Democrats: Trump’s Racist Tirades Endanger Omar, Ocasio-Cortez
Trump’s racist attacks on four progressive congresswomen could be putting their lives in danger, members of Congress told Politico Thursday morning.
“It’s bad enough that the president didn’t stop the chant last night,” Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) said. “But he started it. It’s instilling fear, it’s going to instill violence.”
Lujan was referring to the racist chant from the Wednesday Trump campaign rally, where the audience chanted “Send her back!” after Trump recited his familiar smears of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a Somali-born U.S. citizen.
“It’s crystal clear to me that her life is in imminent danger,” Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, told Politico. “He has threatened the safety of a member of Congress.”
Trump’s racist tirades have focused on Omar and three other women of color: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). Trump kicked off his attacks on the congresswomen on Sunday, declaring they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
Trump employs, and his supporters embraced, a long-used racist trope of telling people of color to “go back” to another country to falsely imply that some Americans, based on the color of their skin, are somehow less American than white citizens.
“The president’s comments are extremely dangerous to any person that looks like me,” Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA) said. She added that Trump’s actions show “that he frankly doesn’t give a damn about the safety of Americans.”
When asked on Thursday about safety concerns, Ocasio-Cortez told a Politico reporter that “of course” she is worried.
“I think part of the point is to target us. This president is evolving, as predicted, deeper into the rhetoric of racism which evolves into violence,” she said.
Along with Ocasio-Cortez and the other targets of Trump’s hateful rhetoric, Omar refuses to back down. “I am where I belong, at the people’s house and you’re just gonna have to deal!” Omar said on Twitter Wednesday night, along with a photo of herself presiding over the House of Representatives.
👋🏽 I am where I belong, at the people’s house and you’re just gonna have to deal! pic.twitter.com/W0OvDXGxQX
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 18, 2019
As Omar refuses to back down, other members expressed disgust at Trump’s attacks.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) described Trump’s tirade as “dangerous, obscene, racist, disgusting, quite frankly un-American.”
Hate crimes have increased during Trump’s tenure in office, and Democrats targeted by Trump’s attacks have also been threatened. In April, for example, a 55-year-old man was arrested and charged with threatening to murder Omar. Trump’s increasingly heated and racist rhetoric could further embolden his supporters and endanger the subjects of Trump’s verbal assaults.
Published with permission of The American Independent.
House Will Vote To Condemn Trump’s Racism And Xenophobia
Republicans will soon be forced to go on the record as to whether or not they stand behind Trump’s racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen.
A proposed House resolution to condemn Trump’s remarks was announced in a statement Monday from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi said that Trump “went beyond his own low standards” when he called Sunday for four congresswomen of color — all of whom are U.S. citizens — to “go back” to other countries. Trump later doubled down on his comments, refusing to back off even when told white supremacists were applauding him.
“The House cannot allow the President’s characterization of immigrants to our country to stand,” Pelosi said. “Our Republican colleagues must join us in condemning the President’s xenophobic tweets.”
Pelosi also noted that Democrats “will continue to forcefully respond to these disgusting attacks.”
Pelosi also included this quote from former President Ronald Reagan praising immigration: “If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”
While some Republicans have offered tepid criticism of Trump’s attack, others, like Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) made excuses for him.
Despite the clear racism of Trump’s remarks, the Maryland Republican insisted in a radio interview on Monday that it was not racist.
The House resolution will force Trump’s party to decide how much more of his bigotry they’re willing to tolerate in exchange for political power.
Published with permission of The American Independent.