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Dems: Trump Comments Racist 07/15 06:26
Starkly injecting race into his criticism of liberal Democrats, President
Donald Trump said four congresswomen of color should go back to the "broken and
crime infested" countries they came from, ignoring the fact that all of the
women are American citizens and three were born in the U.S. His attack drew a
searing condemnation from Democrats who labeled the remarks racist and
breathtakingly divisive.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Starkly injecting race into his criticism of liberal
Democrats, President Donald Trump said four congresswomen of color should go
back to the "broken and crime infested" countries they came from, ignoring the
fact that all of the women are American citizens and three were born in the
U.S. His attack drew a searing condemnation from Democrats who labeled the
remarks racist and breathtakingly divisive.
Following a familiar script, Republicans remained largely silent after
Trump's Sunday morning broadsides against the four women. But the president's
nativist tweets caused Democrats to set aside their internal rifts to rise up
in a united chorus against the president.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump wants to "make America white again."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, after jousting for days with Pelosi,
said Trump "can't conceive of an America that includes us."
Trump, who has a long history of making racist remarks, was almost certainly
referring to Ocasio-Cortez and her House allies in what's become known as "the
squad." The others are Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of
Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Only Omar, from Somalia, is
foreign-born.
Ocasio-Cortez swiftly denounced his remarks . "Mr. President, the country I
'come from,' & the country we all swear to, is the United States," she tweeted,
adding that "You rely on a frightened America for your plunder." Omar also
addressed herself directly to Trump in a tweet, writing: "You are stoking white
nationalism (because) you are angry that people like us are serving in Congress
and fighting against your hate-filled agenda."
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus,
summed up the Democratic response: "Racial arsonist strikes again. Shut. Your.
Reckless. Mouth."
With his tweet, Trump inserted himself further into a rift between Pelosi
and Ocasio-Cortez, just two days after he offered an unsolicited defense of the
Democratic speaker. Pelosi has been seeking to minimize Ocasio-Cortez's
influence in the House Democratic caucus in recent days, prompting
Ocasio-Cortez to accuse Pelosi of trying to marginalize women of color.
"She is not a racist," Trump said of Pelosi on Friday.
On Sunday, Trump's tone took a turn.
"So interesting to see 'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen, who originally
came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the
worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a
functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of
the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our
government is to be run," he tweeted.
"Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested
places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done."
He added: "These places need your help badly, you can't leave fast enough.
I'm sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel
arrangements!"
The attacks may have been meant to widen the divides within the Democrat
caucus, which has been riven by internal debate over how far left to go in
countering Trump and over whether to proceed with impeachment proceedings
against the president. Instead, the president's tweets, which evoked the trope
of telling black people to go back to Africa, brought Democrats together.
"Let's be clear about what this vile comment is: A racist and xenophobic
attack on Democratic congresswomen," tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a
Democratic presidential candidate.
Another 2020 contender, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, tweeted at the
president: "This is racist. These congresswomen are every bit as American as
you --- and represent our values better than you ever will."
Few Republicans weighed in on the president's comments. Congressional
leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, did not respond to
requests for comment, nor did Sen. Tim. Scott of South Carolina, the only
Republican black senator.
Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
in a previously scheduled appearance on "Face the Nation" on CBS, said only:
"You're going to have to ask the president what he means by those specific
tweets."
Shortly after the tweets, and a later presidential post defending the harsh
scenes at a border detention facility where hundreds of migrant men are being
held in sweltering, foul-smelling conditions, Trump left the White House to go
golfing at his Virginia club.
Trump appeared unbowed Sunday night when he returned to Twitter to say it
was "so sad" to see Democrats sticking up for the women. "If the Democrat Party
wants to continue to condone such disgraceful behavior," he tweeted, "then we
look even more forward to seeing you at the ballot box in 2020!"
It was far from the first time that Trump has been accused of holding racist
views.
In his campaign kickoff in June 2015, Trump deemed many Mexican immigrants
"rapists." In 2017, he said there good people on "both sides" of the clash in
Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacists and anti-racist
demonstrators that left one counter-protester dead. Last year, during a private
White House meeting on immigration, Trump wondered why the United States was
admitting so many immigrants from "shithole countries" like African nations.
Repeatedly, Trump has painted arriving immigrants as an "infestation" and he
has been slow in condemning acts of violence committed by white supremacists.
And he launched his political career with false claims that President Barack
Obama was not born in the United States.
Despite his history of racist remarks, Trump has paid little penalty in his
own party.
Though a broad array of Republicans did speak out against his reaction to
Charlottesville, they have largely held their tongues otherwise, whether it be
on matter of race or any other Trump provocation. Fearful of his Twitter
account and sweeping popularity among Republican voters, GOP lawmakers have
largely tried to ignore the provocative statements.
Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democratic presidential hopeful from California,
tweeted, "Let's call the president's racist attack exactly what it is:
un-American."
Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, was born in the Bronx, New
York, and raised in suburban Westchester County.
Pressley, the first black woman elected to the House from Massachusetts, was
born in Cincinnati.
Omar, the first Somali native elected to Congress and one of its first
Muslim women, was born in Somalia but spent much of her childhood in a Kenyan
refugee camp as civil war tore apart her home country. She immigrated to the
United States at age 12, teaching herself English by watching American TV and
eventually settling with her family in Minneapolis.
Tlaib was born in Detroit.
(CZ)
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