US House condemns Trump's racist comments
July 17, 2019
The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning President Donald Trump for racist comments against four minority congresswomen from the left wing of the Democratic Party.
Four Republicans and an independent joined the Democrats to pass the symbolic measure 240-187 three days after Trump's tweets caused a firestorm in Washington.
The resolution "strongly condemns President Donald Trump's racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color."
In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump wrote that the congresswomen should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."
He also accused the congresswomen of hating Israel and the United States and of being socialists.
Trump's tweets were directed at four freshman congresswomen from the left wing of the Democratic Party: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. All are US citizens and three were born in the United States.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who at times has clashed with the freshmen congresswomen, defended them on Tuesday in response to Trump's attacks.
Ahead of the vote Trump tweeted, "Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don't have a Racist bone in my body!" as he urged House Republicans to "not show 'weakness" in the face of "a Democrat con game."
He also doubled down, writing that the congresswomen have been "spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate, & yet they get a free pass and a big embrace from the Democrat Party."
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy accused the Democrats of using the controversy over the tweets to score political points.
"It's all politics," McCarthy told reporters.
Trump's tweets were interpreted by some political observers as an attempt to rally his conservative base and associate the entire Democratic Party with its most left-leaning members ahead of the 2020 presidential and congressional elections.
cw/bw (AFP, AP, Reuters)