House condemns tweets in extraordinary rebuke
In a remarkable political repudiation, the Democratic-led US House voted to condemn President Donald Trump’s ‘‘racist comments’’ against four congresswomen of colour, despite protestations by Trump’s Republican congressional allies and his own insistence he hasn’t ‘‘a racist bone in my body.’’
Two days after Trump tweeted that four Democratic freshmen should ‘‘go back’’ to their home countries – though all are citizens and three were born in the US – Democrats muscled the resolution through the chamber by 240-187 over near-solid GOP opposition. The rebuke was an embarrassing one for Trump even though it carries no legal repercussions, but if anything his latest harangues should help him with his die-hard conservative base.
Despite a lobbying effort by 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.
Democrats saved one of the day’s most passionate moments until near the end. ‘‘I know racism when I see it,’’ said Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, whose skull was fractured at the 1965 ‘‘Bloody Sunday’’ civil rights march in Selma, Alabama. ‘‘At the highest level of government, there’s no room for racism.’’
Before the showdown roll call, Trump characteristically plunged forward with time-tested insults. He 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 !’’ – echoing taunts long unleashed against political dissidents rather than opposing parties’ lawmakers.
Underscoring the stakes, Republicans formally objected after Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of California, said during a floor speech that Trump’s tweets were ‘‘racist.’’ Led by Rep. Doug Collins, of Georgia, 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 Pelosi had indeed violated a House rule against characterising an action as racist. Democrats flexed their muscle and the House voted afterwards by party line to leave Pelosi’s words intact in the record.
Trump’s criticism was aimed at four freshman Democrats: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Reps. Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley, of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan. All were born in the US except for Omar, who came to the US as a child after her family fled Somalia. – AP