Dems rebuke Trump tweets
Lawmakers split along party lines
WASHINGTON — The Democraticled House voted Tuesday night to condemn President Donald Trump’s “racist comments” against four congresswomen of color, despite protestations by Mr. Trump’s Republican congressional allies and his own insistence that he hasn’t “a racist bone in my body.”
Two days after Mr. Trump tweeted that the four Democratic freshmen should “go back” to their home countries — though all are citizens and three were born in the U. S. — Democrats muscled the resolution, which carries no legal repercussions, through the chamber by 240- 187 over near solid GOP opposition.
Despite a lobbying effort by Mr. Trump and party leaders for a unified GOP front, four Republicans voted to condemn his remarks: moderate Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Fred Upton of Michigan, Will Hurd of Texas and Susan Brooks of Indiana, who is retiring. Also backing the measure was Michigan’s independent Rep. Justin Amash, who left the GOP this month after becoming the party’s sole member of Congress to back a Trump impeachment inquiry.
Western Pennsylvania lawmakers voting for the resolution were Conor Lamb, D- Mt. Lebanon, and Mike Doyle, D- Forest Hills. Voting no were John Joyce, R- Blair, Guy Reschenthaler, R- Jefferson Hills, Glenn “G. T.” Thompson, R- Centre, and Mike Kelly, R- Butler.
Before the roll call, Mr. Trump accused his four outspoken critics of “spewing some of the most vile,
hateful and disgusting things ever said by a politician” and added, “If you hate our Country, or if you are not happy here, you can leave!”
His criticism was aimed at freshman Democrats who have garnered attention for their thinly veiled distaste for Mr. Trump: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. All were born in the U. S. except for Ms. Omar, who came to the U. S. as a child after fleeing Somalia with her family.
The president was joined by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and other top Republicans in trying to redirect the focus from Mr. Trump’s original tweets, which for three days have consumed Washington. They tried playing offense by accusing the four congresswomen of socialism, an accusation that’s already a central theme of the GOP’s 2020 campaigns.
Underscoring the stakes, Republicans formally objected after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said during a floor speech that Mr. Trump’s tweets were “racist.” Republicans moved to have her words stricken from the record, a rare procedural rebuke.
After a delay exceeding 90 minutes, No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland said Ms. Pelosi had indeed violated a House rule against characterizing an action as racist. He was presiding after Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri stormed away from the presiding officer’s chair, lamenting, “We want to just fight,” apparently aimed at Republicans. Even so, the House voted afterward by party line to leave Ms. Pelosi’s words intact in the record.
Some GOP lawmakers have agreed that Mr. Trump’s words were racist, but on Tuesday party leaders insisted they were not and accused Democrats of using the resulting tumult to score political points. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Mr. Trump wasn’t racist, but he also called on leaders “from the president to the speaker to the freshman members of the House” to attack ideas, not the people who espouse them.
Hours earlier, Mr. Trump tweeted, “Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!” He wrote that House Republicans should “not show ‘ weakness’” by agreeing to a resolution he labeled “a Democrat con game.”
Ms. Ocasio- Cortez returned his fire.
“You’re right, Mr. President -- you don’t have a racist bone in your body. You have a racist mind in your head and a racist heart in your chest,” she tweeted.
The Democratic resolution said the House “strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.” It said Mr. Trump’s slights “do not belong in Congress or in the United States of America.”