(Image source from: BBC.com)
President Donald Trump on Sunday used racist language to attack progressive Democratic congresswomen, falsely implicating they weren't natural-born American citizens.
Trump did not name who he was attacking but earlier this week he referenced New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when the President was defending Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
A group of Democrats, who are women of color and have been vocal about Trump's immigration policies, early this week criticized the conditions of border detention facilities. The group of women joining Ocasio-Cortez was Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
Trump implied in the series of tweets that the congresswomen weren't born in America and sarcastically indicated, "they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came."
So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
....and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
Later Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter that the country she "come(s) from" and "swears to" is the U.S. and suggested that Trump is "angry because you can't conceive of an America that includes us."
"You rely on a frightened America for your plunder," the New Yorker wrote in a tweet.
Mr. President, the country I “come from,” & the country we all swear to, is the United States.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 14, 2019
But given how you’ve destroyed our border with inhumane camps, all at a benefit to you & the corps who profit off them, you are absolutely right about the corruption laid at your feet. https://t.co/HLKQCotR8T
You are angry because you don’t believe in an America where I represent New York 14, where the good people of Minnesota elected @IlhanMN, where @RashidaTlaib fights for Michigan families, where @AyannaPressley champions little girls in Boston.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 14, 2019
/2
You are angry because you can’t conceive of an America that includes us. You rely on a frightened America for your plunder.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 14, 2019
You won’t accept a nation that sees healthcare as a right or education as a #1 priority, especially where we’re the ones fighting for it.
Yet here we are.
Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Pressley are natural-born U.S. citizens, while Omar was born in Somalia and immigrated to the U.S. when she was young. Omar turned out to be a citizen in 2000 when she was 17 years old, according to the New York Times.
Trump's tweets come as interest in the conditions of detention centers housing migrants has risen sharply and raids to round up undocumented immigrants are being conducted Sunday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in multiple major cities across the nation.
Omar, responding to the President's attacks on Sunday, threw punches at Trump in a pair of tweets, writing that "As Members of Congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States."
"Which is why we are fighting to protect it from the worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen," Omar wrote, adding that Trump is "stoking white nationalism" because he is "angry that people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hate-filled agenda."
Mr. President,
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 14, 2019
As Members of Congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States.
Which is why we are fighting to protect it from the worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen. https://t.co/FBygHa2QTt
You are stoking white nationalism bc you are angry that people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hate-filled agenda.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 14, 2019
“America's answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.” -RFK
Tlaib and Pressley also hit back at Trump on Twitter, with Tlaib saying she is "fighting corruption" in the U.S. "every day when I hold your (administration) accountable as a U.S. Congresswoman," and Pressley saying the tweets are "what racism looks like."
"WE are what democracy looks like. And we're not going anywhere. Except back to DC to fight for the families you marginalize and vilify everyday," Pressley wrote in a tweet.
Trump continued his attacks on the progressive House members Sunday evening, claiming they "speak so badly of our country."
In a pair of tweets, he said he was sad to see Democrats sticking up for the House members, and that he looked forward to the 2020 election if they continue with this strategy.
By Sowmya Sangam
