Watch: US Congresswomen attacked by President Donald Trump's racist remarks hit back at him
The response came after President Trump’s racist tweets telling Congresswomen of colour to ‘go back to the crime-infested places where they came from’.
On July 14, United States President Donald Trump tweeted racist comments targetting immigrant Democratic Congresswomen. “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came,” the President wrote in one of his tweets.
....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
The attack was allegedly aimed at Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley, also known as “the squad”.
During his speech at the Made in America Showcase event on July 15, Trump reiterated his views. “These are people that in my opinion hate our country...if they are not happy here, they can leave,” he said. Before the address, Trump was asked if he considered his statements to be racist, to which he had replied: “not at all”.
Trump’s comments were met with criticism, even from members of his own Republican Party. The Congresswomen he had targeted responded to the President at a press conference on July 15. “The first note that I want to tell children across this country is that no matter what the president says, this country belongs to you, and it belongs to everyone,” Ocasio-Cortez said (video on top).
The 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination aspirant Kamala Harris also attacked President Donald Trump for his remarks, calling him “a racist and a bully”. She recalled how she had to face racist remarks when she was told to “go back where she came from”. Harris was speaking at a campaign stop in Iowa, The Hill reported.
I've personally been told, "go back to where you came from." It is vile, ignorant, shallow, and hateful. It has to stop. pic.twitter.com/t1oAD7s5Od
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 16, 2019
The subject was also picked up by the late night shows on United States television, with television host Stephen Colbert saying that if anyone should be leaving the US, it is President Trump. Colbert minced no words and added, “If you’re looking for a new home, might I suggest that you go to hell.”
Another television host, Seth Meyers, commented, “Racism is at the core of Trump’s political ideology. It’s not the side dish, it’s the main course.”
