Fanning the flames
President digs in against Democratic congresswomen; they’re firing back
WASHINGTON — Unfazed by widespread criticism, President Donald Trump on Monday intensified his incendiary comments about four Democratic congresswomen of color, urging them to get out if they don’t like things going on in America. They fired back at what they called his “xenophobic bigoted remarks” and said it was time for impeachment.
Late Monday, after Trump defended his calling for the lawmakers to go back to their “broken and crime infested” countries, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-cortez of New York said Trump “does not know how to defend his policies and so what he does is attack us personally.”
Trump said condemnation of his comments, including belatedly from some Republicans, “doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me.”
“The Dems were trying to distance themselves from the four “progressives,” but now they are forced to embrace them,” Trump boasted. “That means they are endorsing Socialism, hate of Israel and the USA! Not good for the Democrats!”
The president responded to questions at the White House after his Sunday tweets assailing the lawmakers, all of whom are U.S. citizens and three of whom were born here. Democrats labeled his remarks racist and divisive. A smattering of Republicans also objected, though most leading Republicans have been silent.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-calif., announced that the House would be holding a vote on a resolution condemning Trump’s comments.
Trump, resurrecting language not prevalent in the U.S. for decades, said Monday that if the lawmakers “hate our country,” they “can leave” it.
“If you’re not happy in the U.S., if you’re complaining all the time, you can leave, you can leave right now,” he said.
Asked whether Trump’s comments were racist, Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, defended Trump, telling reporters he had been responding to “very specific” comments made by Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who was born in Somalia, and was not making a “universal statement.”
But Trump didn’t make that distinction in his tweets. He cited “Congresswomen” — an almost-certain reference to a group of women who have labeled themselves “the squad” that includes Omar, Ocasio-cortez, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
Short pointed to Trump’s choice of Elaine Chao, who was born outside the country, as transportation secretary. Chao is the wife of Senate GOP leader Mitch Mcconnell, who declined to comment on Trump’s attacks.
At a news conference Monday, Pressley said Americans should “not take the bait” from Trump, even as the lawmakers called for Democrats to take up impeachment proceedings against the president.
Omar ignited an uproar several months ago when she suggested some members of Congress support Israel because of money, while Tlaib riled up a supportive crowd by calling Trump a profane name and predicting he would be removed from office.
Trump on Monday singled out Omar, accusing her of having “hatred” for Israel, and expressing “love” for “enemies like al-qaida.”
“These are people that, in my opinion, hate our country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham commented on the controversy on “Fox and Friends,” but after saying Ocasio-cortez and her colleagues “are American citizens” who were “duly elected,” he added: “We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of communists. They hate Israel. They hate our own country.”
Graham, who during the 2016 campaign called Trump a “xenophobic, race-baiting religious bigot,” golfed with the president Sunday.