TRUMP PRESSES PRESSLEY
Calls out Bay State rep at N.C. campaign rally
President Trump attacked the progressive “squad” — including U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley — in a campaign rally in North Carolina Wednesday night, ramping up their ongoing feud with the claim the four women “hate this country” as the crowd roared.
Trump has been locked in a war of words with Pressley and Congresswomen Alexandria OcasioCortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, which had escalated after Trump tweeted that the representatives should go back to the “totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” The squad, all minority women, accused him of racism.
Trump slammed each of the women in turn Wednesday night.
Of Pressley, referring to a recent speech, Trump said, “She thinks that people with the same skin color all need to think the same. She said we don’t need any more brown faces that don’t want to be brown voices, we don’t need black faces that don’t want to be a black voice.”
His comments about Omar, who came to the United States as a Somalian refugee, drew chants of “send her back” along with boos as attendees waved “Women for Trump” signs behind the podium.
“They’re telling us how to run (the country),” Trump told the Greenville crowd. “You know what, if they don’t love it, tell them to leave it. … They don’t love our country. I think in some cases they hate our country, and they’re so angry.”
“The choice for every American has never been more clear,” Trump continued, calling the Democrats and their ideals “out of control.”
He also said, “I keep hearing how much enthusiasm is in the radical left. I don’t think they have a lot of enthusiasm. They just keep fighting with each other. I think we have all the enthusiasm.”
Trump also decried Wednesday’s failed attempt at impeachment in the House of Representatives as the “most ridiculous project I’ve ever been involved in.”
Representatives killed a proposal by Democratic Texas Congressman Al Green to impeach Trump over his remarks about “the squad” in a 332-95 vote. Democrats voted against the impeachment effort by a 3-to-2 margin, as did all Republicans.
“I want to thank them because they did the right thing for our country,” Trump said about the Democratic reps who voted against impeachment.
In his speech, Trump ran through a list of accomplishments, “the strongest economy in history, the lowest unemployment numbers,” and said, “And they want to try to impeach — it’s a disgrace,” to boos from the crowd.
“Now that we have that behind us, and I have to say it, I’ll say it just once — what happened to me with this witch hunt should never be allowed to happen to another president of the United States ever, ever again,” Trump said, in an apparent reference to the Russian collusion investigation.
Trump also poked fun at the Democrats vying to defeat him in 2020, invoking his nicknames of “Sleepy Joe” for Joe Biden and “Pocahontas” for Elizabeth Warren.