Trump stands by his ‘go back’ tweets as racism row escalates
US President Donald Trump has claimed his tweets, which are believed to have been referring to four Democratic congresswomen, urging them to get out if they do not like how things are in America, “were not racist”.
The women involved, including New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-cortez, have fired back at what they called his “xenophobic, bigoted remarks” and said it was time for impeachment.
“Those Tweets were NOT Racist ,” the president tweeted .“I don’t have a Racist bone in my body! The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game. Republicans should not show ‘weakness’ and fall into their trap. This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country.
“Get a list of the HORRIBLE things they have said. Omar is polling at 8 per cent, Cortez at 21 per cent. Nancy Pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the Democrat Party. See you in 2020!”
Trump had called on the four to “go back” to their “broken and crime-infested” countries in tweets that have been widely denounced as racist.
His remarks were directed at Ilhan Omar of Min nesota, Ocasio -Cortez, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. All are American citizens, and three of the four were born in the US. The episode served notice that Trump is willing to again rely on incendiary rhetoric on issues of race and immigration to preserve his political base in the lead-up to the 2020 election. He shrugged off the criticism.
“It doesn’ t concern me because many people agree with me,” Trump said on Monday at the White House. “A lot of people love it, by the way.”
At the Capitol, there was near unanimous condemnation from Democrats and a rumble of discontent from a subset of Republicans, but notably not from the party’s congressional leaders.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said Trump’ s campaigns logan truly means he wants to “make America white again”, announced on Monday that the House would vote on a resolution condemning his new comments. There solution “strongly condemns” Trump’s “racist comments” and says they“have legi timised and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of colour”.
In response, Trump tweeted anew yesterday about the four congresswomen: “Why isn’t the House voting to rebuke the filthy and hate laced things they have said? Because they are the Radical Left, and the Democrats are afraid to take them on. Sad!”
Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the par t y’s White House nominee in 2012 and now one of the president’s most vocal GOP critics, said that Trump’s comments were “destructive, demeaning, and disunifying”.
Trump dug in. “If you’re not happy in the US, if you’re complaining all the time, you can leave, you can leave right now,” he said.
His words, which evoked the trope of telling black people to go back to Africa, may have been partly meant to widen the divides within the House Democratic caucus, which has been riven by internal debate over how best to oppose his policies. And while Trump’s attacks brought Democrats together in defence of their colleagues, his allies noted he was also having some success in making the progressive lawmakers the face of their party.
The Republican president questioned whether Demo - crats should “want to wrap” themselves around this group of four people as he recited a list of the quartet’s most controversial statements.
At a news conference with her three colleagues, Pressley referred to Trump as “the occupant of our White House” instead of president.