Pressley: ‘Get off the ride’ of prez tweets
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley said Sunday that people should not “take the bait” from President Trump and “get off the ride” he launches on Twitter.
The congresswoman attending the Roxbury Unity Parade was asked for her reaction to Trump’s tweet from earlier in the day — stating he doesn’t believe the four congresswomen, including Pressley, are “capable of loving our Country.”
“I think we all have to not take the bait, and get off the ride that the occupant of this Oval Office has us on,” Pressley said in Boston.
“Every tweet he sends is meant to be a distraction from the real problems that this country is facing,” she added. “And much of this hurt is being exacerbated by him.”
Trump in the last week has attacked the progressive “squad” of congresswomen, who are all minorities — Pressley, Alexandria OcasioCortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The president tweeted that the representatives should go back to the “totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted, 240-187, to condemn the president for racist comments targeting the four women of color.
“I don’t take any cues or directions from the occupant of this White House, except he did tell me to come home, and I sure am glad I did,” Pressley said at the Roxbury parade outside Madison Park High School.
Trump wrote Sunday morning: “I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!”
Pressley said she’s proud to be an American and loves this country.
She added that she challenges America because she wants the nation to “live up to its ideals and its promises.”
“I do that from a place of love. There’s no anger here,” Pressley said.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh called Trump’s tweet “a lot of nonsense,” and said Pressley loves her city and country.
“I wish Trump would focus on the business and not insulting people, and not insulting Ayanna and other congresswomen with racist insults,” Walsh said. “That’s not a leader. He should do his job as president of the United States of America, and he’s not doing that right now.”