The US politicians Trump told to ‘go home’ hit back, and get widespread support

Images of Ilhan Omar, Donald Trump, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez


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Donald Trump has drawn a lot of criticism for telling four US congresswomen of colour to “go back” to where they came from. The women in question – three of whom were born in the US – aren’t taking this lying down.

“Complete and total catastrophe”

Trump tweeted the following on 14 July:

 

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As The Canary reported:

While Trump did not name the four, he is almost certainly referring to congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Only Omar, from Somalia, is foreign-born.

All of them have responded. Ocasio-Cortez said:

 

Omar shot back:

Pressley had this to say:

And Tlaib spoke out too:

Response

Many people were crystal clear about what Trump is and what he represents:

Movie director Ava DuVernay also offered full solidarity against the ‘racist-in-chief’:

One congressman – whose father was born in Ireland – pointed out how blatant Trump is with whom he does/doesn’t single out:

Trump’s words led #TrumpIsARacist to trend on Twitter. This prompted many people to post tweets similar to this one:

Some argued that several prominent people still haven’t fully woken up to what Trump is, though:

Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi drew criticism recently for repeatedly criticising the same four women Trump just attacked. On 12 July, Arwa Mahdawi wrote for the Guardian:

America is becoming an increasingly hostile place for women and for people of color. Pelosi’s constant public attacks against the four newly elected women of color aren’t just disrespectful, they’re dangerous… As America grows increasingly brazen in its bigotry, Pelosi should be aggressively standing up for her freshman colleagues, not trying to tear them down. So why isn’t she?

Well, to put it bluntly, I think it’s because she’s terrified of what her progressive colleagues represent. The Squad doesn’t just consist of four people, as Pelosi condescendingly told the Times; it represents the face of a new America. It represents a challenge to the traditional power structure. That doesn’t just scare bigots like [Fox News presenter] Tucker Carlson, it scares the neoliberal establishment.

Trump’s tweet tirade actually recognised that Pelosi also has an issue with the four congresswomen:

Pelosi has since criticised Trump’s comments:

But her defence of the women rang hollow with some:

Wider issues

As the congresswomen themselves pointed out, Trump isn’t just saying racist things – he’s actively overseeing racist policy. This video shows the horrendous conditions that detained people are facing as a result of Trumpian border politics:

This video shows the attitude of vice president Mike Pence towards a similar detainment facility:

There’s also a question of how British politicians will react to Trump’s latest instance of open bigotry. Channel 4‘s Krishnan Guru-Murthy had this to say:

Solidarity

Indulging in this sort of racist and ignorant language is nothing new for Trump. The longer he remains in his position, however, the more it becomes normalised. That means standing in solidarity both with the committed congresswomen and with people of colour who have to deal with the real-life impacts of Trump’s actions.

Featured image via Kristie Boyd – Wikimedia / GPA Photo Archive – Flickr / US House of Representatives – Wikimedia

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