Leonard Pitts: Is the GOP a hate group?

It is, they say, “an organization that — based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities — has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.” That definition is offered preparatory to an explosive question:

Granted, in its "official statements or principles," the party doesn't meet the SPLC standard. Its activities and the statements of its leaders are, however, another matter.

Consider that last week began with the party's leader, Donald Trump, demanding that four progressive congresswomen, four women of color, four Americans, "go back" to the countries they came from. It…