Trump tweet row: Don’t take the bait,
congresswomen say
The four US congresswomen attacked by US President
Donald Trump in a series of racially charged tweets have
dismissed his remarks as a distraction.
Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna
Pressley and Rashida Tlaib urged the US people “not to take
the bait” at a Monday press conference.
Mr Trump suggested the four women – all US citizens – “can
leave”.
He has defended his comments and denied allegations of
racism.
Addressing reporters, the four women – known as The Squad –
all said the focus should be on policy and not the president’s
words.
“This is simply a disruption and a distraction from the callous
chaos and corrupt culture of this administration, all the way
down,” Ms Pressley said.
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Both Ms Omar and Ms Tlaib repeated their calls for Mr Trump
to be impeached.
Their response comes after Mr Trump launched a Twitter
tirade on Sunday, telling the four women – three of whom were
born in the US and one, Ms Omar, who was born in Somalia –
to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested
places from which they came”.
His remarks have been widely condemned as racist and
xenophobic.
What did the congresswomen say?
Ms Pressley dismissed the president’s efforts “to marginalise
us and to silence us”, adding that they were “more than four
people”.
“Our squad is big. Our squad includes any person committed
to building a more equitable and just world,” she said.
All four women insisted that health care, gun violence, and in
particular detentions of migrants on the US border with
Mexico should be in focus.
“The eyes of history are watching us,” said Ms Omar said,
decrying the “mass deportation raids” and “human rights
abuses at the border”.
Ms Omar says Mr Trump’s “blatantly racist attack” on four
women of colour was “the agenda of white nationalists”,
adding that he would like “nothing more than to divide our
country”.
The president earlier had suggested Ms Omar supported
jihadist group al-Qaeda. “I know that every single Muslim who
has lived in this country and across the world has heard that
comment and so I will not dignify it with an answer,” she said,
adding that she did not expect white community members to
respond after a white man “kills in a school or a movie theatre
or a mosque or a synagogue”.
“When this president ran and until today he talked about
everything that was wrong with this country and how he was
going to make it great,” Ms Omar said, arguing that to call
them “un-American” was “complete hypocrisy”.
Ms Tlaib called it “simply a continuation of his racist,
xenophobic playbook”. Both she and Ms Omar repeated their
calls for Mr Trump to be impeached – something Democratic
party leaders have so far refused to pursue.
“We remain focused on holding him accountable to the laws
of this land,” Ms Tlaib said.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez meanwhile told a story about visiting
Washington DC as a child, saying people should tell the young
that “no matter what this president says, this country belongs
to you”.
“We don’t leave the things that we love”, she said, adding that
“weak minds and leaders challenge loyalty to our country in
order to avoid challenging and debating the policy”.
What’s the row about?
On Friday, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, Ms Tlaib and Ms Pressley had
testified to a House committee about conditions in a migrant
detention centre they had visited.
Democrats have widely criticised the Trump administration’s
approach to border control, saying they are holding migrants in
inhumane conditions.
Mr Trump insists the border is facing a crisis and has
defended the actions of his border agents. His administration
announced a new rule to take effect on 16 July that denies
asylum for anyone who crosses the southern border who did
not apply for protection in “at least one third country” en route
to the US.
After their testimony, Mr Trump insisted conditions at the
centre had had “great reviews”. He then posted his series of
tweets about the women and Ms Omar, attacks he redoubled
on Monday.
“If you are not happy, if you are complaining all the time, you
can leave,” he told a heated news conference outside the
White House.
As the women spoke at the press conference on Monday
evening, he tweeted again.
“If you are not happy here, you can leave! It is your choice,
and your choice alone. This is about love for America,” he
wrote.
What’s been the response?
Democrats have roundly condemned the president, and have
been joined by several Republicans.
Senator Tim Scott, the only African American Republican in
the Senate, called the president’s words “racially offensive” .
Republican Congressman Will Hurd, who is also African
American, described the comments as “racist and
xenophobic”.
After the press conference US Senator and former presidential
candidate Mitt Romney called Mr Trump’s remarks
“destructive, demeaning, and disunifying”.
“People can disagree over politics and policy, but telling
American citizens to go back to where they came from is over
the line,” he tweeted.
But Republican Congressman Andy Harris had earlier defended
Mr Trump, telling WBAL radio : “Clearly it’s not a racist
comment. He could have meant go back to the district they
came from, the neighbourhood they came from.”
In a letter to Democrats on Monday, Mrs Pelosi had
announced a resolution in the House to condemn the
“disgusting attacks”. It is unclear when the vote will take
place.
Trump keeps pushing racial boundaries
Analysis by Gary O’Donoghue, BBC Washington
Correspondent
Telling people of colour to go back to where they came from
cannot be regarded as anything other than a blatant evocation
of a well-worn trope of racist language and sentiment that’s as
old as the hills.
But usually politicians who want to play the race card reach
for the “dog whistle” – a political nudge and a wink that tells
their supporters that they share their views that cannot easily
be voiced in a liberal democracy without alienating people
whose support they will need.
President Trump, however, has pushed the boundaries on
racially charged language ever since he became a candidate.
Remember how Mexicans were Rapists and Drug dealers, how
there were “good people” on both sides of the argument when
white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, and how the
President didn’t see why America should allow more people in
from “shithole” countries in Africa.
So what is his strategy? Keeping his core support fired up is
unquestionably part of it. And exploiting divisions within
Democratic ranks which have had racial overtones in recent
days is another reason for his actions.
But in many ways, we should not be surprised by this
President ratcheting up the political heat in this particular way
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