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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During the conference, Trump referred to MS-13 as "monsters" and claims that his administration has removed "tremendous amounts of criminals." He said he's not concerned by people who said his tweets from the weekend, and this morning, were racist. He rambled quite a bit about Al Qaeda, and insinuated that representative Ilhan Omar was a fan of the terrorist group, saying she "puffs her chest out" when she speaks about them. He ended the conference by saying "I know what I'm talking about."
The president was unusually vicious during this press conference, in a noticeable shift from the more lax, uncaring attitude he typically brings to his policy explanations. Doubling down on the sentiments he's been expressing, Trump told reporters that he was tired of people "complaining."
"If you're not happy in the US, if you're complaining all the time: leave," he said. "It's very simple."
He acknowledged that many people found this sentiment racist, but seemed annoyed that he had to hear about those opinions. "A lot of people love it," he said.
Later today, the House will vote on a resolution condemning Trump's tweets. In a letter urging her Democratic colleagues to vote in its favor, House speaker Nancy Pelosi said the tweets "beyond his own low standards using disgraceful language about Members of Congress."
During the press conference, the president appeared to brush off this resolution, along with any criticism at all that his rhetoric might speak positively to white nationalists, saying he "did not care."
Democratic 2020 hopefuls are increasingly calling to impeach Donald Trump in the wake of his racist tweets. "I don’t know what else to say but Donald Trump is a racist and a criminal and we have a constitutional duty to impeach him," presidential candidate Seth Moulton said on Monday -
“There is great anger” – that was Donald Trump’s pitch to the nation as he portrayed himself as the ultimate outsider, the only one able to clean up the “swamp” in Washington.
Four years later we are back for another election campaign and the anger has only deepened, the swamp only muddier.
Those expecting Trump to have learned the act of civility and statecraft during his years in office will likely be disappointed. During 2015 and 2016 the president perfected a tone that left no room for politeness. He will always tell it “how it is”, even if that means deceptions, vagaries and outright falsehoods.
Here's video of the president touring the South Lawn during the White House Made in America product display today -
Donald Trump refused to respond when reporters noted the congresswomen he told to go back to their countries were actually American, with all but one born in the US -
Here's video of Donald Trump defending his racist tweets on the White House South Lawn earlier today -
Donald Trump has launched an extraordinary defence of racist comments he made about four Democratic congresswoman, saying he "did not care" if white supremacists found common cause with him.
In language perhaps never made in public comments at the White House, the president doubled down on a series of attacks he had made on the four women of colour - three of whom were born in the US and one who moved here 20 years as a refugee form Somalia - who he previously told to “go back home”.
“As far as I’m concerned if you hate our country, if you’re not happy here, you can leave,” Mr Trump said at an event intended to celebrate US manufacturing, denying that a series of tweets he had posted over the weekend and on Monday morning had been racist.
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