Monday, July 15, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — Unbowed by searing criticism, President Donald Trump today emphatically defended his tweet calling on four Democratic congresswomen of color to go back to their "broken and crime infested" countries.
Condemnation of his comments "doesn't concern me because many people agree with me," he declared.
Trump responded to questions at the White House after his Sunday tweet assailing the lawmakers, all of whom are U.S. citizens and three of whom were born here. He has been roundly criticized by Democrats who labeled his remarks racist and divisive. A smattering of Republicans also have objected, though most leading Republicans have been silent.
Trump, resurrecting language not prevalent in the U.S. for decades, said today 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. The lawmakers' criticism has been largely aimed at Trump and his administration's policies and actions.
It was yet another sign that Trump, who won the presidency in 2016 in part by energizing disaffected voters with incendiary racial rhetoric, has no intention of backing away from that strategy going in 2020. Trump has faced few consequences for such attacks, which typically earn him cycles of front-page media attention.
Earlier today, Trump made clear he had no intention of backing down, asking on Twitter when "the Radical Left Congresswomen" would "apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said."
"So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions!" he wrote.
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, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.