Democrats’ resolution
Trump said they should ‘go back’ to countries
State’s five Republicans vote no as House condemns Trump “racist” tweets in extraordinary rebuke.
WASHINGTON – GOP congressman Sean Duffy of Wisconsin took to the House floor Tuesday to defend President Donald Trump against a Democratic resolution accusing Trump of making “racist” attacks against four minority congresswomen.
And in the process, Duffy accused those four House Democrats of being “anti-American,” which drew protests from Democrats asking that his words be stricken, calling them “defamatory.”
It was part of a day of chaos and acrimony on the House floor, as the chamber approved along mostly partly lines a resolution condemning Trump’s language.
Four Republican House members and one independent joined Democrats in voting for the resolution. Among Wisconsin’s lawmakers, all three Democrats supported the resolution “condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at members of Congress” and all five Republicans opposed it.
Preceding the vote was a parliamentary clash over whether it is even permissible on the House floor to accuse a president of making racist statements.
When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump’s comments on Twitter disgraceful, disgusting and racist, Republicans asked that her remarks be struck, saying they broke with House decorum.
After some chaos and delay, Pelosi’s use of the word “racist” to describe the president’s comments was deemed out of order in a ruling based on parliamentary precedents and announced by Democrat Steny Hoyer, the majority leader,
The ruling came even though the same description of Trump’s statements (“racist”) appears in the resolution under debate. In a floor vote, Democrats prevailed against a GOP effort to strike her remarks from the record.
Trump’s recent remarks on Twitter were widely seen as being aimed at four minority women in Congress: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Ayanna Pressley, DMass.; and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. Trump said on Twitter Sunday: “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.” The president continued:
“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Three of the four congresswomen Trump was referring to were born in the U.S.
The Democrats’ resolution said those statements “legitimized increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.”
The clash over Pelosi’s remarks wasn’t the only dispute Tuesday over the propriety of attacks on the House floor.
Duffy defended Trump on the floor, saying the president’s remarks could not be racist because they did not cite anyone’s race.
Duffy then went on to accuse the four Democrats criticized by Trump of being anti-American.
“I see nothing (in Trump’s tweets) that references anybody’s race. Not a thing! I don’t see anyone’s name referenced in the tweets,” Duffy said.
“But the president is referring to people, congresswomen, who are antiAmerican! And lo and behold, everybody in this chamber knows who he’s talking about,” Duffy said.
That prompted a Democratic congresswoman from the state of Washington, Pramila Jayapal, to ask that Duffy’s remarks be taken down, saying “that is completely inappropriate to tell any of us we are anti-American.”
Jayapal eventually gave up her request for a ruling from the chair on the question because the request wasn’t made immediately after Duffy uttered those comments.