Trump launches blistering attack on Democrats ‘who reject everything that we hold dear’
Follow the latest updates from Washington
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has doubled down on his attacks on a group of Democratic congresswomen, claiming the party was now led by “four-left wing extremists who reject everything that we hold dear”.
At a rally for supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio, the crowd did not break into racist chants as happened two weeks ago in Florida when the president referred to the four women of colour.
But it did start chanting “lock her up” when he referred to Hillary Clinton, who he beat in the crucial state of Ohio in 2016, on his way to winning the White House.
“While Republicans are working every day to build up our country, the rage-filled Democrat Party is trying to tear America apart,” said Mr Trump.
“The Democrat Party is now being led by four left-wing extremists who reject everything that we hold dear.”
Mr Trump claimed he was seeking to avoid “controversy”, which is perhaps why he did not spend too long talking about the congresswomen, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Last month, he was widely criticised and his tweets formally condemned as racist by the House of Representatives, after tweeting and commenting that the the women should “go home”. Three of them were born in the US, while the fourth, Mr Omar came here 20 years ago after her family escaped from Somalia as refugees.
On Thursday, one of four Republican members of congress who voted in favour of the House bill condemning the president’s remarks about the progressive women, announced he was not seeking reelection.
Will Hurd, who represents Texas’s 23rd congressional district and is the only black Republican in the House, had condemned Mr Trump’s remarks as racist and xenophobic.
“Look, I'm the only black Republican in the House of Representatives. I go into communities that most Republicans don’t show up in order to take a conservative message,” he told CNN last month.
“This makes it harder in order to take our ideas, and our platform, to communities that don't necessarily identify with the Republican Party.”
Mr Hurd made his announcement while Mr Trump was on stage attacking Democratic mayors, across the country, including the mayor of Cincinnati, John Cranley.
He claimed the crowd at the US Bank Arena had broken records, and he alleged it was “Democrats” who for health and safety reasons had not allowed more people inside.
If you want to see how Mr Trump energised the crowd, please see what was our live coverage below
Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
We're about one hour out from the expected start time for Donald Trump's rally in Ohio tonight.
What we're watching for: whether Mr Trump lashes out at James Comey (who the Justice Department recently declined to prosecute over leaked memos), and whether he embraces the chants we saw during his last rally in North Carolina calling for Ilhan Omar to be sent back to her birth country (she is an American citizen).
Of course, we're looking for much more and the president tends to be a prolific speech-giver. But, those are a couple highlights without getting too in the weeds on all the ways he might attack Democrats after the past two nights of debates.
Earlier today, Donald Trump held what amounted to an impromptu press conference before boarding his flight to head to Ohio.
On North Korean missile tests: "Short-range missiles, we never discussed that," he said of his talks with Kim Jong Un, indicating he is more concerned with nuclear weapons for the Korean country.
On impeachment efforts, and the Mueller report: "It's a hoax."
On whether he is considering a blockade or quarantine on Venezuela: "Yes, I am."
On Elizabeth Warren: Called her "Pocahontas", and said she "doesn't have credibility."
On Joe Biden's debate performance last night: "Biden did OK," and he "limped through it."
On Kamala Harris: "Kamala did not do well last night."
On the 2020 Democratic primary, in general: "It's really boiling down to four or five of them."
Mr Trump did some nice boasting this afternoon about the rally he is holding tonight in Ohio, saying: "The arena is a very large one."
He continued that he could "probably sell it out 10 times."
When asked about the "send her back" chant, he said: "If they do the chant, we'll see what happens. I prefer they don't."
We are just about 15 minutes away from the expected start of Donald Trump's rally in Cincinnati.
Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us. This is Andrew Buncombe in Seattle. I'm going to be keeping you up to speed with the most dramatic and important details of the president's latest rally
Meanwhile, here's a little bit of breaking news:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-afghanistan-war-us-troops-deal-taliban-a9035161.html
“Those people were standing so far to the left, I thought that stage was going to flip over,” he says of candidates who took part in Democratic debates
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments