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Four Congresswomen Denounce Trump After He Accuses Them of Hating America Trump Says Four Democratic Congresswomen Hate the U.S. and Are Free to Leave
(about 2 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Trump, under fire for comments that even some Republicans called racist, amplified his attacks on Democrats in Congress on Monday, calling one of the first two Muslim women elected to the House a Qaeda sympathizer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi a racist. WASHINGTON — President Trump, under fire for comments that even members of his own party called racist, amplified his attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color on Monday, saying that they hated America and that one of the first two Muslims elected to Congress sympathized with Al Qaeda.
“They’re free to leave if they want. If they want to leave, that’s fine. If they want to stay, that’s fine,” Mr. Trump said on Monday, referring to Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts. He added that they hated America. In an extraordinary back and forth from opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, Mr. Trump appeared to revel in the viciousness of his brawl with the four progressive women who have become the young faces of the Democratic Party. He goaded them into a response from Capitol Hill in which they denounced the president’s rhetoric and his policies, charging that he was pressing the agenda of white nationalists from the White House.
Hours later, the four called a news conference to scathingly denounce Mr. Trump’s latest remarks, which they argued were part of a pattern of hateful language designed to distract from what they said were brutal policies and misconduct in office. “He’s launching a blatantly racist attack on four duly elected members of the United States House of Representatives, all of whom are women of color,” said Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota and the target of Mr. Trump’s most outrageous charges. “This is the agenda of white nationalists, whether it is happening in chat rooms, or it is happening on national TV, and now it’s reached the White House garden.”
“I encourage the American people, and all of us in this room and beyond, to not take the bait,” said Ms. Pressley, who made a point of not referring to the president by name, instead calling him “the occupant of the White House.” The exchange was the latest episode in a presidency in which Mr. Trump has skittered from condemnations of black athletes kneeling during the national anthem to insults lobbed at developing countries to a defense of protesters at a white supremacist march. But now Mr. Trump is going after members of the majority party in the House, capable of fighting back.
“This is simply a disruption and a distraction from the callous, chaotic, and corrupt culture of this administration,” she added. The congresswomen vowed not to be baited into a sprint to the bottom with a president they condemned as racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and criminal. Their leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, pledged to put a resolution on the floor condemning the president’s language — putting House Republicans on defense.
In a blistering speech that culminated with a call to impeach him, Ms. Omar recounted a litany of the president’s most offensive comments about people of color, women and immigrants. But Mr. Trump showed no sign of relenting. Even as the four spoke, he was online calling them “radical Democrats” and Twitter-shouting, “IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE!”
“And to distract from that, he’s launching a blatantly racist attack on four duly elected members of the United States of House of Representatives, all of whom are women of color,” Ms. Omar said. “This is the agenda of white nationalists, whether it is happening in chat rooms, or it is happening on national TV, and now it is reached the White House garden.” It was a message the president appeared determined to amplify throughout the day.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump said they should “go back” to the countries they came from, though all but Ms. Omar were born in the United States. “They’re free to leave if they want,” Mr. Trump said on Monday morning of the congresswomen, referring to Representatives Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts. On Sunday, he tweeted that the social-media-savvy women known as “the squad” should “go back” to the countries they came from, a well-worn racist trope that dates back centuries.
“Trump feels comfortable leading the G.O.P. into outright racism, and that should concern all Americans,” the freshman Democrat from the Bronx wrote on Twitter. [Analysis: No president in modern times has made appeals to the resentments of white Americans as overtly as Mr. Trump.]
Mr. Trump’s new front against Ms. Pelosi came after she announced that the House would move to officially reject the president’s tweets about members of Congress. “Our Republican colleagues must join us in condemning the president’s xenophobic tweets,” she said in a letter to lawmakers. On Monday, he added that Ms. Omar, a Somali refugee and the only one not born in the United States, was a Qaeda sympathizer — a false charge that she said she would not “dignify” with an answer.
She reacted just hours after Mr. Trump tried to turn the situation around and accused the congresswomen of “foul language & racist hatred” and demanded an apology from them. “Every time there is a white supremacist who attacks or there is a white man who kills in a school or in a movie theater, or in a mosque, or in a synagogue, I don’t expect my white community members to respond on whether they love that person or not,” she said.
Ms. Pelosi criticized the president on Sunday for his remarks and said that his slogan, “‘Make America Great Again,’ has always been about making America white again.” At their news conference, the four condemned rhetoric that they said was intended to distract from what they called brutal, misguided policies and misconduct in office.
Mr. Trump, in turn, accused her of racist remarks. “So Speaker Pelosi said, ‘Make America white again.’ That’s a very racist — that’s a very racist statement. I’m surprised she’d say that,” Mr. Trump said at an event celebrating American manufacturing at the White House. “This is simply a disruption and a distraction from the callous, chaotic and corrupt culture of this administration,” said Ms. Pressley, who made a point of not referring to the president by name, instead calling him “the occupant of the White House.”
Early Monday, few Republican lawmakers had responded to Mr. Trump’s comments, widely seen as racist. By midday, however, that had changed. Representative Michael R. Turner, Republican of Ohio, said Mr. Trump’s comments on Sunday were “racist” and the president should apologize. And Representative Will Hurd of Texas, the House’s only black Republican, condemned the president’s remarks, calling them “racist, and xenophobic.” In his appearance earlier Monday, Mr. Trump had sought to deflect criticism about his tweets even as he made it clear he stood behind them, saying it was Ms. Pelosi who was the real racist. As evidence, he pointed to a tweet in which Ms. Pelosi said his statements about the congresswomen confirmed that his “Make America Great Again” slogan “has always been about making America white again.”
Mr. Hurd also said the president’s narrative was politically damaging because it is uniting Democrats at a time when the party is experiencing a “civil war.” Mr. Trump repeatedly sought refuge, as he often has before, in what he insisted was broad public agreement with his inflammatory comments. “A lot of people love it by the way,” the president said. Asked whether he was concerned that his comments were racist and being embraced by white supremacists, who took to Twitter to cheer them, Mr. Trump shrugged.
Ms. Pelosi’s pledge to formally reject Mr. Trump’s comments appeared to make his point. “It doesn’t concern me, because many people agree with me,” he said. “All I’m saying is if they want to leave, they can leave now.”
“Let me be clear, our caucus will continue to forcefully respond to these disgusting attacks,” Ms. Pelosi said in the letter. “The House cannot allow the president’s characterization of immigrants to our country to stand.” But even as he spoke, a handful of Republicans joined a chorus of Democrats in criticizing his incendiary posts, a rare break that demonstrated the degree to which the latest episode is being regarded as a new low for a president who has repeatedly shown a penchant for diminishing the level of discourse.
Ms. Pelosi said the resolution, which has yet to be drafted, would make reference to a speech by President Ronald Reagan in which he said that “if we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.” Representative Michael R. Turner, Republican of Ohio, wrote on Twitter that the president’s tweets “were racist and he should apologize,” adding, “We must work as a country to rise above hate, not enable it.” And Representative Will Hurd of Texas, the lone African-American among House Republicans, called the president’s remarks “racist and xenophobic.”
For months there has been a rift between Ms. Pelosi and the four lawmakers, and last week tensions grew when Ms. Pelosi pointedly said they had no following in Congress. The four lawmakers, who call themselves “the squad,” opposed a $4.6 billion aid package for the border, approved by Congress, because they said it supported Mr. Trump’s immigration policies. Others gently distanced themselves from the tweets — “aim higher,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said during an interview on Fox News, the president’s favorite channel — but grabbed the opportunity to criticize the progressive policies for which the squad has become the most visible advocates.
[Analysis: No president in modern times has made appeals to the resentments of white Americans as overtly as President Trump.] Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only African-American Republican in the Senate, called out both the Democrats’ policies and Mr. Trump.
“Instead of sharing how the Democratic Party’s far-left, pro-socialist policies — not to mention the hateful language some of their members have used towards law enforcement and Jews — are wrong for the future of our nation,” he said, “the president interjected with unacceptable personal attacks and racially offensive language. No matter our political disagreements, aiming for the lowest common denominator will only divide our nation further.”
Mr. Trump appeared to have particular contempt for Ms. Omar, who came to the country as a child and wears a hijab.
Mr. Trump falsely accused the Minnesota congresswoman of proclaiming “love” for Al Qaeda, “talking about how great Al Qaeda is” and saying that “when I think of Al Qaeda, I can hold my chest out.” He was distorting remarks she made in a 2013 interview with a local television program on Middle Eastern community issues.
In the interview, Ms. Omar repeatedly denounced Al Qaeda and one of its affiliates, Al Shabab, for committing “heinous” and “evil” acts and “atrocities.” The “hold my chest out” comment, which came during a discussion about why the Arabic names of terrorist groups are left untranslated, referred to her description of how she said a former college professor said “Al Qaeda” with physical intensity to emphasize the weight of the words.
The war of words shifted the spotlight, at least for now, away from internal divisions among Democrats that had taken on a racial dimension, after Ms. Pelosi publicly sparred with the congresswomen and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez suggested that they were being targeted because of their race.
Instead, Democrats were focused Monday on their fight with Mr. Trump, as the speaker has repeatedly counseled it should be, lest they play into the hands of an opportunistic president. In a letter to colleagues that called the tweets against the congresswomen “disgusting attacks,” Ms. Pelosi announced that the House would move to officially reject the sentiment in a resolution.
“Let me be clear, our caucus will continue to forcefully respond to these disgusting attacks,” Ms. Pelosi wrote. “The House cannot allow the president’s characterization of immigrants to our country to stand. Our Republican colleagues must join us in condemning the president’s xenophobic tweets.”
The resolution, which was introduced on Monday evening by Representative Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, who was born in Poland, cites positive statements by the nation’s founders and past presidents of both parties about the importance of immigrants to the United States, and asserts that the House “strongly condemns President Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.” It mentions both Mr. Trump’s “go back” tweet and his branding of immigrants and asylum seekers as “invaders.”
Mr. Scott and Mr. Hurd said the president’s remarks were particularly detrimental because they appeared to unify Democrats at a time when they had been engaged in an internal dispute about race.
For months there has been a rift between Ms. Pelosi and the four lawmakers, and last week tensions grew when Ms. Pelosi pointedly said they had no following in Congress. The four women opposed a $4.6 billion aid package for the border, approved by Congress, because they said it supported Mr. Trump’s immigration policies.
The tone of the president’s remarks, however, is something they agree on.The tone of the president’s remarks, however, is something they agree on.
Mr. Trump’s comments on Monday also addressed strains from earlier this year when Ms. Omar sent jolts through her own party for criticizing Israel and suggesting that supporters of Israel were pushing for “allegiance to a foreign country.” “We’ll stay focused on our agenda and we won’t get caught slipping, because all of this is a distraction,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said.
“I can tell you that they have made Israel feel abandoned by the U.S.,” Mr. Trump wrote in one of his tweets. Mr. Trump clearly sees a political advantage in his targeting of the congresswomen, betting that by focusing attention on them, he will be better able to paint all Democrats with a broad brush of socialism and radical policies.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, said Mr. Trump’s use of Israel in his comments hurts the Jewish community. “The Dems were trying to distance themselves from the four ‘progressives,’ but now they are forced to embrace them,” Mr. Trump gloated on Twitter on Monday evening. “That means they are endorsing Socialism, hate of Israel and the USA! Not good for the Democrats!”
“He doesn’t speak for any of us,” Mr. Greenblatt wrote in a Twitter post on Monday. “We call on ALL leaders across the political spectrum to condemn these racist, xenophobic tweets & using Jews as a shield.” Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster and strategist, said Mr. Trump’s latest remarks reflected a broader strategy to use the same kind of racial animus that helped propel his 2016 presidential bid to bolster his base for his 2020 re-election push.
Ms. Omar defended herself defiantly: “They are working to silence the voices of the people who see themselves represented in me,” she wrote on Twitter. “I will stay in the ring, fighting for what is right and will never back down in the face of these attacks.” “He’s crazy like a fox, and it only makes perfectly good sense for him to go back to what got him here in the first place, which is driving this racial angst in the electorate,” Mr. Belcher said.
Two Republican senators, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, suggested that the president steer clear of personal attacks and instead focus on policy. There are risks for Democrats in the strategy, he added, if they accede to Mr. Trump’s wishes.
“We all know that A.O.C. and this crowd are a bunch of communists,” Mr. Graham said on Fox News. “They hate Israel, they hate our own country.” But he also pushed back against the president’s suggestion that the women are not American. “To a certain extent, the electorate already gets that Donald Trump is racist and he says racist, offensive things, so of course, you have to condemn what he says as a matter of principle,” Mr. Belcher said. “But from a strategic standpoint, does it get you anything to fall into where he clearly wants the battle to be fought? It’s almost like he’s picking the battlefield for 2020.”
“They are American citizens,” Mr. Graham said. “They won an election. Take on their policies. The bottom line here is this is a diverse country.”
He added: “Mr. President, you’re right about their policies. You’re right about where they will take the country. Just aim higher.”
Mr. Trump said he disagreed with Mr. Graham about aiming higher. “These are congressmen. What am I supposed to do, just wait for senators? No,” Mr. Trump said.