Trump news: AOC, Ilhan Omar, Pressley and Tlaib slam 'hateful actions' of 'racist, xenophobic' president
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump began the week embroiled in a racism row after attempting to exploit divisions among the opposition by telling young progressive congresswomen like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”, demanding an apology from the victims in his latest round of tweets.
Despite boasting of a 94 per cent approval rating among Republicans, the president found himself lagging behind Democratic 2020 challengers Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in a new poll conducted for NBC News/Wall Street Journal.
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began mass deportations raids on at least 10 American cities, Mr Trump also hit out at media coverage of vice president Mike Pence's visit to a border detention centre in McAllen, Texas, on Friday, insisting the facility in question was “well run and clean” despite evidence to the contrary.
During a press conference, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, Ms Omar, and their colleagues Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib all denounced the president's attacks on them, which he doubled down on Monday afternoon at the White House.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez, finishing up her remarks, called the president "weak", and said he focuses on personal attacks because he cannot debate issues.
"Weak minds and leaders challenge loyalty to our country in order to avoid challenging and debating the policy," Ms Ocasio-Cortez said.
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Theresa May (remember her?) has condemned Trump's racist tweets, something the Republicans have so far failed to do.
This is absolutely the right thing for the prime minister to say but there's also perhaps an element of gleeful revenge here too, after Trump viciously attacked her handling of Brexit only last week in response to the Sir Kim Darroch affair.
Ben Kentish has this report from Westminster.
This is the closest we've come to a meaningful Republican response so far.
Here's more on the resounding silence from almost all Republicans in the wake of the president's attacks.
Bernie Sanders was on Meet the Press on Sunday and told Chuck Todd that Nancy Pelosi has been too tough on "The Squad" and risks alienating the likes of AOC and Ilhan Omar if she doesn't ease up.
He also had this sassy response when questioned over whether his 2020 campaign is too similar to the message of his 2016 run.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has now responded to the president's tweets by saying he has used the "hallmark language of white supremacists".
This rings true.
Trump's intention in wading into the Pelosi-AOC beef was to widen the crack in opposition unity but, as the man says...
A new rule will prevent migrants claiming asylum at the US border if they have passed through another country first, according to Associated Press.
The rule, published in the Federal Register and expected to go into effect Tuesday, also applies to children who have crossed the border alone.
There are some exceptions: If someone has been trafficked, if the country the migrant passed through did not sign one of the major international treaties that govern how refugees are managed, or if an asylum seeker sought protection in a country but was denied.
Lindsey Graham has mostly echoed Donald Trump in his comments about the four Democratic congresswomen the president attacked over the weekend on Twitter -
Donald Trump’s administration has taken steps to officially end asylum protections for central American migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border.
The US Justice Department published a new rule in the Federal Register on Monday that would make migrants passing through another country before arriving in the country initially ineligible for asylum.
The rule appeared set to provoke an extensive legal battle between the Trump administration and immigrants rights groups.
Story to come...
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