Trump caught in fresh race row
US President Donald Trump has told black and Latina Democratic congresswomen to “go back” to where they came from, sparking yet another firestorm over his views on race and immigration.
Mr Trump – who was branded a “racist” and a xenophobe by senior Democrats over his latest remarks – tweeted about “‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen” in remarks aimed at a group of outspoken relatively young, liberal women, all first-time members of the House of Representatives, including Alexandria Ocasio-cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
Without naming his targets, Mr Trump tweeted the congresswomen “originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world”.
He accused them of “viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run”.
“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,” Mr Trump tweeted.
New York-born Ms Ocasio-Cortez has a Puerto Rican background, while Ms Tlaib, who was born in Detroit, is the first American of Palestinian descent elected to Congress.
Ms Omar, who fled wartorn Somalia to the US as a refugee, is the first black Muslim woman in Congress, and Ms Pressley, who was born in Cincinnati, is the first African-American elected to Congress from Massachusetts.
All four hit back at Mr
Trump on Twitter.
Ms Ocasio-cortez said Mr Trump was “angry because
WHY DON’T THEY GO BACK AND HELP FIX THE TOTALLY BROKEN AND CRIME INFESTED PLACES FROM WHICH THEY CAME. DONALD TRUMP
you can’t conceive of an America that includes us”.
“You are stoking white nationalism bc (sic) you are angry that people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hate-filled agenda,” Ms Omar tweeted, saying that as “Members of Congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States”.
The four were joined in their criticism by top Democrats in the House of Representatives.
“That’s a racist tweet,” Assistant House Speaker Ben Ray Lujan, the highest-ranking Latino member of Congress, said.