There's apparently a strategy behind President Trump's racist tweets, and he's not afraid to deploy it again.

Trump on Sunday alleged in a series of tweets that "'progressive' Democratic congresswomen" should "go back" to the countries "from which they came," sparking universal Democratic condemnations of his racist implications. Yet while GOP lawmakers have either defended Trump or stayed silent on the matter, GOP pundits and even Trump's own officials have declared Trump's words a mistake that's bound to happen again.

Following Trump's attacks, Power Line blogger John Hinderaker, who calls himself "a fan of President Trump," wrote a Sunday blog calling Trump's tweets "the worst unforced error of his presidency." Another blogger for conservative site RedState said the tweets were "so self-destructive that it makes me want to beat my head against a wall."

Trump allies and officials couldn't find the reasoning behind Trump's tweets either, with an anonymous official trying to explain them before giving up and just telling Axios "it's insane." An influential Democrat meanwhile said Trump's view "is that he simply cannot go too far," and that "the line" between inflammatory statements and outright racism "doesn't exist." And as Axios puts it, "Trump allies expect this to get worse, not better."

The New York Times columnist Jonathan Weisman tweeted Monday morning that Trump's attacks "completely succeeded in drawing attention away from the conditions at detention centers on the border." Democratic strategist David Axelrod tweeted Monday to back that reasoning up. Kathryn Krawczyk