how to win over undecided voters,” said another. “To be focusing on on anyone’s race or gender when there are plenty of things to talk about on the issues that voters actually care about is frustrating for a lot of us,” a third anon member said.

“It’s a nightmare for Republicans already reeling from the tightening race: They know Trump has a strong chance of beating Harris on the issues, but fear he could alienate swing voters with attacks on her identity,” Axios wrote in a summary of the situation printed on Thursday morning.