Trump made the statement that the congresswomen should:
" . . . go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done."
Democrats have, predictably, rushed to mischaracterize this Tweet as racist, though it mentions neither names or race. It demonstrates how out of touch the current party is with the times. It's also an incredible feat of mental gymnastics that forces statements like this to fit the narrative they wish to see play out.
Americans are no longer kowtowing to media sensationalism and the left's urge to deploy the race card every time a disagreement arises displays its impotence as a political movement.
12
@Tristan
1) he was addressing issues between the Speaker and 4 members of her party. Names weren't needed.
2) 3 of the 4 were born here (and the other is a naturalized citizen, having been brought here as a child). How does his tweet about "going back to the places....from which they came make any sense?
6
I’m so confused. What do his tweets mean in your reading of them?
2
@MarcS
1. Agreed.
2. My empathetic reading of the initial Tweet was that it was directed at Ilhan Omar, with deliberate use of the plural "congresswomen" to obfuscate the point and, predictably, rile up the media.
Sticklers over the details of grammar, spelling, and punctuation still haven't figured out that Trump deploys these tactics to leverage the mainstream media to his cause as a winning strategy time and again.
3. "If you don't like this country, you can leave."
In my life, I cannot tell you how many times I've heard this phrase said to myself and well-meaning friends who express discontent both at home (USA) and abroad (Korea, Japan):
A normal reading of this sentiment should be as a tactless expression of frustration with the target's views. It is not, however, racist.
3
When you call just about everything racist, nobody pays any attention to you any more.
16
I am anti-socialist, and as a registered democrat ready to swing, you need to know how much I so abhor the idea of giving everything away to people who don't want to work for it that I would even begin to think of voting republican. Yes, he's a nasty man. But censure will only violate freedom of speech. Let's give him the freedom to be a racist and find someone we can vote for. Dems, you're failing there.
10
@Brooklyn
So, are you saying you’re a Democrat who is believing all of Trump’s and the Republican Party’s claptrap about socialism? Please be smarter than that!
Healthcare as a right, that is affordable, is not giving everything away to people who don’t want to work for it, affordable education is not giving everything away to people who don’t want to work for it. It sounds to me like you need to be better informed about the plight of so many working people in America who struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis. Stop listening to Trump create bogeymen that aren’t real!
8
Recently, the term "Republican principles" has become an oxymoron. Let's see if our elected officials can find those missing principles. I would not bet on it.
1646
@T. Schultz President Rufous T. Firefly's line in "Duck Soup": …... "These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others. One of my favorite Groucho lines.
52
@Bunnell
The rotten cream thereof...
8
@T. Schultz
In inferring that an American descended from Slaves , brought against their will to America centuries ago, should 'go back' to where she came from is unforgivable of an elected leader. But, the tragic story here is that the once great Republican Party is not attempting, in the slightest, to curtail this demagogue's remarks or actions...this will not bode well for America.
31
"Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California called the four freshman congresswomen “our sisters,”"
Trump just won, a majority of Americans do see them as hating the USA. Trump was able to tie the communist Democrats to the rest of the Democratic party. The regular rural country voter in Ohio and in the corn fields in Iowa, do think the things those ladies hate America. Nancy took the bait, those four women are better than any advertisement or campaign committee for the Republican party.
8
@Just Saying Maybe the majority of the Americans in some region of the USA think these 4 women hate America, but you can't speak for the country as a whole. You are just repeating the latest White House talking points, saying that "Nancy took the bait, ha ha!" But just two days ago, the we heard that the White House re-election strategy was sowing discord between the Democrats, pitting progressives against moderates, AOC vs Pelosi. Trump allies can't legitimately claim every desperate move they make is actually a brilliant campaign strategy. In reality, Trump just did a major face-plant, period.
4
They should vote on hate speech against the United States of America. But I'm sure the Democrats wouldn't vote on it because a majority of the Democrats hate America right now.
7
No, we love America enough to stand up for American ideals and against wannabe autocratic dictators.
19
Don't equate hating Trump and his enablers with hating America. The are no where near the same.
21
Is it really your contention that criticizing the gop party line is a sign that I hate America? Really?
Just a thought, if you could give your vitriol a moment’s rest: what if my criticism of the nation’s current condition is, instead, a sign that I so love America that I want to see it become better than the hate filled, dysfunctional nation we have become?
The GOP rules by manipulating your fears. What ever happened to “You have nothing to fear but fear itself”?
15
If the members of the Squad can’t take the heat, they should stay out of the political kitchen. These 4 have been attacking Trump and the 62,000,000 Americans who voted for him since they began their quest for Congress. And as the other old saying goes, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. AOC’s anti-Semitic comments (and those of her chief of staff), Tlaib’s disgusting language in public settings, and Omar’s unwillingness to talk to the media or anyone else concerning her marriages and divorce (a reluctance given the fishy details that are public which would be making headlines if it involved anyone related to the President) are good reasons not to throw stones. But they continue to do so and Mr Trump is right to respond. And by the way, Trump has responded in a similarly tough way to Bernie, Joe, Hillary, chuck, Nancy and Elizabeth—none of whom are persons of color, so the claim that he is a racist for defending himself against the Squad is nonsense.
10
@ehillesum
Did he tell Bernie, Joe, Hillary, Nancy and Elizabeth to go back to their countries? No. It wouldn't make sense to him bc they're white!
But on women of color, he uses the lowest blows and I wonder why? I guess there is a culture of people in the USA who like it? And Trump knows nothing else.
18
And where are Trumps tax returns he promised to share with us all, seems much germane than someone's reluctance to talk about their divorce. Speaking of glass houses.
10
Trump limited his remarks to foreign-born congresswomen who are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and who are vocal in their criticism of Trump and his administration. (In Trump’s mind, this equates to hating America.)
Trump’s tweet would apply to caucus cochair Pramila Jayapal, who was born in India, and Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia. Both of them are outspoken critics of Trump and his policies. Trump’s tweet would not apply to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley, who are native-born Americans
Trump’s tweet was not racist because it was not aimed at a racial or ethnic group. If the targeted congresswoman supported him and his policies, he would proclaim them great Americans. It is not their skin color but their politics he abhors. He appointed
Nimrata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa) as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She has the same ancestry as
Pramila Jayapal.
7
Fact: only one of the four was born outside America. She is now a citizen. The other three are born Americans.
6
If it takes 3 paragraphs to explain what Trump ‘really’ meant in a tweet and claim to ascribe deep philosophical musings to a statement that can clearly be taken at face value, perhaps you are overthinking it and rationalizing something that is obviously bad.
7
Reasonable people see this as only a tactic and the only tactic Democrats have locked and loaded to attack President Trump ,which sadly is the “race” card.
I’m curious when the average American is in this country or traveling overseas and meets a person from another country, and the person asks them about themselves, don’t most people say their “American” or from the United States rather than saying their a person of “color” from the United States or say they’re a “Colored American”?
2
I dont see why everyone is calling those tweets racist -they are nationalistic and provocative maybe but not racist. True he is probably better off ignoring the lot of them but let's face it he has a point. While these four, especially Omar and Tlaib, have a right to be here, they have said things that are highly inflammatory and very disrespectful to many American traditions and values. Maybe Trump should have said more pointedly, to say Omar, "Hey, whatever you dont like about America we are better than places like Somalia, and you should know that .. ." But who cares the whole thing has become so polarized and politicized it is all really nauseating.
19
You know that EVERY American citizen has THE RIGHT to speak critically of this country and our elected representatives, yeah? So they were practicing their Constitutional rights to free speech.
12
Ok, let’s say it wasn’t racist. Can we agree that it is wholly inappropriate for the President of the United States to tell anyone, let alone a Representative of the People, to get out of the country and go back to the country they came from simply because he doesn’t like their opinions? Would it be ok for me to tell you to leave our country simply because I disagree with you? I wouldn’t do it because I know that discourse is good.
The parsing needs to stop. Wrong is wrong and regrettably our president dishonors the office every time he does something that dishonors the office.
8
Guess you forgot Trump's inaugural address? He should have left the country the next day based on the way he described the country.
6
The democrat party has been playing the race game for so long, and look at the truth: President Trump is the one who has created an economic climate in which everyone is benefiting. The democrats are just attempting to shut down anyone who has an agenda that opposes their socialist aims. Just like all socialist countries: anyone who opposes their ideology is removed! Imagine the four so called patriots, four new congresswomen, are all calling for open borders. Anyone who advocates for open borders is for the destruction of our country. Mr. Trump was more than right to call them out for what they are. Nothing to do with race, as usual....
22
We have many, many socialist policies in the US, including our military, our interstate highways, our FAA, Social Security, etc. We are by default a social democracy or commonwealth: what is astounding is how many voters prefer to put money into the hands of large corporations, rather than into improvements to infrastructure, healthcare, bipartisan efforts on immigration reform, etc. because some demagogue labels these things “socialist.” Boggles the mind.
17
@Len Bless your heart.
1
Trump is narcissistic personality disorder, and as such he :
Lies
Obfuscates
Gaslights
Seeks to cause confusion
Bullies
Rants
Intimidates
More lies
Attacks
Intelligence agencies, State Department, elected officials, well anyone he feels like attacking. Any person, country, whatever.
As such, I think the media has to be careful how his rants are characterized.
We can’t expect the newly elected officials to proceed with care.
But NYT should, proceed with care.
End game, is the upcoming presidential election.
Keep the eye on the ball.
Better to not get trapped in the games of a narcissistic - he always changes the rules, lies, shifts, attacks.
Better to center on clear headed offense against Trump, and his supporters.
21
Let's remember, it was only a few days ago that Trump was defending Pelosi against these women. Let's also remember something else: Romney, McCaine, Schumer, Pelosi, O'Donnell, Todd, Cooper, Acosta, Graham, Mueller, Sessions, Bannon, "The Squad," Trump has gone after all of them. And generally, they attacked him first. He could care less what color, what gender, what class you come from, you attack him - expect a punch back.
There was not one racist comment in those tweets. But there was pure genius... Pelosi had almost distanced herself and the party from the Fab Four and in one fell swoop, Trump put them back together again.
His strategic capabilities are almost otherworldly and the continued hysteria and TDS of his opposition make them look like babies in a daycare. The guy is an absolute master and he plays his opponents like a Stradivarius. I voted for him the first time because I liked his position on trade. In 2020, I'll add to that his instincts and actions with Kim, with Iran (no retaliation - the last thing they expected), Xi (he's kneecapped the poor fellow), immigration (Pelosi's not looking so smart now), and his handling of the economy. He'll be reelected with more electoral votes and a majority of all voters. You've severely underestimated him - in addition to the fact that God is watching over the guy.
5
After all that talk of the President somehow trampling the constitution, its the House democrats who defied precedent and allowed the Speaker's hateful words to remain. What a bunch of hypocritical politicos.
4
Read exactly what he tweeted before you criticize the President and not reacted based on what you wanted him to have said.
This vote was again another example of the most heinous behavior by a group of partisan thugs who are behaving irrationally in the absence of power.
3
@Appu Nair
What’s more interesting to read is the response of white nationalists and neo-Nazis who fully support what Trump tweeted and agree with him unequivocally.
Trump and the white power mob have the exact same beliefs. Feel free to tell us how they’re different.
3
I read the tweets in question. They are racist. I was shocked when I opened my twitter feed and read those hate filled racist tweets. I almost cried because those same things have been said to me. “Go back to your country”, and I was a child. So yeah he’s a racist.
4
@Appu Nair
So, Appu, what were the Democrats to do?
Sit idly by and wait for more offensive Trump vitriol?
Or finally say enough is enough?
You tell me.
3
"anti-American" and "..of color.." are not mutually exclusive.
"stupid" and "..of color.." are not mutually exclusive.
Anyone who claims that Trump's remarks are racist is a liar, or worse, a lemming.
His remarks were directed at their anti-American political pronouncements, not their race. And nationality is different from race.
The tendency of the snowflake radical leftists to paint every comment as racist, whether it is or not, will have the unintended effect of causing everyone to ignore all claims of racism.
Which is as it should be. Crying "wolf" too many times is not a new concept.
3
I think you may have read the article a little too quickly. The line people are upset about is that he told American born people of color to “go back to their own country,” which, for those not paying attention, is the United states. The assumption that only white people are true Americans underlies that comment, and is an incorrect international perception as well (I’ve had multiple instances of international colleagues use the term “American-looking” to mean “white.”)
Nobody thinks “stupid” and “anti-American” are racial slurs.
4
A very BIG CHUNK of what we're seeing here is that some people just are not likable. Trump in his primitive way expressed the fact that he doesn't LIKE the four congresswoman.
It does seem odd to me that this "Squad" is made up only of (1) women and (2) that are not white. They seemed to have collected themselves expressly based on their non-whiteness - which itself strikes me as a race-based intention... they're acting like racists.
While Trump is am imbecile in the world of politics, beyond this debate over him (again!) the people should be wary of bands of people who associate solely based on their race and gender, and then go on to exclude other races and genders from their get togethers and conferences.
As an ordinary citizen I don't feel comfortable with these four identify politicians in my government.
4
@Ted UWS
I am sure you are not a racist and have some black friends. Have you asked those friends, their opinion on the friendship? It might be a good reflection point. I am sure they will be polite.
Your statement below is to say the least of it non cerebral and with respect, redolent of simplistic reasoning:
"They seemed to have collected themselves expressly based on their non-whiteness - which itself strikes me as a race-based intention... they're acting like racists.'"
That is a classic false equivalence dare I say a fake equivalence.
So they are acting like racists in your view, because they got elected while not being white?
Did I say "simplistic" ? Yes I did say that didn't I? It seems like it is for you quite a novel concept that non white people would have the audacity to run for office.
Don't forget to ask your black friends how they perceive the "friendship". Remember that they are likely to be very tactful ad polite about it. So try and read the body language. BTW the politicians you speak of did not "pick themselves" as you say. They were elected... and Obama was certainly born in the USA.
4
You are threatened by 4 women of color? How about the majority male and white GOP? They don’t threaten you?
2
You all hate Trump for his personality. I agree. But he was elected to kick start the economy, nominate intelligent justices etc. Disagree on those and stop complaining about hurt feelings. The Democrat candidates have this far offered nothing as an intelligent AND workable alternative to his policies. If one of them is elected, trust me, you won’t be happy.
6
@Bob
What a strange version of reality you subscribe to! The economy was "kickstarted" under Obama and was gaining ground before Trump was elected. And Trump, McConnell, and the Heritage Foundation have never bothered with intelligence as a criterion for nomination judges - only ideology.
Warren is only one of the democratic candidates for president who has offered concrete, viable solutions to policy problems.
You use "intelligent" twice in your post - all I could think of was "The Princess Bride": "You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
12
@Bob Trump won without any policies. He won race baiting. He won because people thought that the celebrity was capable, rich. He hasn’t done a thing that was not already in progress. Every time since I can remember back to 1960, Republicans win with baiting the populace, dog whistles, others. They get power and they release a surge of deregulation that tanks the economy. Happy days for 5 years then it falls apart. Democrat wins office. Cleans up the mess. Takes 8 years. Rinse. Repeat.
10
If you don't like our "complaining and hurt feelings", then why don't you go back to your country?
Is that a good enough policy for you?
1
The focus of this discussion has been racism and that's as it should be. However, there is also the matter of the right of any citizen to criticize their government and retain their right of citizenship and the protection of the state. When the very president is saying if you criticize your government you have forfeited your right to live here, we are indeed in a dark and very un-American place.
3874
@Walter Rigault funny thing the whole concept behind the bill of rights is that you can criticize the government without fear of retribution!
And the 2nd one is there to allow the States to keep a militia to prevent a leader like Trump from overstepping the bounds of the Constitution. Sounds like we need to exercise that right.
118
@Dan
The irony is that "his 2nd amendment people" whose job it is to be our last defense against a tyrannical government are completely on board with the idea of a tyrannical government as long as it doesn't take their guns. I wonder when they will realize that it is too late when it is their turn?
192
@Dan:
The Second Amendment was written to protect a newly-founded government from militia outliers, in lieu of a standing army. Its definition has been warped, with the help of the NRA.
65
Well, I certainly understand why trump thinks the Squad hates America, as they are always criticizing it.
They consistently describe the state of the United States in bleak terms, referring to it as a nation in dire peril that is plagued by lawlessness, poverty, and violence, constantly under threat, and at risk of having "nothing, absolutely nothing, left."
They also said " America in crisis and decline, and pledged to end "American carnage,"depicting the United States in a dystopian light—as a "land of abandoned factories, economic angst, rising crime"—while pledging "a new era in American politics."
Oh wait- that was trump.
5353
@Deb Exactly, and Democrats need to use that against him. And something else. Most of his voters and loyal supporters are not, in fact, unemployed, underemployed, uninsured, personally threatened by street gangs in their neighborhoods or any of the other dire conditions he describes. They have good-paying jobs in the construction trades and other skilled, blue-collar occupations. They are business owners and managers and not a few of them highly-educated professionals and career government employees. In other words, solidly middle-income people. They respond to Trump's distorted view of America for other reasons. .
332
@Deb
Very good.
I would also add that when Trump told the 4 Congresswomen that they should go back to the country that they are from and fix their problems first, the response should have been - that's exactly why we ran for Congress.
500
@Deb
Since what is good for the goose is good for the gander:
Does your comment applied to the 4 "critical" women congressional representatives mean that because Trump is always criticizing Democrats, liberals, progressives, and anyone who criticizes him that Trump "hates" these groups and people?
Because someone "criticizes" someone or something does not mean they "hate" it.
58
I was 14 in 1968, when Martin Luther King was assisinated. I remember that moment like it was a year or two ago. The sadness, the shock, the pain...As a young white man I was pulled along into the moment, understanding the importance of Dr. King's work, and the necessity for Americans to pull together and make progress toward love and understanding and respect for everyone.
Think about this...men and women of color giving their lives so future generations wouldn't have to live through the ignorance and hatred of racism. In a matter of days, the president of the United States spit on this history and their blood, allowing the hatred to come sprinting from the shadows. God I love John Lewis, and I have rarely been as heartbroken in my life as I was today, watching him having to speak out against our racist president while Republicans in the chamber looked on smugly.
What has happened to us? To mankind? To the world???
621
@Joe
I too was in my fourteenth year in 1968. I sigh sadly, as I say "amen" to your questions.
But ya know what. Let's do what we can, while we can, to help those younger than us have a world more in line with Martin's dream.
58
@Joe
You cannot really eliminate certain negative emotions by law. They're part of our common humanity, so as soon as conditions arise that trigger them, they will appear again.
What you can do is change the laws in such a way that:
1. victims of racism are fully protected against it.
2. give more and more people access to what is needed to deal with those emotions skillfully, rather than project them onto others and as such, hurt them, and weaken America as a whole.
MLK, John Lewis, ... they have all been able to make huge progress, on both levels. So whatever "greatness" America has today, is clearly due to their hard work, strong moral values, patience and persistence, and sacrifices and pain too.
But as the GOP is proving today, there's still a lot of work to do.
Some trauma expert once said that people are so aggressive against others because if they wouldn't behave like that, they would have to feel their own unbearable pain.
So the next step in the fight against racism, is to now finally turn our gaze towards people committing acts of racism too. They too are victims, and only when we eradicate the causes of THEIR pain, will racism finally stop.
But that implies recognizing that nobody "is" a racist. ALL people, in the end, want to avoid suffering and be as happy and healthy as possible. It's just that as long as you don't teach them how to deal with suffering skillfully, then not only will they suffer even more, but on top of that they'll make others suffer
14
@Joe
"Respect for everyone" Therein lies the problem, the right only respects money. Everything and everyone else is merely an obstacle to be pushed out of the way by whatever means possible.
21
We funnel all our hate on Trump but the Republican votes today sickens me. That they would not or could not see those tweets for what they are, flat out racism in its rawest form, is troubling and truly sad.
Trump could not exist without his enablers and there is now no question who they are.
1047
@NYLAkid People get real. There will be no widespread GOP condemnation of Trump. Stop acting so shocked. McConnell has a plan. It's working. The GOP is playing a long game. Trump will be gone soon. They'll still be here. The GOP will wait him out & achieve all of their objectives. Their main goal is to nominate 3-4 very conservative Supreme Court justices. Trump has gotten two SCOTUS appointments, he may get more. He’s moved much faster on lower-court appointments than Obama did. Republicans have confirmed 89 Trump-nominated judges, far in excess of appointments under Obama and Bush. Put together they form a kind of conservative judicial revolution that will impact all aspects of American life. This means Trump’s conservative imprint on the federal judiciary through sheer longevity will endure through cases involving state gun regulations, the environment, immigration, and abortion....long after he's left. The legal arm of the conservative movement is the best organized & most far-seeing sector of the Right. They truly are in it — and have been in it — for the long term goals. Control the Supreme Court, stack the judiciary to the sky, obstruct when necessary and you can destroy the progressive movement, no matter how popular it is, no matter how much legislative power it has. Nothing will get in the way of that goal. While you are gnashing your teeth about irrelevant y tweets the GOP is remaking American society. Open your eyes. You're being schooled by a master tactician.
14
@NYLAkid
It shouldn't be difficult if one is genuinely trying to be objective. Just look at the long-term lack of legislative reaction of most Democrats in Congress to the continuous insults, unfounded accusations, and unpatriotic claims.
2
@NYLAkid, Tom Malinowski, who wrote the resolution, deliberately took most of it from things that Ronald Reagan said.
The loyal little dogs of the Trump lord were so worried about standing by their corrupt leader that 187 of them voted against St. Ronnie for the record.
6
Donald Trump is afraid of a few women of color.
Liz Cheney thinks those women are "socialists" but supports a president who loves the leaders of China and North Korea who really, really are communists.
This is not only racism; it is madness.
4120
@Howard
The irony is every one of those four women are more American, intelligent, articulate, and energetic than this president or anyone in his inner circle.
657
@Howard
The leaders of China and North Korea and Russia are not communists, they are fascist dictators.
On it's face communism is no worse than democracy until it was twisted and corrupted. Fascism is a cancer.
160
@Howard
There is so much cognitive dissonance - it boggles the mind. It's all a house of cards....
52
Just a couple weeks ago, Pelosi was trying to reign in the most radical and extreme members of the Democrat Party. Now the entire Party is standing shoulder to shoulder with them. The media is making them the face of the Democrat Party.
All the result of Trump sending out a tweet.
Let that sink in for a minute.
At a time when the Democrat nominee for POTUS is going to need independents and moderates, at a time when the Party was struggling to get away from “identity politics”, the entire Party has now offered up the 4 most radical as the face of the party, their standard bearers. They even went so far as to formally jump head first into identity politics and label the President that word they throw around way too often - racist.
It will be impossible for the Democrat nominee to appeal to moderates.
Trump just played them like a fiddle.
289
@Sports Medicine
Sorry, but "identity politics" and racism are two different things. Racism is a much more pernicious phenomenon.
Even independents and moderates can understand the difference, and can understand that attempting to excuse racism as merely a form of identity politics is wrong.
250
Speaking out against bigotry is radical? No. If anything, this will help remind the Progressives of the importance of a unified Democratic Party with one common goal: vote Trump out of office.
270
@Sports Medicine Yes... Trump dangles the string and the kittens bat at it. They cannot tell the string is inedible.
In an even less flattering metaphor: moths think a light bulb is food!
28
Trump's tweets were ill-advised, but they weren't racist. He didn't refer to the race of the four women in his comments. The media does this thing where if Trump criticizes someone and the person happens to have a minority status, they automatically claim - without proof - that it is based on that status. Omar's prior anti-Semitic statements were vastly more bigoted than Trump's tweets (and yet Dems rushed to defend them). And the persistent outrageous statements by the four women, falsely calling ICE detention centers "concentration camps" and constantly disparaging the country, are far worse than Trump's tweets (which, again, were admittedly stupid). The media is missing that most Americans are bothered more by the extremism of the Democratic Party than they are by Trump's dumb tweets.
255
@R.P.
Right .......They're not racist .......until directed at YOU
522
@R.P. No... telling women of color to "go back to the countries they came from" is pretty textbook racist.
1625
@R.P. No, no, no RP. I do not know what you are basing your comment on, i.e., "...most Americans are bothered by the extremism of the Democratic Party...." I would venture to say that there are more of us who are bothered by the fanaticism and extreme ideology of the Republican Party. The only difference is we are quieter, not as vociferous, and, well, not so taken over by hate of the "other," which includes women, people of color, the gay community, the non-Christian, ad infinitum. Like it or not, Mr. Trump IS a bigot, a misogynist, and a racist. Like it or not, and so disheartening to admit, his Cabinet, McConnell/McCarthy and "colleagues, and MAGA supporters are reflections of his soulless soul and heartless heart.
859
Yeah, um, one quick thing: misogyny is also a problem.
(Of course, in reality gender and race are intersectional in ways that can compound and exacerbate injustices, but that seems beyond the president's supporters, so....)
If your defense of the president's remarks is that they can't be racist because they don't explicitly mention race, you are tacitly admitting that they are misogynist because they do explicitly call out gender. That's.....not any better.
2
The shocking aspect of this spectacle in the House is that more than 180 White Republicans voted to defend President Trump's racist remarks against 4 of their fellow Members who are women of color.
Trump has made the Republican Party home for Congressional racists.
4
[July 16, 2019] “This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country,” Mr. Trump tweeted.........................................................................................[July 16, 2018].Helsinki, Finland(CNN)US President Donald Trump, in a stunning rebuke of the US intelligence community, declined on Monday to endorse the US government's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying he doesn't "see any reason why" Russia would be responsible.
..................................................................................
Instead, Trump -- standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin -- touted Putin's vigorous denial and pivoted to complaining about the Democratic National Committee's server and missing emails from Hillary Clinton's personal account.
..................................................................................
"I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," Trump said during a joint news conference after he spent about two hours in a room alone with Putin, save for a pair of interpreters..................................................................
Let's not get it twisted as to WHO hates America. Never Ever Trust A malignant narcissistic pathological liar to tell the truth.
7
For those of you claiming that people who do not denounce these comments are racist:
I lived with a black man as my roommate for nearly 13 years and made him the best man at my wedding. At the company I work for, I routinely recommend for hire and promotion minorities, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community. When I ran a theater company I cast a Latin woman in a role that was written for a Caucasian. I helped an immigrant secure a high-profile recommendation letter that led to them acquiring their O-1 artist visa. I challenge anyone to look at my life and actions and call me a racist or anti-immigrant.
I do not consider Trump's comments racist. Inflammatory? Yes. Racist? No. He's telling AOC to "go back to her home country" not because of her race, but because of the socialistic policies she promotes. Big difference, and it's insulting the media thinks we're too stupid to recognize it.
Racism is not white men saying inflammatory things to minorities... that is an inaccurate and juvenile definition of what racism actually is, and it's dangerous because it takes the focus off the REAL racism in this country. The real racists are those who quietly judge based on skin color and withhold good from them because of it. You know what I'm taking about - the boss who silently won't promote someone of Latin descent because he doesn't want a brown face representing his company. THAT is racism. This? Political theater - pure and simple.
4
Let me first respond to the president’s reaction to the vote, saying: “This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat Congresswomen...." No, Mr. President, the four women your tweet target, which necessitated this vote, never used filthy language. It is you who use it all the time.
Nobody accuses you of indulging in racism of the type that blacks in the country suffered in the past at the hands of racist lynch mobs, which Rep. John Lewis has alluded to. But the words you use have the same effect. This is not the first instance that proves that you are a racist. You have been accused of racism right from your time as a real estate developer.
To the 187 Republican members of the House who voted against measure, I have this question: Are you not making a mockery of the oath you took to uphold the values on which this great country is founded? Not just Democrats, all apolitical Americans applaud the 239 Democrats and one independent who voted for the measure. Speaker Pelosi who introduced the measure deserves a special round of applause for telling Trump what his tweet to four congresswomen does: It “reaffirms [that] his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making America white again.”
To Trump's assertion, “I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!”, Ocasio-Cortez has given the most fitting reply: “....You don’t have a racist bone in your body. You have a racist mind in your head, and a racist heart in your chest.”
2
To those disingenuously tying themselves up in knots trying to dismiss or even justify Trump's remarks, I would like to ask you a question. What would you think if a white man walked up to a noisy, lively group of black people in a bar or restaurant and shouted at the top of his lungs, "go back to Africa!" You know very well that you would think that man was a racist, and not just "insulting" those patrons.
1
Please remember Paul Ryan's call out of Trump as racist - 2016:
House Speaker Paul Ryan delivered a harsh rebuke of the recent comments made by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump about an Indiana-born judge with Mexican heritage who is presiding over a lawsuit about Trump University. Ryan said he "disavows" Trump's comments and that they are "the textbook definition of a racist comment."
3
Yesterday I called my representative, Congresswoman Susan Brooks, and urged her to speak out against Trump's racist, divisive tweets. Last night, Rep. Brooks voted with the Democrats on the House Resolution to condemn certain Trump's tweets. While I know my call wasn't the deciding factor, I believe it was one of them.
This morning I called Rep. Brooks' office to thank her for her courageous vote. I decided to make it a simple thank-you, unencumbered with my thoughts about her previous silences,
or the fact that she isn't running for re-election in 2020.
Only four members of the GOP voted for that resolution of condemnation, but that is four more than usual with this Congress.
When people in power show that they can change for the better,
it is far better to encourage them than to remind them of
what they did or didn't do in the past.
1
It's "interesting," isn't it to see so many posters here denying that Trump's tweets are racist, and/or claiming that his targets are or were racist/antisemitic/un-American?
We are being reminded that racism and xenophobia are powerful currents, still running through our culture, and that those currents can be channeled for the benefit of powerful people and groups who are willing to use them.
3
Is free speech only free to the person in the White house? (capitalization intended). I seem to remember candidate trump wailing about how awful America has become and stating that he and/or we had to make America great again. But if someone on the other side of the party, color or creed line makes a non-supportive comment or calls into question the policies that he is trying to cram down our throats by presidential fiat, they are un-American. I can not see how this is logical.....but it is the President's way of polarizing our nation for his own tiny benefit. One man is not the nation.
35
I now support a vote for Article of Impeachment, separate from the Mueller Report, on this issue being brought to the House floor by Rep. Green. Being a racist in broad daylight now has its consequences in the year 2019. Bring it on!
1
@ woosa09
An up or down vote is the American way. If Speaker Pelosi is successful in tabling this resolution, so be it, but it will be in the public record, and won’t be tolerated any further!
Kudos to Rep Al Green D-Texas
As a Jewish person, I am sick of seeing the Republican Party champion themselves as allies because they blindly support Israel's policies. There is a difference between disliking the people of a country and disliking the policies. I still do not believe Congresswoman Omar's statements were antisemitic, it was Republicans own projection of the current antisemitism that still exists within the Trump administration.
4
Come on, Democrats. Keep your eye on the prize. This is a distraction and, along with the media, are falling for it.
2
The 45th thinks he is America. Criticizing him means criticizing America.
He only became president because we have a corrupt voting system and voting oppression. Get rid off the Gerrymandering and pass the HR1. We will see then what can happen. - real democracy
4
I’ll give a polite golf clap for the vote of my representative, Susan Brooks, who’s on her way out the door to retirement.
But it’s better than nothing, I guess, but hardly a profile in courage.
I just wish more in the GOP would find their spine, vow to stay and stand up to Trump, and put country before party — rather than playing the “hero” when they have nothing left to lose politically.
22
Good job, Nancy! I’m sure Trump feels very bad. No need to impeach him for conspiracy with Russia, obstruction of justice or emoluments abuses.
3
Trump is not really happy being President. He could do both the country and himself a service by resigning and spending the remainder of his life spewing his garbage on one of his favorite far right platforms like FOX or Brietbart.
3
IMO part of what Trump says appeals to many even though it's a taboo. He's picking on some easy targets and brings up demographic differences to argue that I'm from a better/more sophisticated background so you should stop talking.
I wouldn't respond by getting enraged by the racism because well his audience doesn't care. Anyone with some education and a little brain knows ad-hominem doesn't prove your position.
I would instead respond by raising the fact that he's trying to deflect attention from issues and point out that the country is in terrible shape for ordinary Americans. Most of his audience are unhappy with their situation so I'd just agree with his audience that he's done a terrible job in his tenure and needs to go.
That's a lot more agreeable and all the racism bashing.
8
I agree with most of your comment, but also wish to point out that we could do both.
Too many times I see the conversation controlled by an either or proposition when it is in our interest and ability to perform many if not all options.
4
We should not have a racially hostile president leading us on immigration.
4
Oh, yeah!
1
The GOP opposed the House resolution based in part on parliamentary rules written in 1801 by Thomas Jefferson. The Jefferson Manual purports to prevent Congress from formally accusing a president of racial discriminating.
Jefferson became president that same year --1801-- and was himself a slaveowner. It's hard not to view the Jefferson Manual as blatantly self-serving. It's like if Trump wrote a manual in late 2016 that says Congress cannot criticize his conflicts of interest, financial irregularities, or undeniable lies.
If a self-serving 1801 treatise is the best argument the GOP can muster, that speaks to how indefensible Trump's comments really are.
6
Says the language is not racist, but then describes the Congresswomen are anti-American????? "Anti-American" is an obvious xeonophobic proxy for race. Why are a bunch of people who have never been personally affected by racism suddenly the experts on it? This makes me ashamed to be an American.
4
Trump needs to be called out for his crimes DAILY.
Everyday a vote on a Trump crime that week, and his family.It is time for the country to wake up and smell the dictatorship.
2
Trump has been consistently and blatantly racist since at least his "birther" days. The near-unanimous Republican unwillingness to condemn his atrocious tweets as such is disgusting.
6
The House resolution condemning Trump’s tweet as racist does not quote the tweet because it isn’t racist.
Trump tweeted: “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 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.”
Trump's did not tweet that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib should go home. The news media has only speculated he was referring to them.
Trump's tweet would only apply to Progressive Caucus cochair Pramila Jayapal, who was born in India, and Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia. Both are harsh critics of Trump and his policies. Omar publicly said “We are going to impeach the [expletive deleted].”
It s true that racist Americans have at times called for Irish, German, Chineses, Japanese, and Mexican immigrants to go home, but Trump did not single out "people of color" or a racial or ethnic group; he targeted some of his most vocal critics. He said unspecified immigrant congresswomen who criticize America, call him vulgar names and criticize his policies should go home. That’s not racists, just wrongheaded.
2
The fact that you feel the term people of color needs quotation marks shows how poorly you understand the issue as a whole.
2
I enjoyed the way you clipped the tweets to fit, but the way you tried to claim that Trump didn’t mean those particular four women and couldn’t possibly have meant anything racial and then went cheerfully on to name two women of color and their old third world countires as what he really meant was a true ripsnorter.
The weaseling was less humorous, aince you pretty much don’t have any examples of Trump saying, “Hey, if you hate it here, go home to Norway,” or yelling like this at Justin Amash.
3
@Robert
I quoted the tweet word for word.
Criticizing people of color who criticize you and call you names in not racist. It's political retribution.
The women you name have no qualms about criticizing opponents who are of a different race than them.
1
Of course it is racist to tell an American to go back to their country, when they are not white. This is the thinking of racists...you don’t belong unless you’re white.
Good to see Pelosi step up...finally...to his horrible and corrupt and inane behaviors and quite disappointing to watch this repub party sink so deep into the morass of racism, without a smidgen of real democratic values.
4
"“This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country,” Mr. Trump tweeted."
And yet he hasn't pointed out a single statement made by any one of them that he takes offense to.
3
More Democrats voted to impeach Bill Clinton than Republicans voted to condemn Trump.
5
Trump's grandfather was banished from Germany by a Royal decree. He can't go back !
6
Another simple solution-- Twitter should delete Trump's account or suspend his account indefinitely. No time to write insensitive, racist, sexist or idiotic posts. Then Trump really has to work.
3
Just love the way the NY Times buries in the story the second most important (from an historical viewpoint) occurrence in the House Chambers. That is, there was a point of order made and Ms. Pelosi was found by the House parliamentarian (appointed, I believe, by the Democrats) and she was found to have violated the House rules on inappropriate (ie., incendiary) speech and her "words were taken down" and, as a punishment, she was banned from the Chamber for a day. Naturally, the Dems quickly reversed the Parliamentariam (way to go, rule-of-law Dems). The last time this happened was in 1986 when another Dem, Speaker Tip O'Neill was similarly censured.
Oh, the irony.
1
This ridiculous. He condemned their politics not their races. And, fyi, you cannot tie one's politics to their race without being a racist. Gonna' have to explain how this racist theory all comes together based on his tweets. Please?
2
There is an irony in defending the statement, "Go back to where you came from". We all developed in our mother's womb, we were all a fetus and passed through the birth canal becoming babies. The same people who are silent, ignore, defend or excuse the statement Trump has repeated are outraged by the fact abortion is legal and have achieved, in some states, of preventing it. Concern over a fetus that cannot hear or see yet view children and adults of different religions or ethnicity with vitriol is condoned. That mindset is beyond all reason and grossly hypocritical. Sure they refer to, In God We Trust as proof of their self righteousness for the mortals unlike them are not to be trusted.
I don’t support Trump on anything but I do think his strategy to divide the country even more will be effective if the Dems keep playing his game.
Support the strategy to condemn his remarks as divisive, but Dems went too far to claim he is a racist, hence the rebuke for maligning Trumps character.
The definition of “racist” seems to have changed between generations, and between parties.
They would have gotten far more support had the Dems just condemned Trump for divisive language against ALL Americans.
Period.
Dems need a better strategy to win in 2020 than this. Our Country depends on it.
The Republicans' attack on the House vote show they have deliberately chosen to be Trump's foot soldiers. They do not defend him; they attack his enemies.
5
Trump has been consistently and blatantly racist since at least his "birther" days. The near-total refusal of House republicans to recognize and condemn his racist tweets as such is moral blindness - a handicap they've suffered since accepting him as their party's candidate.
6
Trump brings out a larger question.
If you are an immigrant or first generation American woman of color, who is now a member of Congress, complaining that woman of color have no opportunity to succeed due to racism or whatever, it does seem a might tone deaf. The immigrant woman of color glass ceiling is at Congress member’s height? You sure?
What is the role of a patriot change agent?
Is it to whine and complain and criticize and call others names while doing nothing productive to bring about the change you believe we need?
Our Congress has forgotten that they themselves are the ones that need to fix problems.
Complaining and grandstanding is the best they seem capable of.
Oh, and calling each other names.
2
As with most of everything he says, his remarks were distasteful, definitely racist, obscene, etc. and of course had to be condemned. As the present occupant of the White House his rhetoric is extremely inappropriate. However, one of those 4 women arrived in town and one of the first things out of her mouth was anti-semitic. Why wasn't she censored?
1
Why doesn't the 'Crew' have a white Congresswoman in their pack? It looks like the 'Crew' is itself segregated. No out cry on that, though. And this resolution is specific and pointed at Trump while when Omar made her antisemitic remarks t(and still going strong) the House's resolution was general and watered down. No fairness anywhere here.
1
Trump , Mitch McConnell, and all the Republican House members who side with Trump are engaging in the latest version of fake news. If Trump’s comments were not racist, just what is the new Republican definition of racism? Under Republican leadership, the very language we have used for generations is challenged. This is like Newspeak in 1984. Are we to believe that our very foundational truths of liberty and freedom for all are no longer valid because the Trump presidency wishes to redefine racism? I think not. Liberty and justice for all in America and rightful condemnation of abuse of that must reign.
11
On election night, Trump spoke about bringing the country together. While I was mortified that he had won, I was heartened by that speech. It turns out he meant not one word- no surprise there.
He has NEVER felt any obligation to reach out to anyone but those in his base. THAT is the crux of the problem. He is not the president of his base. Whether he likes it or not, he is the president of the ENTIRE country and yet he feels not one shred of an obligation to lead in that way.
THAT is the real crime I see in Republicans sitting on their hands with Trump spewing his rhetoric. Their silence tells me they agree. They do NOTHING to hold him to account for his hateful tweets. They are all AFRAID of him- afraid he will start to target them with digital slander. How did we ever get to this place?
If Republicans (like the lackey Kevin McCarthy) can defend Trump telling elected Congresswomen to "go back to their own country", I am just not sure how much lower we can go. OH wait- I said that last week and here we are.
9
One commentator asks what has happened to us? One answer is that we some of us don't live in the South and Midwest where the GOP have entrenched themselves by taking out and distorting history. The rift between rich and poor is unmistakeably seen in these regions. Over the years the population has increased and the GOP actually believe, no really, believe they can take over the country and make it white again. You know bring back the 1950s where white men ruled over all not just over women. ISIS is not the only organization that understands the importance of destroying history and squashing education. Nothing has happened to us we were just living our normal lives and allowing the GOP to do voter fraud, voter suppression and tweaking history books. Even if his Twitter numbers are in the millions this is only less than 15% of our population. Resist the media pushing our buttons and start changing attitudes in your own communities. And if you live in GOP states, remember hatred never wins out so they have to cheat to win, catch them at it.
6
I don't know why anyone would assign any credibility to the protestations by the President and his allies that various statements were "not racist". If they had the moral judgement or inclination to recognize much less care about racist conduct, they would not likely make the original statements in the first place or fail to criticize them when they are made. Does a misogynist ever acknowledge having a woman-hating problem? Are alcoholics the best judges of when they've had enough? Of course not. Their opinions on their own statements and those of their allies are logically irrelevant, intellectually corrupt offerings and we help gaslight ourselves when we countenance them as remotely serious contributions in the dialogue.
4
@Michael Way Bravo sir, very well said!
1
Just to make it clear to all the "moderates" who insist we need a president and other members in congress who are willing to reach across the isle to work with the GOP and compromise, this is what we're dealing with. We're dealing with a party that either can't understand why telling women of color to "go back to your own country" is racist, or they do know it's racist but refuse to condemn it. Moderates think that if we elect some mythical centrist candidate that all of a sudden politicians are going to start getting things done to get this country out of the problems it faces like health care and climate change. But the reality is that's not going to happen.
5
So now the four women referred to as "The Squad" hate America? Is that why they ran for public office, pledging to represent the interests of their constituents? The only "politician" here who seems to hate the basic values of this country set forth in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is trump. What is wrong with the Republican legislators in both houses of Congress? They all seem to have simultaneously lost any semblance of a spine in their unwillingness to stand up to trump. What are they so afraid of? They bring shame upon "The Party of Lincoln", who is probably rolling over in his grave in disgust.
I want to thank the four Republican Congressmen who had the courage of their convictions to vote in favor of condemning trump's' reprehensible language. Two of you are facing difficult re-election campaigns, but it is obviously more important for you to cast your votes as you did than cower in fear of offending trump's "base". Kudos. You have set an admirable example of what it means to serve your country, as have the four women targeted by trump. It is unfortunate that your fellow Republicans lack the courage to stand up to one of, if not the worst, President of the United States.
6
@Davis Bliss
I side with all your comments, from your defense of the four Democratic Congresswomen who were "targeted by trump," to your thanks to the four Republican Congressmen who voted to condemn "trump's reprehensible language."
But what I most appreciated about your response is your consistent use of the word "trump' without a capital "T." I suggest we all go and do likewise.
In a similar NYT comments page a day ago, I read the phrase "Trumpectomy Scheduled November 2020."
I'n now wondering if I have the nerve to get a bumper sticker made up and then put it on my car. There are places in this state where riding in a car with that sticker on the bumper could get you killed.
1
The Squad can win by not responding to the Trumpian dishonesty, but by hitting back against the dismantling of government agencies that that he and his cabal are trying to destroy. These agencies protect Americans from corporate abuse - like the EPA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and many more. Let the racist fake rant, hit back with what his presidency is about – selling out America.
5
How ridiculous is it for me to say to the Trump family - go back to Germany, Scotland, Czech Republic and Slovenia.
2
“When my Trumps saids for them to go back to their country I did a double take — does he mean ME? #cantlivewithoutgucci “
3
Question....did any of the four deny any thing said ABOUT them?
I honestly don't know why we're going to have a year of debates leading up to this presidential election. American have already firmly decided who they are going to vote for. It's Trump and his base against the rest of the country who are horrified by what he's doing on a daily basis. So they're going to come out in droves to vote for whomever the dems put up. I don't think we've been this divided as a country since the Civil War.
4
Of course Donald Trump is a racist, everyone has known that forever. But having every cable network cover this recent outrage 24/7, and having the entire Democratic party and its leadership convulse in rage every time Trump says something outrageous is a waste of everyone's time and energy. Trump just ups his rhetoric to another level to get the Democrats to respond just this way.
Its well past time for opening an impeachment inquiry. Focus on that Democrats, please.
4
After experiencing trump world for the last 3 years or so, perhaps his whole life should be condemned - words, business, family, cheating - and, now, the presidency. I'm not ok with any part of his life. Perhaps he should go back to the country he most associates with - Russia.
6
"I don't have a racist bone in my body!" Ha ha ha ha!
9
Nice try, Nancy. The only way out of this is impeachment. Do you yet have the courage or are you going to hand Trump 4 more years?
3
We need to admit our past and present is deeply racist or we will never get anywhere. Crystal M. Fleming wrote this in "How to be Less Stupid about Race":
"The thing about white supremacy is that it socializes all of us to minimize its terror, to systematically deny or underestimate the harm. 'We've come so far,' 'Things are getting better,' 'It could be worse'--all of these tropes minimize racial terror...Our problem is not and never has been overreacting to racial terror. Our problem is the hegemony of under-reaction, denial, minimization. Ours is a society that has always socialized white folks to live in the midst of racial oppression but go on with their lives like normal.
"White supremacy wants you to look at four hundred years of uninterrupted racial terror and conclude 'Things aren't so bad.' White supremacy wants you to look at the election of a KKK-endorsed POTUS and deny that we are in the midst of an ongoing state of emergency. White supremacy wants you to look on the bright side, to unify behind an unapologetic racist, to move on with your life as usual...The daily whitewashing of Trump's racism and sexism that we're seeing right now? The cowardly journalists who can't bring themselves to describe Trump as the white supremacist that he is? Or the journalists who admit that Trump is a racist, misogynist, pathological liar--but grant him credibility anyway? This is normal, business as usual for the United States..."
STOP MAKING EXCUSES for him and the GOP!
5
White supremacy doesn’t really say that in this country, or anyplace else. It says, “I’m sorry, but you’ve got to die because you’re black,” or, “I killed 71 people to protect white europe from the dark tide,” or, “The Jews will not replace us,” stuff like that.
Now if we’re talking what a white guy who knows the arguments you’re referring to and who has of course benefitted somewhat from white privilege in all sorts of ways has to say, what I’d simply say is, “Race relations and how folks are treated in this country are better than they were when I was a kid. Not good enough, but better...and way better than they were in, say, 1860.”
Fact is, a newspaper is there to report the news: the headline for this article’s accurate. And what it reports is the House’s condemnation of Trump’s latest racist stupidity, so waddya want? Wicker? Seems to me that FOX is right across the hallway, if you want bloviation rather than petty little facts.
But gosh, thanks for the pompous lecture and all the adjectives. Otherwise I might never have known that in general, ideology (racist or otherwise) is best served when it achieves a certain transparency, functioning in plain sight as the normal state of being.
He was,is and always will be a bigot.To have this atrocious person be president is truly hard to believe.To have almost the entire GOP
abandon all principle to support this creature in the WH is beyond my comprehension.Do they honestly think money will protect them from having no air to breath, no water to drink, no food to eat?What would turn what were once decent people into such destructive, soulless sub humans?Bigotry and greed.
4
Such hypocrisy. Why not the same condemnation against Omar for her anti-Semitic remarks against Israel? Thank you.
4
Uh...those remarks actully did get censured by Pelosi. While we’re at this, did you speak up about that Trump thing with the Stars of David and the cash on it?
3
@Southern Boy. She is not the president of Israel. As an American citizen she can say what she likes. If her constituents don’t like it they will vote her out and she knows it. Don’t let’s get crazy over defense of the current leadership in Israel. Plenty of Israelis criticize it tuo
1
This is so simple. If you were alive in the 1960's through the era of riots, uprisings and racial divides, you denigrated blacks and other minorities by saying, " Why don't you go back to where you came from!" Usually an epitaph was added in as well. You were a racist, plain and simple. End of story, Donald Trump and his defenders on this subject are racists. Not judging, just stating the obvious. I wonder whose next on the list after the racists are done with non-whites. Will it be middle class whites? Will it be poor whites? The good news is that, after everybody goes back to where they came from, the indigenous North Americans can have their land back.
5
Of course Donald Trump isn't racist, in fact, nobody is! But this is exactly the problem, our discourse today does not allow for any serious discussion about race because either you are either a racist or not-- there's no room for nuance or any personal admission that race effects the way one perceives others... otherwise you are a racist!
1
I wonder what it will take for the president's supporters to turn on him? Nothing short of a nuclear launch no doubt... oh, but wait, then we'll all be dead and it will be the end of humanity. This is no joke. All you trumpians out there, this will be on you.
1
(Sigh). As long as we are talking about another outrageous Tweet by this man we are not talking about healthcare, we are not talking about ending our military involvement in the Middle East, we are not talking about global warming.
This is exactly what Donald Trump wants.
9
Trump’s actions violate the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) rights on workplace anti discrimination laws. Plus he places these Congressperson’s lives in danger. It’s a hostile work environment when you get death threats daily and Trump’s antagonistic rhetoric using his megaphone of twitter inflames that danger.
Harassment Based on National Origin
Ethnic slurs and other verbal or physical conduct because of nationality are illegal if they are severe or pervasive and create an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment, interfere with work performance, or negatively affect job opportunities. Examples of potentially unlawful conduct include insults, taunting, or ethnic epithets, such as making fun of a person's foreign accent or comments like, "Go back to where you came from, " whether made by supervisors or by co-workers.
https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/immigrants-facts.cfm
9
I do think the statement showed some bigotry. But, the resolution only means that the Ds control the house right now and they hate Trump. When there was supposedly outrage about Omar's statements being anti-semitic, they didn't outright condemn her (a more general statement was made). When Tlaib called Israel racist, not much outrage. When Pressley tries to pigeonhole blacks, Muslims, gays and women, clearly bigoted, or AOC essentially called Pelosi a racist and Harris essentially called Biden one (neither having the courage to actually say it) - there's little response. Certainly no resolution was made. So what does this mean? Antifa can engage in terrorism, and they are silent. Please. Only the resistance could make me, someone who dislikes Trump for many reasons, root for him. Go ahead, tell me I'm a closet Trump supporter (I'm used to it). Whatever he is, he's a lot better than the resistance, which disguises fascism as anti-fascism, constantly plays the race card and is entirely hypocritical.
3
How dare Trump call this a con game? He has no moral authority to make such an accusation. He was the creator and constant champion of accusations of Obama not being American. Remember that con game? He banked on the ignorance of people that would think a brown man isn’t really a legitimate American like a white guy is. Trump plays to the lowest of lows. He’s got to go!
7
When members of the Squad, the 4 furies, engaged in antisemitic remarks in the House of Representatives of the United States of America, was that not racist?
4
@David When I searched for anti-Semitic remarks made by members of congress online I found none.
Would you please provide an internet link to a list of these remarks? Or simply write them down the best you remember, please?
3
@Guy Walker. Thank you for checking and replying. Too many times comments like David’s are made and left to stand as the truth.
1
So we can condemn his speech as racist, but we can’t impeach why again?
1
Because the Senate is Republican controlled. To which McConnell has already stated the impeachment 'trial would be quick and the decision not to impeach even quicker.'
1
@Independent American That's the predictable outcome, but not a reason or an excuse not to impeach. We cannot have such a low-life as our President. Not to impeach him will embolden him to destroy democracy and our nation. Pelosi is building her case for a better moment. I guess it would be soon after Mueller's testimony. Just a bit more patience. I believe it would happen inevitable.
As someone on the receiving of the “go home” slur knows, that remark is racist. That the person doing the slurring doesn’t think so doesn’t make it otherwise. Trump is racist.
4
If you think this is an embarrassment, wait til the discs found inside Epstein’s safe are released into the internet wilds.
“If elect Hillary as your president, she will be so deep in scandals, she won’t be able to run this country.”
— Donald J. Trump
Right. This fraud knows that he can’t run this country so he creates scandal upon scandal.
Keep ‘Merica Great!
2
“For their part, Republicans took to the floor not to defend the president’s remarks but to condemn Democrats for what they called a breach of decorum.“
And would one not characterize the President’s Tweets at a minimum as “breach of decorum”?
9
Hit the nail on the head with that one! Ahh, the disgusting irony.
@Mark. A breach of decorum is what some might call Trump’s behavior in a tape shown on NBC this morning. On the tape Trump and Epstein are shown in conversation at a party in Mar-a-Lago. At one point Trump pulls over a woman and pats her behind. That is a breach of decorum. Condemning racist speech is not.
Funny, Pelosi is not keen on the idea of making travel arrangements for her sisters to go back and then come back and teach us. I bet it is a long time before Trump volunteers her for anything again!
3
Racism: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
Trump wasn't being racist, he was giving them a reality check. When the immigrants came to the US back in the 1800 and 1900's they assimulated. They spoke English, they listened to baseball games, ate hotdogs at the Fourth of July. They were grateful to be here. You don't go to China and try to change their country beliefs. If you move to that country, you hold with their beliefs. Instead immigrants today think that they can change America to suit their own country.
Therefore, if their country was so horrible, why would you want to change America to suit it? That is the point he was making with only so many characters to establish said point. If America is soo horrible, go back to the countries from which you were born or your ancestors fled from, and then you'll see how good America really is. How tolerant we are as a society.
My great-grandparents were immigrants. They came over to Ellis island with naught but 5$ to their name. They had to be able to speak English before allowed Entry. They settled in the US, only speaking their language in the privacy of their own home. They didn't demand that their community only practise one religion, or feel that something that was outside of their religion was racism. It wasn't easy, but they assimulated. That is what we have forgotten in our quest to open our borders. Assimulation.
2
@Morgan. Get real. My grandparents came to this country and didn’t speak English when they arrived. They didn't even have to know how to read and write in their own language. My grandfather could do both and people came to him to write the letters back to Italy for them. You must speak English to become a citizen, not to land in the country. Nice try though to mess with the facts.
For one thing, three of the women being criticized were born in the US. And they have achieved what would seem to be the ultimate in assimilation by running for and getting elected to Congress. Three of them may even run for President some day and may be elected.
And here you are, with great grandparents who supposedly came here so long ago and you write like somebody just learning English. Unlike the members of The Squad who got elected to Congress and are fully assimilated, you cannot even spell the word correctly.,
The media and deems are playing right into trump's hands. Issues are being shoved aside while gossip reigns.
Good.
Assuming there are any news media or history books in the future, and anyone around to learn from them, it might help to have this resolution on record.
Like Bill Clinton’s impeachment. It’s helpful to be reminded of that from time to time!
Why are the democrats wasting their time on this? The roots of the country's problems at this moment in time are economic inequality and corporatism. We need a meaningful progressive agenda that radically addresses these issues. The Democratic Party establishment's failure to offer such an agenda leaves the electorate susceptible to xenophobic and racist rhetoric. Liberals who want to plug their ears to this reality do so at their peril. Most Trump voters did not vote for his racist rhetoric but in spite of it--because however naively, they believed Trump would offer the type change they never got from Obama. A growing number of them want the types of economic reforms that are being advanced by the left, including Medicare for all, reforms which are opposed by Dem party leadership. Most are not the rabid racists that attend Trump rallies and get the most media coverage. Many simply grew up in culturally monolithic communities and at worst are insensitive to the racist rhetoric that so easily offends those of us that grew up in urban, racially and ethnically diverse metro areas. This makes it easier for them to disregard Trump's racism, especially when they believe he will offer needed change.
It is therefore ironic that Trump's most recent comments, and comments like it, are most effective not at rallying his so-called base, but at distracting democrats from offering the type of economic reform that many of his voters want!
1
It seems to me and I sincerely hope that the thought has occurred to everyone else as well that if any manager anywhere in any place of work in this country were to say to an employee "why don't you go back to where you came from," that manager would be immediately reprimanded and perhaps fired. Simple workplace rules of decency forbid such a racist and ignorant statement. Plus it is against the law. That the president stands by his over-the-top malediction and that his party largely stands with him on it demonstrate the highest possible disregard for law. They should be either reprimanded or fired. Or both.
4
Some Republicans voted yes.
I also strongly disapprove of the Squad’s behavior. Much as I despise Trump, I thought the behavior of the four ( who are naive inexperienced junior members of the House) to be arrogantly high hat. If they have no respect for Trump that is one thing BUT to disrespect the office of the president is to behave in a manner as juvenile as Trump. Worse still it damages the Democratic party. They should clam up till after the election.
3
The weakness of the current Republican “leadership” makes Trump all the more dangerous. If they won’t stand up for basic American values now, god help us if a foreign power threatens our democracy. That they would so publicly shield the president’s racism is shameful.
6
Whether or not the tweets were racist, they clearly reflect a racist disposition (assuming that a person of color with a "non-white" name must have come from elsewhere) and were tweeted in order to provoke racial division. More dangerous than that (bad as it is to have a president who deliberately divides the nation!) the tweets also reflect an authoritarian disposition. The idea that criticism of Trump and his policies is criticism of the nation (Trump =America!?!?) and that criticism of the nation disqualifies one from being American is tyrannical and absolutely anti-American. This president is a clear and present danger to the republic.
8
Only the Sargent at Arms, the “highest-ranking federal law enforcement officer in the Senate” , “upon orders from the Senate” has the authority to arrest the President.
Can the House please condemn Donald Trump for being a liar AND a racist. (He said these women were not born in the U.S. when, in fact, 3 of whom were.) By not objecting to his alternative reality, we have allowed a lying Reality TV star to frame and debase the national story and invent himself as a successful president, when he is alienating our allies, weakening our Democratic institutions, and siphoning money to his already rich and powerful sponsors through his tax cut. We have allowed his treacherous alliance with Putin. Certainly his racism is appalling and should be answered but, sadly, it is not an impeachable offense. He is again manipulating the discussion. Can Congress please focus on the heart of the matter?
I'm assuming this has already been said but I don't have time to read all the comments so I'll chime in. President Trump's tweets were not racist. They could be characterized as xenophobic, anti-immigrant and un-American but they were not racist. The folks that are actually describing his tweets as racist are in fact the ones that are racist. By this I mean that they are viewing his comments through the prism of race when there is in fact no mention of race. A Serbian or a Chinese or a Norwegian Congressperson could just as easily been the target of his remarks.
5
@Independent
If his remarks are not racist then maybe you can tell us which countries these people should head back to?
@Independent He targeted American Congresswomen. We don't have Serbian, Chinese, or Norwegian members of Congress. They are all American, and he selected four non-white women to insult. Because he is such a big, big man.
The election seems to be crystallizing around the Democrats trying to portray all republicans as racists and xenophobic trying to shame them into not voting,an asinine grade school approach that probably will fail. The republicans are trying to portray the Democrats as represented by four women of color who are so far left, woke, and America haters that no sensible voter could ever vote to destroy their own country. This 2020 election will continue to break the country into two tribes who hate each other, caused entirely by the media and the political class,does this form of so called democracy square with founders wishes.
Finally the refrain from some that we should all pay our fair share in income taxes when half the country pays nothing is pandering and an obvious lie.
1
Trump supporters love all the racist, misogynistic, untrue statements he blurts out for their benefit.Trump is not the real problem, but the millions of supporters who for some strange reason believe he is making America great again.Behind it all, the huge amounts of corporate funding which is playing everyone for a fool in it's effort to protect ever growing profitability and influence for the very few.
2
In this debate, it is important to keep the distinction between "racist" and "racist language." The Republican politicians and some comments defending the president here are blurring this distinction. Trump: "I don't have a racist bone in my body"...even if that's true, this is not the point. It's the language that matters...making things personal and pointing fingers at others' comments instead of apologizing for poor choice of words is a horrible model of leadership and a failure to take responsibility for one's words/actions.
Why is the President referred to, in the headline, as Mr. Trump? Did the NY Times ever call President Obama Mr. Obama? Or President Bush or Clinton? Maybe it's petty of me to expect that he be called President, but I think it speaks volumes. And before everyone pounces on me, I am a die hard Democrat and voted for every Democratic candidate since 1972. It isn't a partisan thing with me. SOMEBODY voted him into office and like it or not, he's President Trump, or just Trump. Substituting Mr. for President seems calculating and opinionated in a hard news article.
3
I'm a Jew and a Democrat. I've disagreed with several things that members of the Squad said, and have wished a couple of them hadn't become members of Congress at this point in time. It never occurred to me to that any or all of them should leave the country, whether they were born here or became citizens after immigrating. Dissent is democracy. Blind worship is the destroyer of democracy. None of them to my knowledge have fomented violence as our "leader" has, or idolized or declared their love for violent, murderous dictators. Squad, I'm with you.
148
@Carl "[a]nd have wished a couple of them hadn't become members of Congress at this point in time. " I don't understand why a Democrat would write that. We need more Democrats like them.
12
@Carl
Thank You.
I have had similar feelings.
3
@Eyes Wide Open please give examples of inciting violence.
6
Rep Susan Brooks is my Congressional representative, and was one of only 4 republicans to vote with the Democrats on this resolution. Tellingly, she has already announced that she is not running for re-election in 2020, so I am sure this contributed to her commitment to doing the right thing.
Nonetheless, I wrote to her to commend her for going against the grain of her party joining the Dems with her vote.
5
This comes on the heals of claims that Pelosi was 'not' representing.
Anyone not recognizing her intelligence and experience is making a huge mistake.
There are just things that can't be said and won't be tolerated.
Does this reinforcement of a higher awareness now segue to presidential censure?
Hopefully not only in my dreams
4
Frankly what difference does this move make? It solves nothing. The democrats keep harping on everything Trump says or does and they have zero ideas of their own.
7
Not so. The democrats have plenty ideas on health care, protecting our economy, stimulating growth, education to deny it proves you are politically blind. The president should be called out and is a disgrace to America.
3
@Joe O'Malley What's your alternate? hear nothing, see nothing, and say nothing? or like the group of white women that I saw on CNN this morning. They all said Trump was right on telling the four congresswomen to go back where they were from. They said it was the fault of the congresswomen because they don't like America and they should leave. I guess you have the same view as that group of women.
1
@Joe O'Malley
Don't forget Trump is attempting to change immigration policy, etc and his comments and this vote may affect the decisions in our court system. If you remember, the judge made a statement that Trump's actions were "contrived".
It is after all, Trump's mouth that gets him into these situations and prompts investigations.
When elections are forthcoming, I would think that all people, especially of color will associate this vote with their own.
1
"The move by Republicans to have her words stricken from the record then failed along party lines"
Republicans do love removing information from the record, don't they? I understand that Trump ordered testimony before Congress about the climate removed from the record, and his lap-dogs in the House did as they were told. Sounds like the "Ministry of Truth" in 1984.
4
Trump is obviously playing to a base of voters who support racism. This is the bottom line. Sadly the presidential campaign will have a race component as Trump seeks to divide America along color lines betting that white voters will turn out in huge numbers to enforce policies of white superiority. Trump supporters are in no mood to be inclusive. Thus turn out is going to be key. One thing is sure the Republican Party is all in on Trump's strategy. This is going to be the dirtiest campaign in the nation's history.
6
187 representatives have said, with their vote, that not all of their constituents are equal.
3
We did it, gang! The House voted and now it's on record that the openly and gleefully racist man's obviously racist statement was, in fact, "officially racist." Now that he knows the opposition party is willing to pull out all the stops -everything from rolling over and exposing its soft underbelly, to really extreme measures like releasing a memo that says "that 👏 wasn't 👏 nice 👏"- I think that's the last we'll be hearing from this Trump fellow.
Indeed, this whole endeavor was an effective substitution for meaningful opposition to the man leading a resurgent white nationalist movement and a march towards climate apocalypse. It also did so much to restore my confidence in the party leader who spent the last week attacking four women of color for deigning to have something resembling convictions. Everything's good now!
4
What many of Trump's supporters don't get is that it is okay to call the President out on his wrongdoings - you can still support him, his policies, his craziness, but the man is not perfect - far from it! Many of us voted for Obama and approved of most of what he did, but did we always agree with him at any cost?? No! I will never understand how anyone in this country can support these words being said by any member of government. I would like to see a law passed that states The President of the US at any time cannot tweet out to the world - but oh wait, I think he cannot use Twitter for political gain, but he is doing so - and who is going to stop him?! No one - hard as the Democrats and a few Republicans try, no one is enforcing the laws of which this President should be following. I want to wake up from this nightmare!
6
On July 16th, my Representative, Elise Stefanik voted against the House condemnation of Trump, describing it as an "anti-Trump resolution... " As I stated clearly, while I do not support the policies, rhetoric, or tactics of the far-left socialist 'squad', I believe the President's tweets were unacceptable."
So, I guess it was "acceptable" for her and other Republicans to be lemmings and toe the Republican Party line?
3
" [would violate].....House rules against making personal references to the president on the floor."
Where did this "rule" come from? This seems to inoculate this "president" from "executive orders" he is using to govern, almost all of which have no legal basis. Since he has taken the job of legislating away from Congress, it seems like Congress should at least have the right to take him on by referencing his actions directly. This smacks of more rules designed to make him above the law. And moves us closer to a dictatorship.
Please provide a list of Republicans who did NOT vote in favor of the condemnation. That would be quite useful.
Trump and the deceased Republican hate machine must be removed, and soon, or there will be nothing left of this country.
This removal, I'm afraid, isn't going to take place through Congress or the ballot box.
The people are going to have to do the removing.
1
People like you are why the Democrats scare me far more than Trump ever will.
1
Gee, I remember when the patron saint Clinton referred to me and millions of other Americans as being a "basket of deplorables." But I don't recall seeing democrats or the media condemn that racist characterization.
6
@Brewster Million, Well then, you must not read very well. Many Dems condemned her because they immediately saw the damage she had done. It also helped cost her the election. She was’t holding public office at the time of the remarks so there was no need for Congress to act. There were definite and unfortunate consequences for her remark.
2
@Brewster Millions
She was referring to those Trump voters who are racist and sexist - does that describe you? If not congratulations, but you might want to ask yourself why you voted for somebody who IS racist and sexist and who demeans the highest office in the land daily.
2
@Brewster Millions You know you're right. It wasn't condemned as racist. You know why? Because it wasn't racist.
But you keep on telling yourself whatever makes you feel good.
1
For all the Trump defenders out there here is The Truth.
If anyone had said the things that Trump said to a fellow co-worker he/she would have fired on the spot. Period.
Can you imagine disagreeing with someone at work and telling them to go back to where they came from?!
It's unbelievable that anyone can defend Trumps latest racists comments.
Here's another Truth. The GOP has become the party of racists and white supremacists. Trump did not create it, it was always there, he just tapped into it.
It's time to Take America Back from the skin heads, the hate mongers, and the racists
15
@MN
Those four would never have gotten their jobs to begin with.
3
O, but they did get their jobs.
2
And yet, you don't care that AOC's Chief of Staff wore a t-shirt with a picture of a Nazi collaborator on it.
Oh boy, I am sure Trump is just quivering with fear at the thought of this condemnation. He does not care, nor do most members of the GOP. Speaker do your job; have an impeachment inquiry. and rather than attacking members of your caucus, why don't you begin defending your candidates against the language that is used by the GOP that describes democrats as "far left socialists". Far left socialist means doing away with private property and establishing state ownership of the means of production. It was a joke when they called Obama a socialist or to call any one of the candidates running for office far left is laughable. It shows a nauseating ignorance that fits right in with our corporate masters and their dunce shills like Donald Trumpa and I'm sorry to say - Nancy Pelosi. Prove me wrong Democrats, get a spine: defend yourselves and the nation.
2
I like this headline: "House (Democrats) Condemn Trump’s Attack on Four Congresswomen as Non-Racist"
Facts:
1. President Trump's remarks were NOT Racist!
2. Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar, and Pressley have made far more offensive remarks about the President and this Country.
9
@sam Care to provide examples? Because a google search of “racist comments said/tweeted by Trump” will provide a substantial list. Also, if telling a person “to go back to their country” is not racist, could you give me an example of what you would consider a racist comment.
1
The Truth.
If you watch only Fox news, then you probably don't know that the"vile"words spoken during the news conference were direct quotes from Trumps mouth.
Violating decorum? That comment alone from the President of the United States is outright disgraceful.
5
I love this country. I immigrated to the U.S. when I was five. I came from Ecuador to live with my aunt (who was also an immigrant from Ecuador) and her white American husband, who raised me as their daughter. I became a naturalized citizen in Faneuil Hall, Boston while I was in college at Wellesley.
Monday, I spent part of the day watching this drama unfold. I also spent the day fighting away the tears. The tears never came because I will not allow that man in the White House to win. I'm not sure if the tears inside of me were for myself or for the country that I love so dearly.
I never dreamed that an American president would tell someone to "go back to where you came from" because she disagrees with him. But he was doing more than that; he was equating Americanism and patriotism with being white. If you are brown and an immigrant, you don't quite belong here and don't quite cross the threshold of patriotism.
I tell friends that immigrants like me sometimes love this country more than natural born citizens because we know what it's like to live in an undemocratic country (I spent a year as a teenager in Ecuador during its non-democratic period). We know how special this country is.
I just finished reading Ron Chernow's book, "Alexander Hamilton", about a Founding Father without whom we would not have many of our government and financial institutions. He was an immigrant who disagreed and criticized. I wonder if he is rolling over in his grave.
27
The Times recently ran a scaled-down version of the test that's given to applicants for US citizenship. The Times also cited a study which determined that if US citizens were given that test, 64 percent of us would fail. Perhaps we should all take that test in order to earn the privilege of voting.
14
@Jessie
Maybe colleges and universities should stop giving away degrees to people who don't really earn them. Maybe then we'd have a president who could read, listen, learn, reflect and maybe even spell "Al-Qaeda".
3
@Jessie. Perhaps in order to more accurately take that test 10 of the questions, chosen randomly from a list of 100, should be asked to you aloud in a language which you have been learning for about five years and then you must answer them in that same second language. An applicant for citizenship does it that way.
1
People - Pres. Trump is the Ultimate Imposter. Truth is he has managed to do very little effectively on his own despite starting his Daddy, Fred giving him every conceivable advantage!
He has NEVER been a courageous, kind or decent man nor will he ever be...
16
So, when Democrats assert that Donald's remarks are racist and repugnant, Republicans suddenly become concerned about a "breach of decorum" and "impugning the motives" of the president. Why is this the first time the GOP has referenced these commandments? When their standard-bearer lies, slanders and accosts others as a matter of routine and you stand by silently, you don't get to suddenly cry foul when it serves your own purposes. Shame left the building long ago.
11
The problem isn't just that Trump went after women of color; it's broader than that. His attitude is classic "my way or the highway," which isn't the way this country is supposed to operate -- and certainly not a president. It's one thing to have political enemies; it's another to believe that they don't have any right to voice an opinion on behalf of the people who voted for them. Lying about and banishing political enemies is one of the hallmarks of a dictator.
Would he also suggest that parents who don't approve of a child's behavior simply give them up for adoption rather than working to correct the bad behavior?
116
@Mary Your last paragraph tells it all. “Give up for adoption rather than working to correct bad behavior.” That’s what needs to be done now. “The Squad” as they have labeled themselves need to be censored and dealt with to correct their own bad behavior.
4
@Mary
"The problem isn't just that Trump went after women of color."
Question:
Did Pelosi "go after women of color" as proclaimed by AOC?
4
@Mary
Trump's family tradition has them sent to Military School, not adoption.
4
“We hold these truths self-evident, that all [humans] men evolved differently, that they are born with certain mutable characteristics, and that among these are life and the pursuit of pleasure.” - Sapiens, Chapter 6, Yuval Noah Harari [mine]. We all need to step back, update our collective ideology with wisdom, not with haste nor under duress nor with cynicism, and write a new mythology to strive towards collectively, in unity with our immutable diversity.
1
What does this act do to Trump? Probably nothing. It only increases his popularity with the racist supporters. Why bother wasting precious time and effort on this instead of doing something really good such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, and budgetary discussion. Jefferey Sachs said it right that nothing major for the people and country has been accomplished over the past 10 years by any administration. I tend to agree with him.
21
@Usok "What does this act do to Trump? Probably nothing."
It does considerable harm to the Republican representatives that refused to condemn it. The non-racist voters in their districts are going to find a vote against the resolution as an appalling endorsement of racism.
I wouldn't be surprised if at least a couple of them lose their seats because they voted against it.
As for nothing being accomplished in the last 10 years - why, by coincidence, the Republicans regained control of the Senate in 2010. Quite a lot got done before that.
22
@Usok
There are plenty of bills sitting on McConnell's desk that haven't gone anywhere because of him.
19
@Usok So I suppose you (and Jeffrey Sachs if he indeed said that) think that making health insurance more available and affordable reducing the uninsured population through the ACA, saving the Auto industry, reviving the economy after the great Bush recession, signing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, setting the country on a road to energy independence, among many others, is accomplishing nothing for the"people and the country". Okay then.
20
Anyone can distort and rationalize what they say especially when they sound revolting. Trump is an expert in shifting blames towards Democrats, confident he will earn full support from Republicans, who just like him aspire to remain in power regardless how pernicious the outcome.
1
Good, finally, for the Democratic majority! This country and everycitizen in it need to be reminded in the most forceful way,daily,. what a most dangerous mistake it made in bringing this man to the presidency. If Donald trump represents the majority opinion of this nation..the this nation is farther gone than I thought!
5
No one has ever said what specifically the members of the “Squad” have said or advocated to be worthy of condemnation. Just criticizing an aspect of current policies seems to be the function of a democracy. Racism though becomes undeniable when the critics in this case are people of color. No coincidence.
64
@Eyes Wide Open
And yet, you add nothing.
1
@Peter Rudolfi
Congresswomen or congressmen of color can’t win an argument with american president, but they can certainly claim man is bigot and racist . Coincidence ?
1
AOC and a handful of democrat socialists have hijacked the democrat party.
Mainstream America knows that more freebies are not the answer, and that the so-called Green Deal is a farce.
Why the moderate democrats haven't put a muzzle on AOC and her gang is beyond me.
11
@99percent Because they are Democrats, not Republicans and are intelligent and adult enough to handle some criticism.
1
@99percent, because no one gives up freedom of speech becoming a member of Congress. When the level of speech becomes so intolerable, mechanisms are put in place which for all intents and purposes say “STOP.”
trump was over the line day one when he accused Mexicans as rapists.
Accept for his servants, I don’t think trump ever met a Mexican.
12,000+ lies and counting.
1
@99percent “put a muzzle on her” tells me pretty much all I need to know about your feelings towards women who speak out.
3
The behavior of the GOP should come as no surprise ...they..are doing the will of the people they represent in their districts. Among others Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio who bore a lot of Trump's grief in the Primaries now stand firmly united with him. The GOP and the minority of American Voters living in the areas of the country where the Electoral College was crucial to Trump's winning in 2016...have banded together and have been playing a tune that may resonate with the Minority of American Voters...but certainly not with the Majority of us !! Due to the Persistence of the Majority...Ivanka no longer has a clothing line, Sarah Huckabee is on Hiatus...even Kelly Ann Conwat is rarely seen and by her own admission is...very tired! She sure looked tired and sweaty the other day in her interview. She's seems to be losing her Alternative Fact Steam ! The Majority caused the Gov't Shutdown to end ...and other than Fox ...you rarely see anyone willing to publicly stand behind the Trump Administration any longer? Where is Steve Bannon? Corey Lewandowski? Michelle Malkin,..haven't heard much publicly from Rudy G?? Keep Up the Pressure Majority of American Voters...sooner or later the Minority will be subdued !! We have no other option than to band together...set aside any differences or expectations of a perfect candidate to beat Trump...and just Vote Blue No Matter Who...It's the Patriotic American thing to do !! May the Majority Rule...in spite of the Electoral College.. in 2020 !!
5
The idea that immigrants are less entitled to an opinion is pervasive in US, and the fact that the US president enforces it is plain scary. Good to see that democrats stood against it. Years ago, I was a PhD student at UIC, and raised some issues with our graduate program director about how the program was running. The answer :"was it better in your country?". I was appalled and changed departments. I am now on the faculty at a university in Sydney, Australia, and I can't imagine a graduate student director saying anything close to this to an international student. But you can be an elected member of the US congress and get the "go back home" answer to a critical comment. Wow!
110
>>> "The idea that immigrants are less entitled to an opinion is pervasive in US . . ."
It absolutely is pervasive here. I hear it frequently, from neighbors of all classes, in my mid-American community. It is wrongheaded and contrary to the principles we claim to live by, *and* it is deeply embedded in our culture, which is bizarrely nativist for a nation of immigrants.
18
@Douglas
It's related to the American exceptionalism belief. Many native born Americans can't imagine other societies that may do some things better.
9
@kim yes, I was going to say that too.
6
Trump is the one person who hates our country and has not been assimilated. His racism and disrespect for the rule of law are truly unAmerican. Nancy Pelosi for President.
7
Perhaps the NYT and media are partly responsible for the divisions in this country. Everyday reading articles that identify someone as a black woman, a gay man, a woman of Hispanic decent, keeps furthering the divide. When will all the adjectives that attempt to describe someone even before we know anything about their character or beliefs, just be referred to as a Person!? When will descriptions of people and their color, religion, sexual orientation, place or origin end? We come in all shapes and sizes, all colors, all beliefs, and each an every person is an individual in their own complex and and multifaceted way.
9
How are they furthering the divide? What would you have people of color do? What would you have minorities say and respond to racism? Ultimately what’s your point? That people of color just accept that white conservatives view them as racially inferior and/or are not against those that do view them that way? You just want us to enable Trump and his supporters by ignoring his behavior. At what price would you ask of us?
95
@Let me knows
Ignoring race only strengthens racism. Race is not a phenomenon to ignore, it is one to overcome. Denial has gotten us where we are now. Don’t blame the media.
4
@Let me knows Please
But the majority of American beliefs believe in the differences of everyone, that make up America. This article is in support of every human that has fought for equality. By writing about those that defy our Constitution, the equality that we have fought so long and hard over- well that is the freedom of the press and will ultimately result in our votes being heard.
1
so any one calls out these"politicians" on anything is now called racist.they are racist and their comments have long ago proven it.Mr. trump has emploed over 500,000 people in his various companies.many minorities have had good jobs working for him, as well as many illegals i would imagine.what have these four women done for anyone other than themselves.enough political correctness.i bet the president speaks for a majority of americans of all races.
4
AOC condemned Nancy Pelosi as being racist for attacking the "four women of color." Most Americans are too busy living their lives to be paying attention to their theatrics, but of those that were paying attention, most recognized it for what it was: theatrical politics without any basis or significance.
The House rebuke of Trump is the exact same thing. The only difference is scale: AOC's condemnation of Pelosi was an "Off Broadway" show while the House rebuke was a Broadway show.
Both shows well-choreographed, well-directed and well-produced, but at the end of the evening, they were both shows without any basis or significance.
6
As an Englishman looking into the fishbowl from afar as it were, a few things spring to mind, the first is that there is a political economic and cultural polarisation now in the USA... The beginnings of which started long before either Trump or Obama were around but have been exasperated by both these leaders on opposite sides of the political spectrum... Though I hate to say it but Trump is only saying what millions believe now in the USA that their country is overflowing with bad intentioned immigrants... And finally I fear for the future of America, if you don't come together soon as a nation there may well be large scale civil unrest maybe even civil war once again...
7
@Soothsayer, Diversity is one of the great strenghts of this country. The problem is that people like you (and Trump) blame immigrants for everything.
What has made this country strong in the past is our ability to embrace our differences to become the great melting-pot that we are.
Our diversity and even our differences are and have always been our strenght. Sadness of this moment is that we are turning that strenght into a weakness out of fear and hate.
3
>>> "The problem is that people like you (and Trump) blame immigrants for everything."
You misunderstood Soothsayer's post. Read it again, more carefully.
The fact is no one admits to being racist or narcissist, it’s part of the complex or disorder I dare to say. Let’s start calling it what it means or does—- a man who does not believe “all men are created equal with inalienable rights”—the foundation of what our country was founded for and fought for. Naziist would be an example of this ideology of exclusion to the extreme
6
@Colorado TJSpot on. A bigot is incapable of seeing himself as a bigot. A side effect of bigotry is the blinders it makes you wear- you lose all perspective of empathy and sublety. You see things only in black and white, in the most embarassingly simplistic terms....and ya don't even realize it.
As Steven King describes in eerily prescient terms, next come the arm bands.
7
Upton, Brooks, Fitzpatrick and Hurd are profiles in courage. Maybe there is hope yet for the GOP-- Grand Old Party.
6
@Mary Ann — Brooks is the representative from my district. She is also retiring next year.
Profile in courage? I wonder how she would have voted if she wanted to keep her seat and stay in the party’s good graces. Trust me — any vote against Trump would not go over well with a vast majority of her constituents here.
It’s easy to look like a hero and stand up to the bullies — when you have nothing to lose.
I’ll applaud when more GOP lawmakers buck the groupthink and do what’s right for the country, rather than protecting themselves and feeding this toxic cult of personality that is destroying this nation from within.
No standing ovation here for Brooks.
Thank you Speaker Pelosi for doing the right thing. The squad , no matter how much they dislike her and her "moderate" policies/ideologies should know that she always has their backs. I hope they stand united in this fight and end with this divisiveness within the party. The only goal should be winning in 2020.
11
The president and the republican party have employed the I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I response to the resolution to satisfy any concerns from the base that they might actually be racist. Quite literally, this is what happened.
4
NYTIMES: As suggested, please list the names of everyone and how they voted. America needs to begin calling out those that support racism, or are too ignorant to recognize it so they can be voted out. They don't deserve to be where they are. Let's call them out, loud and clear.
Strange that Republican Collins can call out the misuse but can't separate his duty and oath from Trump. Talking about a misuse of power- Trump.
9
The only person being un-American here is the current President of the United States.
13
@Betty Boop unfortunately 40% of eligible voters do not agree
Of course they weren’t able to condemn the squad’s anti-Semitic remarks. It is amazing that Pelosi didn’t know the rules after decades in the House.
5
I am wondering if you could explain and give a reference to those remarks that you mentioned here? I think it is important for each of us to be knowledgeable about exactly folks say. If we don't do this, the lines of true communication can be broken. What really is the object here? How can America be truly healed if we don't listen to each other?
4
@Jackson
What is more amazing is our own President doesn't understand his duty, his oath, the Constitution, can't differentiate lies from reality.
What is more amazing is the Republicans aren't supporting their own people but supporting Trump over those that elected them.
What is more amazing is that we have elected officials that support Trump over racism.
1
Well, that solved everything. Good job legislative branch, go home and take a well deserved break.
9
Not surprised by the Republican behavior. After all, not a single candidate on the debate stage 3 years ago challenged Trump when he made fun of their looks, insulted wives and questioned a father's patriotism. Not a single party leader called for an end to the nicknames or rude on-stage behavior. These people chose to let Trump creep into the White House and they now join him by crawling alongside. I'd continue but there's a Jerry Springer rerun on I have to watch.
11
The President is like an unparented child, he has no consequences for anything, well that is when society steps in to correct behavior. As an educator of children, who if children used this language at school they would be disciplined, it is nice to see that law makers are setting an example of what is not acceptable. These are very confusing times for children, when a President can say so many disrespectful things without consequence.
11
What happened when he said : " Lock her up ! " ?
Trump constantly uses arguments or even schemes that are illegal but nothing is done against it .
100 years after slavery was abolished by a civil war, because the law was not enough before that, in the 1960 's, there was still physical segregation in the USA . There had to be a civil rights movement to start enforcing the law .
And it is still not fully implemented .
Black people are still massively in prison, ( the USA have the highest incarceration rate by 8 times average in the world ) or killed by the police .
5
No secret that this is all political theater. It will galvanize President Trumps base as never before. Opposite results from that was intended will occur. Where was Pelosi with this so called emotional heartbreaking speech when Rep Omar used unquestionable anti-Semitic Tropes ?? Why wasn't she called out ???
6
Finally, the Democrats did something, albeit a somewhat weak something. I am a realists, so perfectly understand Speaker Pelosi's, et.al., political calculus in carefully taking on Trump..But at some point you have to stop looking at polls and start looking at your heart and soul. Trump is a bad person by any standard, and, people of good faith need to call him out on it. Unfortunately, there is no nuance to the man, which, in turn means, it is impossible to respond in a nuanced manner.
10
So the Democrats condemn Trump's comments, the Republicans defend them, and nothing changes. Pure theater. And yes, those moderate voters in the key Electoral College states (i.e. everything not on the East or West Coast) get the impression that AOC and friends set the Democratic Party platform.
5
I'm glad that Ms. Pelosi is putting the paperwork together. It's important to document the abuse now so when it comes time to prosecute the case, it's clear.
5
Avoid impugning colleagues and the president? Isn't it a little late for that? Trump has been insulting people, even in his own administration, since he was elected. And he gets a pass? The only thing worse than his actually saying what he does, is GOP defending him for it.
11
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said. "The President is not a racist"
Well sir as Trump's enabler in derlection of your oath of office to defend the Constitution as a separate but co-equal and independent branch, it is not your call if Trump is called a racist, it is the American people and a majority of us do!
Go back where you can from.
11
This vote, and the debate around it, underlines and emphasizes just how sick a country the US has become. A grossly ignorant and obviously racist President tweets out something racist. The Republican Party, for the most part, doubles down on defending him, even going so far as to deny that what he has said is racist - a clear case of such grotesque and deliberate lying that it is truly sickening. But then the Democrats - including so-called "moderates"- are worried that condemning this will somehow disadvantage them in their own districts. Commentators on this board go on about how the Dems are playing into "identity politics." Maybe that is right. But, if so, what does that say about so-called "moderates" and the districts they represent? Are most white Americans so absolutely stone-cold racist that they will be angered and alienated by a measure that condemns a man who is so blatant in his racism? I fear the answer to that. But what is clear is that the US is setting an awful example of what it means to be a democracy.
9
Just when I think it can't get any worse, the embarrassment I feel for living in a country that elected this wretched excuse of a human being as president has reached (yet another) all time high as the president himself reaches (yet another) all time low. His advice that all who don't like it here can leave is really starting to look like solid advice, particularly when those who foisted this man upon us rush to forgive his latest racist, homophobic, misogynistic and/or narcissistic screeds. You would think I would be incapable of disbelief at this point, but come to find out, there are yet unattained levels of that as well.
7
There are numerous press reports of Trump insiders who say Trump regularly spews out racist and anti-immigrant taunts. Republicans who keep denying it know this but are trying to fool some of the people all the time, and doing a good job of it. Their politics have nothing to do with ethics, the Constitution or plain common decency. It's all about maintaining the one percent.
2
“What has really happened here is that the president and his supporters have been forced to endure months of allegations of racism,”-- Dan Meuser, Rep.
Once again, these people like to do/say atrocious things, and whine that -they- are the -real- victims when suddenly they are held accountable. Sad.
6
"Smoke and mirrors"...Trump is a con man who has great skill in bamboozling his followers and gaining pace on his critics.
As sad as this is to state, it will not surprise me if he wins 2020 by a landslide.
We are in turbulent times. The leader of the "free world" feels emboldened, smug, and dictatorial.
He also thinks he's Don Rickles, but the last laugh will be on him. Because a house divided shall never stand for long. He may well win in 2020 if the people don't vote in mass, nevertheless history will prove him to be one of the greatest fakers of all time.
The ultimate shame, however, rests with the cowardly Republicans who stand by him shoulder to shoulder in a moment why party politics has no place if you really do profess to love the United States of America.
6
Republicans are absolutely positive that they are not racist including the Republican president. All defendants, whether guilty or not, plead not guilty. That's all the Republican "not racist" pleas are, formal pleading having no connection to the facts. I will look at what they say AND do and determine for myself if they are racist and I will vote accordingly.
1
Reading the text of the resolution, one thing stands out, it does NOT call Trump a racist. It says that his words are racist. And when those words call out four women of color and tells them to go back to the country they come from, they are racist.
This is especially vile language when it is fairly well known that three of them were born in this country. And given the language Donald Trump has used about America, including the “carnage” remark in his inauguration speech, his same Tweet disparaging the four members of Congress could be said about himself. His paternal grandparents were both immigrants to this country.
And I feel that his quote telling them to go back to the country they come from “whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, the most corrupt and inept...” comes awfully close to describing his own administration.
7
Now the “Squad” is the official face of the Democratic Party. How can a Republican not like that! Trump is getting closer and closer to winning in 2020.
4
@Scott K
Yes, democrats had a problem with those 4 Congresswomen before, and it's become an even bigger one now. Good news for them is they've managed to rile up their base.
1
@Scott K
I think you are exactly wrong. That 'squad' of junior congresswomen is what is galvanizing the Millennial vote. I believe trump got many of the votes he did precisely because he was not perceived as a centrist. Consider that if Bernie Sanders had been on the Democratic ticket, he would most likely now be president. The voters are looking for real change from people with big ideas, such as those from our youngest congresswomen. They should be the face of the party, as that is what will win in 2020.
2
Could there be an element of truth in the argument that Trump is the only one to stand up to the military assassination sounding 'Squad'; who have issued proclamations of hate speech (against Israel); expressed animated admiration for al queda; and as if it was a matter of fun, belittled the event of 9/11 as if it were a subject for humour, et al. One could go on; but dipping one's thoughts into this linguistic swamp when it is clearly malarial sullies one
So why didn't the Democrats condemn such ill chosen language by the 'Squad', when they had the opportunity? Nancy Pelosi shrugged off the offensive language as '...they are not very sure with their words' demonstrating her view of the 'Squads' adolescent bent. The Democrats' modus operandi is not to confront an issue unless the issue can damage Trump. Such an attitude is to be at war with reason. There is an expression 'via media' a Latin phrase meaning "the middle road" and it is a philosophical maxim which advocates moderation in all thoughts and actions. Perhaps the Democrat should heed this and yes,Trump too. There, I have adopted 'via media' in my concluding remark.
5
I strongly believe that Republicans are complacent because Trump has loads of dirt on them. Trump has a long history of digging out skeletons from people's closets to blackmail them into doing what he needs them to do. He pays the worst of people to do this job for him. However, he refuses to give people the same power. He has given up on his reputation a long time ago and made scandals his trademark. This is an asymmetrical war and he keeps winning.
2
Sitting here enjoying my morning coffee and listening to NPR interview a republican congressman. I am amazed that despite Trump's blatant public display of racism over and over again he still does not believe Trump is a racist. They are attempting to rationalize why his racism is not racism. Their effort fails at each and every attempt. Racism in this day and age simply is not rational. It is deliberate, offensive, hate filled and as petty as it gets. No matter who does it or for what reason it is what it is and Trump is not immune to it. He has now been officially held accountable for his very deliberate and obviously heartfelt racism and that is how it should be. Ignoring it only serves to grow it.
4
Trump is right - the problem is (and always has been) that he has the verbal skills of a 12 year old boy.
2
Trump’s been a walking, talking violation of decorum ever since the Electoral College installed him as president. GOP reps should brush up on their definition of “irony” to understand how their pretzel-like logic in defending their joke of a president has become with every passing day.
3
At least we know exactly what the President is thinking. We don’t have to guess.
While we can be appalled at the President's clearly racists statements, what is most concerning is that this 'tactic' serves to rally his base. Are we a country that has such a high proportion of racists? The answer must be yes or Trump wouldn't have done this.
1
Apparently, some people argue that Trump's comments, although part of all anti-harassment manuals on the work floor etc., from now on should no longer be considered to be "racist".
Why not? Because although he singled out four women of color (and not a single white male progressive), they reply, he did not EXPLICITLY mention the fact that they are of color.
Here's why that's not a valid objection AT ALL.
1. If Trump disagrees with the content of what they were saying, and wanted to reject it, he would obviously have focused on substance. He didn't. He merely said that he strongly disagreed with what they were saying, and then switched to something that had NOTHING to do with substance at all, and ONLY with their color of skin, telling them to go living in and criticizing the governments of poor and war-torn countries abroad, whose population are just like those four women, people of color.
So his comment was a comment on their "race", in the most unambiguous way possible, as that's the only thing that those four lawmakers and those countries have in common, and his comment was essentially about those countries.
2. By refusing to address the very substance of what progressives (and many non progressive Americans) blame him and the GOP of today, and pivoting to the race of a handful of lawmakers of color who happened to be progressives too instead, Trump tells non white Americans that they alone have NO right to disagree. And that is the very DEFINITION of racism.
2
I know it's been said, but where is the condemnation of the so called Squads racist comments? and there have been plenty and there will be plenty to come. Please world, don't let them get away with it.
4
I have been the classic "middle" voter my whole adult life. I consider each candidate individually before I vote, casting for both parties. As a principle, I cannot vote for any Republican in this next election. The Republican party needs to be dismantled from within - as it stands it is dangerous to our democracy, freedom, and world standing.
23
Well, the House has voted - now, can we get back to business.
As in - Madame Speaker is soon going to find out that the so called Squad is not going to be satisfied with this so called condemnation.
And just as the sun rises every day - the Squad is going to let Madame Speaker know that she is still too moderate for them and they sure don't think her as one of their sisters.
So, while this vote perhaps briefly let the steam off and put on a unity show - deep divisions remain amongst Democrats. And these divisions are not just over a policy but personalities.
And one personality of POTUS dominates.
And until the Democrats find a way to "silence" the heated rhetoric from the Squad - the show will continue.
And it seems as a representative said the Democrats burned a week - thanks to POTUS who simply needled them.
6
Fighting against racism has always united the Democratic party.
And remember, in a democracy allowing disagreements to exist, and engaging in real, respectful debates about them, is EXACTLY what makes society as a whole thrive, NOT something that somehow should be avoided/eliminated.
Racism divides us because it hurts minorities, and the more a government hurts minorities, the weaker the entire country becomes.
Strongly believing that it is possible to make progress towards achieving our ideals faster than what Pelosi believes is possible, or believing that Pelosi's way is the only REAL way to achieve ANY concrete progress, is something that doesn't "divide" us at all, quite on the contrary, it's EXACTLY the kind of debates we NEED to have.
Many Americans agree with Pelosi, many others agree with AOC, on the issues where both of them tend to disagree.
That's not a problem AT all - and certainly not a problem about "personalities". It's normal for new, young, idealistic lawmakers to push for change faster than what the more experienced believe is feasible.
The only way to move forward is to end all cynicism - including the notion that political disagreements don't exist and that there are merely "good" and "bad" politicians, as you're suggesting here.
Personally, I love "the Squad's" - as they jokingly called themselves - ideas, but I think that often Pelosi is right.
The only thing that would be "anti-democratic" would be to want to "silence" lawmakers you don't like.
5
This may already have been said: the President suggests that the squad return to their countries to make them better. Here is the fallacy with that thought: whenever any of their nations tries to make themselves better, the United States says that's not allowed. Why? Because the United States views those attempts as threats to our national interest. So you see it is a catch 22 for all involved, including the President, and nobody can win.
6
@Adam Cherson
It's not the US that says that other nations aren't allowed to make themselves better, it's the GOP and Trump who adopted the absurd and dangerous ideology that says that as the wealthiest nation on earth, the only way to remain the wealthiest is to (1) massively use the power of the US government to shift that wealth from th 99% to Americans 1% wealthiest and the international Wall Street financial elites, and (2) to try to hurt other countries as much as possible.
The Democrats' approach to America's greatness is totally different, as it's based on the idea that the only measure of our "greatness" is how well each and every citizen at home does, and how well we're leading the entire world towards more prosperity, happiness, mutual respect, and peace.
As to Trump's comment: that's just a way to hide the fact that he didn't build any wall at all, and deported and removed even less illegals than Obama did in 2016. And poll after poll shows that all that he has to do to keep his voters' approval, is to indeed fire one racist tweet after the other. It makes them feel that "he gets it", and within their cynical worldview, it's all that they still hope the US government will be able to do for them ...
2
I feel obligated to point out that all 4 of these women are US citizens, and only 1 of the women was born outside the US, Ms.Omar. Nonetheless, the comments coming from POTUS are inexcusable. He has a pattern of attacking politicians by questioning their citizenship and patriotism (i.e: Obama), particularly politicians of color.
2
Stating Trump's remarks were racist references content- not motive. Regardless of what he was thinking when he made the comments or what his conscious or unconscious intentions were, it doesn't change the fact that his comments were racist.
At this stage of our interactions with Trump, it is important to address his actions accurately, swiftly, and with courage...then move on. Arguing back and forth only plays into what he wants which is to make a spectacle.
Condemning the racist remarks was the right thing to do. Notice that there was no discussion about whether this would cause further division in the country (it did...Trump got a 5 point bump in the polls) or whether a majority of citizens were "ready" for the formal reprimand. It was the right thing to do so it was done.
Robert Mueller a few moons ago outlined several times that Trump had obstructed justice. Like the reprimand of racist remarks, this should have initiated the impeachment process whether the country was "ready" or not. The point here is not to run Trump out of office though that might be the result. The point is to uphold the law, to uphold the constitution by following the facts wherever they may lead. It means instituting a process where the executive branch can't decide when they want to share documents and witnesses.
Let's continue to do the right thing and initiate an impeachment inquiry ASAP.
17
At some point, trump's tide of hatred will ebb.
Until then baby sitting is a necessary.
President Obama warned us that trump was unfit to serve as president, but manipulation of the outdated electoral college has appointed the second republican president that had lost the popular vote.
Reform the electoral college.
14
Pelosi played right into Trumps hands, now the entire Democratic House has become anti-American. I think it is so appropriate that as he says go-back, Puerto Rico erupts into scandal and protest. What better way for AOC to show her leadership skills then to go back and take up a leadership role on the island.
3
AOC didn’t run to showcase her leadership skills. She ran to lead the government of OUR entire country, which happens to be HER country.
4
@Rich Murphy
Since when became rejecting racism "anti-American", more precisely?
And obviously, it's American people, living on US soil, who elected AOC because like so many other - including white male - progressives in this country, they strongly disagree with the way Trump and the GOP behave.
Can you please explain how, instead of refuting progressive arguments, singling out four duly elected, American lawmakers, and then starting to talk about foreign countries where a majority of citizens happen to have the same color of skin, can somehow be compatible with the Constitution and what we should any occupant of the highest office in this country to start doing, from now on ... ?
Any ideas?
3
Imagine if this had been a impeachment vote. The wisdoms is, if impeached it would not pass the senate, if impeached it wouldn't pass the house. Sad but if you don't like him VOTE.
5
Trump is fond of superlatives. But this one he may not like: "The worst president in the history of the United States."
28
The Dems couldn’t give a greater gift to Trump. Now they’re going to try to inflate this to the level of a “high crime and misdemeanor” and totally sink their chances for 2020 not only for the Oval Office but both the House and Senate as well. This squad of four is taking over the whole party and setting its agenda. In the meantime there’s a hidden vote for Trump that keeps growing and growing while these four act out their hatred of America.
8
@Edward
FYI: they - and they alone - have been denouncing the GOP's constant acts of racism for years now.
Result? They won the popular vote in 2016, and got the biggest voter gap in three decades in both the House and the Senate during the mid-term elections.
So no, contrary to what you imagine, racism isn't the newest religion in America, fortunately.
That being said, it's quite clear that Democrats would continue to denounce racism EVEN if it wouldn't be "popular" anymore. That's because racism is just utterly unacceptable ... remember?
And of course, what AOC says isn't in any way different from what white male progressives have been saying for years. And yet, Trump never told you to start believing that Bernie Sanders "hates America". So why are you falling for this kind of horrible lies as soon as he projects them onto lawmakers who happen to be women of color ... ? Any ideas?
1
The only person who has hatred against America is Trump. He doesn’t represent a majority of America and opposing him and calling out his lies and fraud isn’t hating America. He believes Putin over Americans and has hatred against American institutions, democracy, checks and balances, rule of law and our values. He is projecting his hatred of America on to others. That’s what he is good at.
1
Meanwhile the United States is heading towards fiscal ruin under the "leadership" of Trump and the Republicans. The US Treasury is running an annual deficit of almost $1 trillion and is rapidly running out of money to pay the bills. Continuously raising the debt ceiling is a sign the USA is living beyond its means. Reality is going to bite someday and bite hard.
9
I am disappointed to see that my congressional representative, Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21), voted against condemning the President for his recent racist remarks. I don't know if President Trump is essentially a racist person or not. I do know that his remarks characterize a long history in the United States of racism which I had hoped we as a country were beginning to face up to. Since those racist remarks the other day, the President has continued to make additional racist remarks, and to defend them. I personally condemn those remarks and ask the president to explain what is the motivation for making them. I ask the same thing of Representative Stefanik, that is, what is behind your defense of these remarks.
11
Trump is denouncing Pelosi and the Squad as subversives/socialists. He'll use this appellation to declare the Democratic opposition to be illegitimate and as a result suspend the 2020 election -- as a necessity to protect the republic.
There’s a horrifying irony that Trump is successfully commanding the spotlight at center stage even as more and more people are coming to realize the best strategy to defeat him is to shut off access to his publicity spigot. He relishes this present fight, he goads it because he knows his base is cheering him on. The so-called progressives are playing right into his hands and now even Pelosi has gotten on the train. This is a gerrymandered country and the same group who brought him to Washington may well do so again. If Dem politicians don’t start looking talking relevant issues rather than Trump, they’re handing the 2020 election to him.
8
"Decorum?" Not a word I would associate with this administration considering Mr. Trump's behavior before entering politics. Lets not forget his attacks that questioned President Obama's citizenship. At his events Mr. Trump insights and encourages fighting with protesters. He uses foul language and then has the audacity to say the four Congressman use vulgar language. What about his daily attacks and name calling against anyone who disagrees with him especially the media?
The Republicans have much to answer for in 2020.
8
One's race is based on the person's physical attributes such as skin color and hair texture while nationality refers to one's membership of a particular country. Bases on definitions, Trump's remarks were not racist.
8
With divisions in America being driven by the man in the White House I have to ask myself who gains by his actions. Clearly a divided America is good for Russia, North Korea, China and Iran to name but a few.
It should also be remembered that Trump has also divided America from its established allies. His latest round of racist comments has furthered that position.
Has Trump's activities finally passed a threshold that warns even his staunchest supporters that what he says about making America great again isn't genuine. He intends to make America infamous and that is precisely what he is doing. Trump's financial situation with Russia is allegedly deep.
Perhaps if Americans suddenly found the Russian language mandatory on their kids school curriculum the penny would finally drop.
4
It’s great that some republicans can’t be bought or controlled by fear but there’s not enough of them standing up for civility.
The distraction game of Trump is working well and answers to many behaviors unbecoming a President are getting pushed aside .
We can only hope that the news media will give us some answers . That’s why Trump fights with them .
3
I was happy to see Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley sworn in earlier this year. Now I have mixed feeling about them.
It's not entirely their fault. They have been under enormous scrutiny. And much has to do with HOW they assume their Congressional mantle, and handle the stress and verbal attacks. I'm afraid they lack the maturity and acumen to do so.
Congressional Democrats, it's time to move on.
The four Congresswomen have had enough of media spotlight. It's time for them to keep a lower profile. To do so, they need to ignore Trump and get on with their work.
The Democratic Party needs unity and a candidate to beat Trump in 2020.
Those who have other views and don't agree with the party agenda should either remain quiet or quit. They could follow Justin Amash's example, who left the GOP because he called for Trump's impeachment. He is now an independent member of Congress.
10
A remark which is emblematic of the republican party:
"This is about socialism vs. freedom," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, told reporters.
Socialism is an economic system which many democracies, some U.S. allies, have employed, in unique variations.
Freedom is a term less easily defined, but it could be argued that citizens of socialist countries have as much freedom as Americans.
The two are neither comparable nor mutually exclusive. Is Mr. McCarthy really that ill informed, or does he use these words to inspire or terrify his base?
Implicit in his statement is another questionable equation:
capitalism = freedom.
I wish it were true; life would be simpler. But the form of capitalism evolving in the U.S. is defined by some experts as oligarchy; total control of government by a tiny number of very wealthy people. Remember the 1%?
How do we fix it? For starters:
- term limits for members of congress and the judiciary
- electoral votes awarded in direct proportion to popular vote
- election day a national holiday
- more education in 'civics'
- eliminate gerrymandering
- limit lobbyists to 'experts' when specific, technical information is needed
- publicly funded elections
I'm sure there are more items, but hey, we have ... eternity!
Sound difficult and expensive? Perhaps difficult, and certainly won't happen quickly. But not nearly as expensive as the wasteful process we presently call 'government'.
15
Other than an ignorant president and scared bunch of Republicans, we're just fine in the eyes of the world, eh?
14
It is an unequivocal sign of American demise, that a fascist, racist, cheater and treasonous criminal, like Mr. Trump can hold the entire USA under blackmail, and is still allowed to do so. The more he is permitted to go in this direction, the more he will try to surpass his previous "successes". How far will he be allowed to go? How much destruction will be left after him? Poor America, poor Americans, sad for the entire world.
27
We are letting trump control the conversation. He wants to keep racism front and center. If the democrats raise the topics of health care and climate and middle class living wages, then they will reach the independent voters in the midwest and south.
DO NOT let Trump control the topic with absurd statements.
IGNORE HIM.
18
@Will Hogan
I completely understand what you're saying, but some things just can't be ignored.
6
Trump began his campaign literally and metaphorically going down - to a roomful of people paid to be there.
He boasted he was worth $10 billion though he bankrupted 6 companies, lost more money than any American, and no tax records exist to show he has paid any taxes at all.
He called Mexicans rapists and criminals, though he stands accused by 22 women of rape, is guilty of fraud, and over 15 investigations are ongoing or have been completed outlining obstruction of justice, tax evasion, embezzlement and fraudulent conveyence, money laundering, and violations of campaign finance laws.
Now the GOP/Kremlin are attempting to tear Americans apart by race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and every other division they can engender.
This nation is a land of immigrants, which made it the most powerful and prosperous country on Earth. We need to call out every attack on American values by the White House occupant working in league with despots.
The best way to call out attacks on individuals and groups is to always remember we are one nation, and act with the strength of one people.
Do not let the GOP/Kremlin coalition fragment our country.
Republicans are attempting to barricade the voting booths through gerrymandering, poll taxes in Florida, voter ID suppression, etc.
Now is the time for Democrats to address this tactically and storm the barricades blocking voting rights and equal representation.
20
The expression on Pompeo's face in the picture where Trump is waving around the photograph of Omar tells you all you need to know about this administration.
They really have to go. All of them.
23
Kudos to Speaker Pelosi and the House majority caucus, for their vote to condemn this shameless president for his racist comments via his tweets. It is definitely long overdue and well deserved for this vile man.
To President Donald J. Trump and his enablers in Congress. There will be consequences, when you cross the line with your own deep rooted hatred for your fellow Americans. The current president, will surely not be re-elected, for all he has done is seek to divide our great country from day one of his presidency. It’s too late to even attempt to reverse that trend. He will only get more careless in his governance by tweet, and continue to display his true colors, as an impending SDNY investigations, Impeachment inquiry and Election Day draws closer to reality, and the overall stress begins to take its toll.
Lets all hope he doesn’t do anything stupid to draw the USA into another costly Middle East war, in order distract and control the 24/7 news cycles, that is always item number one of the Trump playbook.
10
"Ultimately, it was left to Representative Steny H. Hoyer, the majority leader, to recite the official ruling that Ms. Pelosi had, in fact, violated a House rule against characterizing an action as 'racist.'"
Incredible that according to House rules of decorum you can't call a racist a racist. Would the same rule apply to David Duke and other members of the KKK? Some things just have to be called out for what they are; using euphemisms and dancing around the issue only makes those deplorable actions more durable and their perpetrators stronger. A huge round of applause to Nancy Pelosi for not backing down.
13
Aren’t you all wondering where the Catholics and evangelical religious leaders are in all this. They should be out morally against Trumps evil rage agains women. Shows you they are not in the same bible as their Pope. He says build bridges with immigrants Trump and GOP wants expensive walls and jails.
10
@D.j.j.k.
Pretty sure they’re all about making abortion unsafe and illegal, at any cost. And what a cost that’s proving to be.
But hey—they get Heaven, So destruction of Earth is just an inconvenience.
Trump did nothing but criticize the US under Obama's presidency. We were coming out of a near depression brought on by Bush the Lesser. Meanwhile, Republicans only wanted Obama to fail. Thinking about a 2012 presidential run, Trump chimed in with his racist birther nonsense starting in 2011, which he continued until near his election.
Now Trump is in the White House (the thought still sickens me), and everything king Midas touches has miraculously turned to gold. Of course criticism of the king upsets the great chain of being and will not be tolerated. Especially coming from women of color with funny names.
Never mind that climate disaster is bearing down, that income inequality is exploding, that our infrastructure is crumbling, that Kim has the H bomb and ICBM's, that the Mideast powder keg is on a rising burn, that Trump's best friends are vicious autocrats, that Trump's foreign enemies are mostly our traditional allies, that he publicly invited foreign election meddling, that his rape accusations continue to rise, and that his impeachment may soon begin.
So Trump plays his go-to card, using racially charged remarks to tell the squad to go back where they came from. Perfectly fitting remarks for an ignorant 6th grader from a bad family, But far from acceptable to normal Americans.
And so the House really had no choice but to censure the US president. Trump, ever the ignorant racist, doesn't have the character or temperament to be president. Never did. Never will.
15
Mr. Trump should either turn himself in to the nearest law enforcement office for conspiracy with Putin against the United States, or else seek refuge in Russia.
The sooner he does one or the other, the better!
8
Democrats appropriately call Trump out as racist for just his most recent racist comment even though Trump's long history of racism through most of his adult life, all of his 2016 campaign and for his entire 2-1/2 illegitimate years sitting fraudulently in the White House, has been widely known. Trump and his deplorable base revel in this criticism from Democrats, especially when the condemnation comes from women and Americans of color, stoking flames of misogyny and white nationalism,
Once again, the Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, look weak and ineffective. like frustrated parents trying to verbally shame a rebellious and unruly teenager into behaving better. Meanwhile, impeachment hearings are slipping through their fingers as a Trump 2020 win is looking more likely. The country and our democracy are doomed.
1
They don't hate America, they intensely dislike Donald Trump. That is fairly easy to understand as his language is very 'unpresidential.'
11
Interesting during the “debate” to repeatedly hear the new republican party line, the “democrat socialist agenda”. Of course, most of the Republicans using the term “socialist” couldn’t define it if you gave them a dictionary and three chances, but, having nothing but Trump to run with in 20, they’re going with the old labeling ploy. Really, lame!
10
The divided partisan Congressional response to Trump's derogatory racist remarks against the Congress women shows that not even basic norms of dignity and civil conduct have been spared by Trump to remain immune from his relentless mudslinging hate provoking campaign the opponents.
5
Almost all the GOP members of the House of Representatives have shown us that they are as racist as Donald Trump. How low the Republican Party has fallen over the last twenty years!
15
Congrats to Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats for you courage. The other side lost their spine and brain. The interest of their party is above the interest of the country. Shame on Republican leaders. Of course they have no shame anyway.
14
What's wrong with him? It says it right on the Statue of liberty. Give us your tired,your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. What if someone had told his immigrant wife to go back to the country she came from when she was getting her citizenship? America is about inclusion not exclusion. This is exactly why he needs to go . His mentality is warped it's totally opposite to all that America was founded upon.
11
Many Commenters try to assert that Trump is baiting Democrats using his wiles. I doubt this very much. He merely reacts to everything, with his rude, ugly style over which he really has no control.
We somehow have created a culture in which one of the most disgusting among us, in which one of the least thoughtful and woke among us, has been given the reins. That means there is something, perhaps many things, incontrovertibly ill about the USA. We'd better fix it.
12
@Feldman. And if all of the immigrants came in through Ellis Island we would have no problems. Trump doesn’t hate immigrants he dislikes illegal immigrants who bring somebody else’s children with them. I love how the Democrats attack Trump yet they won’t provide him the funding he needs to get the job done to secure the borders.
If all those illegals coming over to the United States were going to vote Republican you can bet the borders would seal up faster than Pelosi can say “ Where are all the new voters?”
1
@Charles A. Taylor You ascribe to DT a sense of virtue he simply does not have. Further, you judge Democrats to be a bit like the GOP you admire; they are not -- absolutely not. DEmocrats have a creed, relating to "what's correct, morally". The Republicans -- and DT more than anyone --- work from the principle that 'the ends justify the means'. And their favored 'ends' are basically" the power to write tax law, etc. Their 'means' are devoid of morality.
1
Some advice to the House of Representatives (and especially the "Squad":
Donald Trump will goad you constantly over the next 16 months. It will never end. It is a STRATEGY.
He WANTS you to impeach him. He WANTS you to complain about him. He WANTS you to rebuke him. He demands you label him a racist. Or a pig. Or a meany. Or a toddler. Or any other thing you can think to call him.
In short, he WANTS you to make everything you do and say about HIM.
This is his re-election strategy, and it seems to be WORKING.
Be more wise than to fall for this, please.
12
A large majority of white Americans think thoughts like Trump stated in his Tweet, yet do not believe they are a racist. We all know this. I don't know why we have such a hard time admitting it. So let's drop all of the pretend shock over his statement. Let's also stop pretending that not voting for this will somehow harm white representatives from white districts. This is white America, folks.
6
As someone old enough to have been taught civics as a subject in school, the conduct of the Republican Party just leaves me shaking my head and deeply worried for our nation. Service in the House and Senate should never be party first, last and always.
What my Congressman, Rick Crawford, and the other Republicans who have tied their good name to Trump need to remember is the sense of duty to the country, political stability and comity that has allowed our system to last all this time.
There needs to be a reckoning for the Republican Party in 2020 and that can only come from the American people who are entitled to vote. If you stand with Donald J Trump blindly you are simply unworthy of your elected office- period.
8
Dems need to re-frame this immediately. Why isn’t it Trump who’s anti-American, with his constantly bigoted and sexist views?
8
The debate over this measure shows the contrast between two diametrically opposed political discourses. In such cases, one discourse tends to be true and the other tends to be false, for example the debate in Germany in the early 1930s between the Nazis and the opposition party. To me, listening to this debate, I hear the majority of Republicans in the false camp with the Nazis. In fact, I am sure that there would are many parallels between Nazi rhetoric and what we hear from Republican lawmakers in debates like this, especially in regard to the strategy of blaming the victims. I think it would also be fruitful to do a semiotic analysis of Trump's tweets and speeches compared with Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and speeches.
7
Pelosi, by intentionally baiting the Republicans in the house into objecting to her use of the word “racist,” used the trumpian technique of saying something outrageous (although not really) to make sure the resolution would be heard by the largest possible national audience. Well done.
4
Trump's despicable racist rants against four bright young women who are newcomers in Congress leaves no choice but to rebuke him. What have we come to when our country is lead by a man who rises to the level of 7th grade insults against the very individuals who are entrusted with protecting the Constitution and the well being of all Americans?
There is no simple solution to the growing dilemma of both Trump and the Republican Party making a mockery of our way of life. Since our country has never had such a depraved President, nor such a weak Senate, we have no precedent on which to base an appropriate response. We all need to join together to defeat both the President, and key Republican members of Congress in 2020.
8
"Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said “the president’s not a racist.”"
I wonder what Senator McConnell or his wife, Elaine Chao would feel if Trump's tweets were aimed at her.
It just shows that the Republican Party has yet to grow a spine.
8
As I began the summer reading contest, I wanted to find an article that would not only catch my interest, but also create some type of emotion. As I came across this article, I felt anger as to why these things occurred. Firstly, the current president, Trump, has been very disrespectful, since the beginning of the election. It angers me that he is disrespectful because there are thousands (probably even millions) of people who support it and even find the disrespect humorous. This article also interests me because it talks about how Trump told the four woman to leave the country and go back to where they came from. It’s very funny to me Native Americans were here long before Americans arrived, and Trump (an American) says to leave a country he doesn’t own or was even the first to arrive here. In my opinion, Trump is racist and is even similar to the once known man Hitler. Trump has constantly shown disrespect to the nation which is one, discussing, and two, disappointing. As a president, you should motivate your audience to respect, serve your country with respect and dignity. Our current president has failed to do so and has failed as a successful president. This article has sparked my interest because while reading about the actions of our president, I am filled with anger and disappointment.
5
How prescient was was Shepard Fairley’s “We the People” series? Take a look again and see each of these strong, American women in art predicted before they arrived.
1
Let not call Republic Party House members cowards.
This is not cowardice, this is a profession of principle.
Republic Party members of the House are not afraid to oppose Grand Wizard Trump on his racism.
THEY SUPPORT HIS RACISM.
Their opposition to the House resolution is a statement of principle.
8
BAmerica is a young country. Its history is less than the average reign of a recent Chinese dynasty such as the Qing or Ming. The majority Han "racial group" took thousands of years to form through the consolidation of hundreds of ethnic groups and dialects. Sadly, there were also many rebellions and wars. The glue, however, has been the common culture and written language over thousands of year.
Divided and Racist American can also have a long history if it can find the "glue" that can hold it together.
2
I'll say to Trump what the conservatives used to say to anti Vietnam war protesters.
"Go back to Russia!"
He was born there apparently.
At least that's where he has his allegence.
Apparently.
6
Condemning Pres. Trump for his zenophobic trope against these 4 women of color whose backgrounds may have been improverished nations. But even these countries must have something to be proud of. . Haiti overthrew slavery before us. He accused them of being unpatriotic. No they are not. Any man who decorates all his furniture with gold paint and gold plating on his signs and the sculpture in front of his former hotel, the Plaza should be analyzed. I pray that his attack against these women doesn't lead to life threatening actions.
However, these women have spoken out of line as well. Rep. Omar with her out of the blue stinging tropes Benjamin babies comments against us Jews and Israel. I saw the same shift in the leaders of Womens March. Then Rep. Tlaib used a curse word in a private event against the President vowing to get rid of him unaware she was being taped. Rep. Cortez covering a Queens district led a divisive movement to stop Amazon from moving a major tech and warehouse hub to long Island City Queens, her district. Amazon gave up its plans suddenly after months of bad press. However, Governor Cuomo led an effort to change their mind by removing the leading state senator who blocked the move to no avail. These women seem to be causing a serious rift in the Democratic party with nothing to bring home to their constituents. It seems like their noble squad is operating from a defensive position with taking no prisoners.
The Republicans will now have to live with their conscience....of course they have to have one.
5
Republican House members took a pass, once again, on standing up for the values that unite our country. You know, the values that used to make America the greatest country on the planet. Sad.
4
I'm increasingly sad for your country.
The GOP and Trump's base think his racism is just fine. There's no arguing with it. His base are either to ignorant or too racist themselves to see it.
You need to elect a Democrat, but the Democrats are divided because of four firebrand neophytes who need to stop trying to be superstars and start being party members. The goal is to oust Trump. That, and that alone, has to be the focus, or your democracy is done.
5
The word “racism” is used for a broad array of conduct, from the murderous to the verbally offensive. Because it is such a loaded term, it should be used with discretion. Trump insulted women of color, but not based on their color. To discern a racist meaning, you have to interpret his words and find racist innuendo. There are none of the buzz words that make racism explicit.
Trump’s attack on the squad was racially insensitive. Racism is too strong a word and the Democrats should not have gone there.
2
@michjas
If you truly believe he didn't single out those women because of their color—note not one of them is white—I have a most excellent bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
3
President Trump is overtly engaging in an effort to stigmatize dissent and criticism of his government. (Menacing, threatening those that do so.) Next Trump will openly call for the 2020 election to be suspended -- oh wait!, . . . .
3
Why is there no discussion of the racist and factually erroneous comments made by Representative Talib? She claimed that requiring Palestinians to have unique license plates was evidence of racism when it is really just evidence of jurisdiction where the vehicle was registered — like different plates for residents of New York and Connecticut.
We’ll never tame public discourse as long as we maintain that Trump can do no right and Talib can do no wrong.
1
Resolutions? What about impeachment? My father shed blood for this country as did so many Americans who sacrificed their lives to preserve our democratic institutions. All we see today is political theater from the Democrats and Republicans going into hiding. When the curtain comes down all we have left is a country whose freedoms are forfeited. Democracies die quietly in modern times.The are co-opted by autocrats who destroy our system of governance from within so the public believes those institutions we have relied on for centuries are still in place.We are going from a Democratic Republic to a Banana Republic by the utter neglect of both major parties to remove this fascist we call Trump.
3
First of all, there is no argument: "Go back to your country" is a long established racist meme. PERIOD. Apologists can argue all day long that Trump was unaware of that, but going by his abysmal record on race relations going back to the Central Park 5 and even before that, as a landlord, I find their argument is completely without merit. Trump's suggestion is Un-American. This country was founded, in part, on the Freedom to disagree, challenge, and change our government. Trump wanting people to leave the country because they disagree with him, or because he doesn't think they love the country is Un-American. It's fascist, as a matter of fact. Lastly, his behavior is beneath the Office of the Presidency. Speaker Pelosi did the right thing today.
6
All but four Republican members of the House just demonstrated -- still again -- their party's abject cowardice and failure to combat a loud, wild out-of-control president who threatens our nation. We all star in this moment of truth for our nation.
5
Mr Trump didn't bother to research (as usual) the birthplaces of three of the four Congresswomen; he merely assumed that their physical features correlated with overseas birth. That is racism at its purest.
7
trump calls himself a stable genius. not sure about stable, but his maneuver coalescing the democrats is fairly brilliant. two weeks ago pelosi was being called a racist by the extreme left wing of her party, and many may have thought the mainstream democrats were really moderates instead of crazed socialists due to this conflict, which is a dangerous position for trump if it proliferates. but after trump's series of tweets, pelosi called the four creepy congresswomen her sisters, again bringing them into the fold along with the rest of the democratic party. The vote today demonstrates that. Now Trump can again claim the democratic majority are a unified group of crazed socialists, an untenable position for the democrats in 2020. Trump also made the racist story a mute point by tweeting he is not a racist and that his original tweet did not have racist intent. Trump demonstrates again he is far smarter then the democrats by having them respond to his baiting and by them then being herded into a politically cliff. The techniques were crude, but cerebral, and it appears there is going to be substantial success, as we see trump is continuing to herd with new tweets.
1
Nothing in your country seems to be about morals, ethics and human decency anymore. It’s all about power, votes and money. It’s appalling and very disturbing.
5
As an Asian, I have been told to go back to my country many times even though I served in the Army in combat and shed blood for our Nation. Until Trump got elected, I was considering going back to Asia because our Nation was no longer the great place it had been when I came in the 60’s. With Trump as President, I will stay because I believe he is making America great again.
2
President Trump has been denounced and maligned in the most false, vile, and outrageous language by the American left, even before he took office, in an attempt to destroy his presidency. It has been a continuous, unprecedented attempt to destroy his presidency.
Therefore, the President has responded to four of the most prominent malefactors. They carry the standard for a political and ethnocentric alienated subculture which is not shared by most Americans. The country has no obligation to like it, accept it, or to have it superimposed, only to afford it a modicum of tolerance.
President Trump has every right to suggest emigration to the squad, especially Omar, who never should have been allowed to set foot on American soil. They have the privilege of declining that recommendation.
No matter what way you cut it, Trump just energized his base and garnered more votes than any svelte ad campaign could have gotten him.
This vote means nothing. For two reasons: one, it is of no constructive ramification; and two, it is obviously partisan opportunism centered in a deliberate misinterpretation of the president's remarks--which were beautifully appropriate and assertive in their actual intention which had nothing to do with race, ethnicity or sex, and everything to do with the congress members' administrative competence and constitutional integrity. Trump gained enormous favoritism among swing voters, and additional loyalty from his base, from his remarks which were long overdue. This Democrat cohort is sadly, not taken seriously by the constituency they should be most concerned about: moderates. Moderates don't like radical identitarians, and identitarianism is no longer enough (since Obama) to carry the presidency.
2
As a middle school ESL teacher, my work is the opposite of these tweets.
We the ESL staff advocate for those we teach and represent because we want them to succeed.
My students, who are working to improve their academic English, are a combination of immigrants and native born students with another language in the home — many from hard working, lower income families.
And yes, unlike the president, I would likely be fired from the district if I ever said anything like that to these kids or their parents. I have never imagined such a thought, and the district would not tolerate that type of speech from staff or students at any level: elementary, middle or high school. (Right after the election, students in a nearby district were accosted by “Go back to Mexico” and many will feel more entitled in the fall to spew that.)
But the good news is that the students and I are beginning to be represented in the House with these voices fighting back. It’s a start.
4
When the actual bumper sticker, "America: Love It or Leave It" was popular as a denouncement of the Anti-Vietnam War protesters, there was a rebuttal one:
"America: Change It or Lose It."
Good advice for the lawmakers,and for the electorate in 2020.
6
Republican Congressman Dan Meuser and like-minded, increasingly desperate defenders of loud, wild, mean, dishonest President Trump assume that we Americans are too thick and slow to comprehend what Trump and they are doing -- to us and our nation. Big surprise for them in one year from November.
29
Trump is playing a game - driving the House to the point they are cornered by their own words - have ti impeach, exactly what he needs.
Democrats are swallowing the bait.
5
@Richard Pelosi is smarter than Trump. She can start impeachment hearings at her leisure and drag them out until the election without voting to impeach. This won’t rally anyone except Trump’s base. Everyone else will be constantly reminded of the criminality of this President.
4
JFK took us to the moon.
Donald Trump has dragged us all into the gutter.
43
Do the Republicans still consider themselves the Party of Lincoln? The Great Emancipator would be turning in his grave if he became aware of the type of men and women who call themselves Republicans now ,,,,for shame!
18
Later at the White House, the president did not back away from his original comment, saying of the quartet, “They can leave.”
“They should love our country,” he continued. “They shouldn’t hate our country.”
The President should take his own advice.
25
Bickering and interrupting Swalwell is of course a Republican from...well, I don't want to get into the stereotyping that is Trump's, but it looks like the Civil War didn't end with Gettysburg...
7
Look at how unified Republicans are! At least Democrats are free to dissent and aren’t weak and submissive to their leader. By comparison, the diversity of opinion and vigorous debate and argument of the Democrats is a welcome reflection of American ideals.
22
We’re turning into the exact same type of country that our founders escaped from. How ironic.
14
“I wonder why my colleagues have become so eager to attack the president they are willing to sacrifice the rules, precedent and the integrity of the people’s house for an unprecedented vote”.
Maybe those colleagues are attacking the President because they feel he has sacrificed the rules, precedent and the integrity of the people’s nation and it’s highest office.
Somebody certainly needs to stand up to him and it is increasingly clear that there are precious few Republicans willing to do so.
18
@David Barnett He violates his oath to defend the Constitution on a daily basis.
2
If those who voted to condemn the President had any real moral integrity and gumption, they would have done the same on the many occasions that each of the freshmen Congresswomen engaged in race-baiting. But Pelosi couldn't even muster enough backbone to verbally rebuke them outside the House chamber and all of the Democratic Party presidential candidates have been mum as well. So the indignation they feel now rings hollow, utterly hypocritical as it is and has been since this President was elected. No President in my 70 years has been as maligned as Trump--not even Nixon--and yet the mainstream media has yet to acknowledge any of its own culpability in creating a climate of incivility and outright disrespect of the office Trump holds, if not the man himself. I have been both a Democrat and a Republican in my life but now I am squarely an independent. I see mostly lip service and political theater in Washington these days but at least Trump, despite his many personal failings, is trying to get things done. But he faces an opposition which only wants to enforce the law when it suits their own narrow agenda (e.g. abortion rights vs. border security). Shame on Pelosi and Schumer and their ilk for failing to admit to a border crisis a year ago and shame on the hit squad for insulting and accusing those enforcement organizations who have been stuck with the problem and just trying to do their job. Scratch the surface of a socialist and I will show you a self-serving elitist.
7
From what I've gleaned, it's the folks -- "I'm a moderate democrat"; "they can't possibly allow the squad to be the face of the democratic party"; "they too seem racist," referring to the squad -- who know ZERO, NOTHING about what any of the 4 women singled out by Trump stand for that are the most ready to denounce them. These women speak out against injustices befalling people from ALL walks of life, and seek to hold power accountable, and yet we've arrived at a point where they're seen as radical -- where even standing up against blatant racism is "too radical" and likely to lose us (ahem, which us?) the election.
Seem people -- moderates, sycophant democrats -- are more interested in defeating Trump than actually trying to make a substantive, transformative change for the lives of the vast majority of Americans. To that I say good luck -- because it's a cursory assessment of what's really going on in our country, and it will only get worse.
I'd rather be with the squad, who were targeted not because of their color but because of their economic platform (race-baiting is a great way to derail the conversation, and I say this as a person of color). It's been done since time immemorial, and it will continue to be done so long as people take the bait.
9
@Paul G -FALSE! Those 'moderates, sycophant democrats -- are more interested in defeating Trump than actually trying to make a substantive, transformative change for the lives of the vast majority of Americans.' Those 'moderates, sycophant democrats' are mostly responsible for the ACA and are for enhancing it with a public option as opposed to the GOP that voted to repeal it and Trump to destroy it bit by bit. Trumps first promise after Mexico paying for the wall was: 'No one will lose coverage. There will be insurance for everybody. Healthcare will be a “lot less expensive” for everyone — the government, consumers, providers.'
Next lie was: ' the American Health Care Act. The House-produced bill, endorsed by the White House, will repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. An analysis of the measure, from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, found that the bill would cause about 24 million people to lose coverage. President Trump made a bold promise: The as-yet-unreleased Obamacare repeal and replacement plan would have “insurance for everybody.” Please tell me when us 'moderates, sycophant democrats' are going to see Trumps plan. We certainly saw his tax plan and it wasn't for us or middle class republicans either. It's funny the right always tarred democrats for drinking to 'Obama cool-aid', I guess with Trump it's laced with something else turned our country it to a more imperfect union filled with more bigotry. What Trump always was back to the 70's.
Sadly, those four brave Republicans will be forced out of the party of Trump.
7
Well. And hopefully, they’ll bring their bases and states with them!
1
That is not sad. The faster the GOP dies the better off our country and its citizens will be.
3
I don't understand why the Democrats feel they need to be, or that the electorate expects them to be, civil. The Republicans have been winning politically with take-no-prisoners, scorched earth politics. The Dems debate the merits of "reaching across the aisle" to "build consensus"— but with whom? The Republicans are not interested! So I agree with "the Squads" approach: fight fire with fire, call them out at every turn. Make it ugly because it already is.
16
Ah, a test of Republican principles. The silence of the GOP means they don't think Muslims and blacks will vote for them anyhow, so, why stand up for them? They know minorities vote for Democrats much more than for Republicans, so why show tolerance which would alienate their core white voters. They have a variety of ways to deal with minorities to suppress their votes and may be confident such tricks is all they need. Trump may symbolize the base, but the GOP is ridden by it.
8
I think that Trump wants to talk about race because he doesn't want to talk about what's happening in Iran--and how it's a consequence of his decision to exit the 2015 accord. He changes the conversation, and we can't help but take the bait and forget everything else.
8
I wonder why the Republicans in Congress don’t call him out. His values are so contrary to their beliefs. It just must be partisan politics. McConnell...really?
8
Let us start with the basics: President comments are racist - period. There is no doubt about it. However, the debate and the vote is a sad reflection of the state of our country. Less than a handful of members of the party of Lincoln had the courage to support the resolution. At the same time, the Democrats led by the Speaker decide to stoop down to the President's level. Whatever happened to "you go high when they go low". Speaker Pelosi has now lost the moral high ground by her comments in the House.
Today may be the turning point in the next election. Ironically, the debate and the vote will play down very well with President's supporters and given the electoral system, we should be prepared for four more years of one party rule across all branches of government. I cry for our country and the ideals it has stood for generations. Ideals that motivated myself and millions of immigrants to make US our home. Now is it time to "go back to where we came from"?
5
Can we put Twitter away for, say, 18 months? It is not a good tool in the hands of the dysfunctional (and that would be the lot of them).
12
Is there any American who has not yet been the subject of Trump's derision? When you consider his use of backhanded remarks and his complaints over what others have said, I think it's likely every single one of us has been intended as his target. Is he really running in 2020, or is he trying to run away?
4
Glad to see instead of passing an infrastructure bill or health care reform, Congress is addressing issues Americans really care about.
6
@Thomas: Thank McConnell for that. The House proposes, McConnell refuses to bring anything coming from the House up for the vote in the Senate.
30
Never ever forget..
Trump is all about his brand. He never expected to be President. Even if he loses the 2020 election he will be satisfied with the past 4 years that he enriched his brand. So will his kids to say the least. Money loves money.
13
Trump saw his chance to divide the Democratic Party after AOC accused the Democratic Speaker of the House of criticizing the 4 furies because the 4 furies were "women of color."
AOC called the leader of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives a racist, This followed a number of antisemitic remarks that some of the 4 furies were making right along.
Trump is making the most of the 4 furies' extremely poor judgement. Of course this is very sad for the Democratic Party, America and indeed the whole world.
7
Another chapter in the vulgar and grotesque legacy of Donald Trump.
21
Barron Trump is the son of an immigrant. As is Ivanka, Eric and Don jr. Does their dear old dad think their “country of origin” is a country other than the USA? Can someone please ask him? We’ll wait....
22
The Divided States of America.
5
We are in the first miasma of Republican fascism. I'm sure many are noting this, but many are not.
Many want it.
23
Thanks to all who voted for this resolution; especially the four Republicans and Mr. Amash. Thank you for standing up to the Bully-In-Chief.
And for the man who says “I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!,” I suggest that he and his supporters review his history. Here are two links that they should read!
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racist-racism-history
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/12/racism-and-donald-trump-a-common-thread-throughout-his-career-and-life
14
By this action, the Republican Party has formally established itself as a racist organization - A self admitted one at that. We should praise them for their honesty
16
Forget President Donald J. Trump. The Republican Party just confirmed that they represent only white citizens and believe that the Statute of Liberty beckons only white people. Every voter next November will have to decide if the Republican view of America is also theirs.
17
One of the president's roles is to act as an example for others, children in particular. This is perhaps his greatest failure, as we see children parroting his hateful language against their peers.
15
The Democrats should absolutely not back down. Offense is the best form of defense. I see billboards on the highway praising Trump, and telling people to leave America. Democrats should hit back ten times harder. No quarter should be given.
In fact, Trump should be condemned for lying about President Obama's place of birth. This issue should be brought up again and again. Where are those investigators finding amazing things in Hawaii? Keep asking him till he cracks.
17
All Americans should reflect on what the stars and stripes really represents in the United States. I applaud those who believe the American represent ideology that denounces racism, bigotry and hatred. It represents elected official who represent the people of this country and not the party.
It is so hard to believe this country stoops to a new low. These divisive comments of 45 and the silence of the republican party defiles the values of this country. Day after day one wonders how low can we go. It so hurts to see the bar lowered each and every day. How can we survive as a country?
The national flag, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence represents a country that is far better than the one being portrayed by 45 and the republican party. If there were ever a time when one must vote for a better country, now is the time. We must vote for what this country truly stands for. Vote, vote, vote for a better United States of America!!!!!!!!!!
10
Democrats,
Could you for once, FRAME the debate rather than simply reacting to this man's utterances? Madame Speaker, this hand was over-played and badly so. He still owns the news cycle.
9
Each Republican congressman should ask himself,"Would I write a tweet like Trump's?"
9
Our Congress has degenerated into a 10th-grade class meeting.
Many of these legislators are lawyers and are supposed to be members of a “learned profession”. They are trained in law school to study unique facts in a case and then formulate a reasonable solution. They are wasting time and money with their useless arguing and posturing for their supporters back home. It is really sad that we have to witness this spectacle and in the end, it leads to apathy and an inability to work together that could destroy our democracy.
6
I applaud the women and the Democrats for standing up to racism. Yes that's what it is however uncomfortable it makes a trump supporter feel. I think we misjudgethe goodness of the quiet Americans when we think they will abandon the center. Look around people the change has started with the youth of this country.
7
Do the Democrats think this will change any minds? It just confirms that Trump is correct. The Dems deserve no respect.
5
Make no mistake about it, this is all a win for Trump.
it is hard to dispute that his administration can only be describes as a galactic failure for his supporters – from the “easy to win” trade war, the government shutdown capitulation, the better cheaper health care on Day One, the Muslim Travel Ban, the end of immigration, peace in the Middle East, and on and on ad nauseum.
And on Sunday it was supposed to be the day of deportations which apparently didn’t happen. Trump probably realized he needed to distract his base from another failure and attacking women of color is a cheap easy way to deflect from his failures. There is no downside for him doing this – his base will eat it up, the Republicans in Congress will cover for him as they always do, and he can divert from the fact that he didn’t deliver to them… again
13
Yet another dull day inside the Pelosi-led elite Democrats strategy session. Having been gifted a screed of obnoxious comments by the Commander in Chief himself, they chose the bizarre response of calling him a "racist," something everyone already knows is true.
Please, can we get Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien or Trevor Noah into the strategy sessions? Channeling Saul Alinsky might also help, but stentorian Pelosi-speak isn't cutting it. There's so much raw material to work with, and we go for a "non-binding censure" written in such a way that it accidentally violates House rules.
Really, we need the squad on Saturday Night Live. Too many rules in the House. Time to go for broke -- or, as Darth Cheney himself said "Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things Related and Not." Let's see some maps of where the squad are all from. maps showing Trump's grandfather's Lutheran German birth city. Maybe Trump should go back to Germany -- might be some material there. Republicans (think Bush) are good at groping Chancellor Merkel who's still in office. C'mon guys, let's get seriously elliptical and funny.
5
Reps "We're not saying to go back to the countries they came from. We're just telling people who aren't satisfied with the way things are going in America to leave the country since they hate America."
Dems "But what about when you point out all of the issues in the country you'd like fixed..."
Reps "That's not hate of America...it's love and patriotism when we do it."
5
“What has really happened here is that the president and his supporters have been forced to endure months of allegations of racism,” said Representative Dan Meuser, Republican of Pennsylvania. “This ridiculous slander does a disservice to our nation.”
That's because the "president" is a racist. By the way, so are you.
18
Regardless of whether Trump’s tweets are racist , they are most certainly tyrannical . He wants to rule by Fiat — if these Congresswomen have a problem with the awful way that Trump is condoning the inhumane treatment of those immigrants at the border , then he’s saying to those duly elected “ Get out of MY country “ the country he wants to OWN .. And then goes a step further to accuse them of America haters . What people and the lawmakers hate is the despicable way he runs this country with no regard for the law or decency . John Adams would hate that too with every fiber of his being . And is he also not a patriot ?
The only patriots in Trump’s book are those that bow down to him and enable his sheer and unadulterated corruption .
This is how DICTATORS gain control . The only one that hates this country and constantly diminishes our democracy is Trump . Because you see he doesn’t want a democracy . He wants a totalitarian government where he can jail his opponents or better yet , just get rid of them . Since he can’t put them in jail he just wants to banish them from their country .
He’s a sick dangerous man .
14
Trump is racist. I don't care how many times you put it through the spin cycle. Frankly, no one is surprised although the GOP clutches their pearls in faux indignation and whataboutism while they quietly agree with his racist ideology and continue to take more unearned power out of the hands of the American people. Truth is, I don't care what Trump believes. I do, however, care about what he does with those beliefs and what he does and continues to do is carry out policies which harm the safety, harmony, and well-being of our country and everyone in it save for the rich cronies who despise him but love the way he helps them hoard their wealth.
11
We are all eyewitnesses to the gradual, inevitable dismemberment of this United States government.
12
I can not decide if the idea that the Democrats are TOO RADICAL for the average American is "laughable" or "sickening." That Trump could possibly be the choice of anyone who is not rabidly racist, xenophobic, fascist; or all 3 is beyond reason. No human being could be more unfit to occupy the White House than this sorry excuse for a man.
23
Proud of congress today. A beautiful and eloquent statement that made me tear up and one in which I felt a tinge of hope that American ideals were on the road to recovery after this hateful and obviously racist occupant of the oval office has all but destroyed any decency left and has brought out only ugliness and unfounded fear to our home.
God bless America. I hope we continue to find our bearings and dismiss tyrannical, gaslighting racists back to the shadows. Trump regularly accuses others of doing exactly what he does. It must be a trick he learned from Roy Cohn.
18
I wonder how Donald feels about Melania and his in-laws, all naturalized citizens originally from Slovenia. Maybe they should go back and fix the well advertised issues in the Slavic region?
17
The Congress votes to declare that the president is racist .
What does it mean ?
Then what do you do about it ?
Is it all right if the president is racist ?
Is it constitutional ?
It is such hypocrisy .
2
@JPH: Any suggestions what to do about it?
1
@Anna About the vote in congress or about the racism ?
It is a good example of what would happen if an impeachment process was started .
Go back to your country? You know who should go back? Trump's first wife. Trump's third wife. Trump's possible future fourth and fifth wives. Trump's mother-in-law. Trump's father-in-law. Trump's sister-in-law. If only Trump's mother had never immigrated to America. Oh, there are so many foreigners in Trump's own family circle, it's hard to keep count of all of them. And how dare they, take our jobs. Except for Melania. What has this particular immigrant contributed to our country or our economy? Nothing. Not 1/1000th of what AOC, at 29, has accomplished, or Omar, a immigrant who loved our country enough to learn English better than our own first lady, has accomplished. Go home, indeed.
25
Let's remember this is the same Congress who refused to condemn anti-Semitism.Let's re member those who pushed for this resolution hardest did their best to (successfully) derail condemning anti-Semitism. All it tells you is that rhetoric towards blacks, Muslims and Hispanics won't be tolerated by the Democrats while anti-Semitism from blacks, Muslims and Hispanics will be allowed in the fold. The Dems have forfeited any credibility when it comes
to denouncing racism and I will not vote for them due to their hypocrisy
with how anti-Semitism is dealt with.
9
@Lisa R: So it’s okay with you that Trump claimed there were some very good people on both sides, one of which sides had people chanting: “Jews will not replace us?” One of which sides had one of them shoot up a synagogue? Criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is not the same as anti-Semitism, by the way.
1
The Republicans are white men seeking to preserve white power.
Nothing is more threatening than women who are not white challenging that power.
This is just the beginning.
20
You go, Pelosi, and just remember you represent all of the women who can't be there. How dare the President single out 4 women of color and claim it isn't racism. Do you tell white people to go back where they come from? I have never heard President Trump say to any aide he fired, "I'm done with you. Go back to Italy where you came from" !!? Just to even the playing field, "Go back to Scotland and Germany President Trump" Actually I do not want to cause another problem in those countries too. Do the Republicans actually understand what racism is??
13
The headline reads that the House condemns his attacks "as racist". How delicate. How correct. It suggests that you're not really sure what they were? And you expect to be taken seriously
2
I applaud the censure of President Trump for his racist and ignorant comments about our fellow Americans. I find his indifference to presidential norms and basic American values of decency and respect in our public discourse to be offensive, unnecessary and counterproductive.
It's very much so appropriate for the House of Representatives to acknowledge the strength diversity has always brought to America at the same time they formally denounce Trump's bigotry in a way that is recorded in the annals of American history. It's shameful that more Republicans cannot publicly stick up for their fellow Americans and members of Congress by uniting in the condemnation of Trump's racist remarks.
11
Let’s not get swept up in the events of the past few days and make rash statements in the heat of the moment. Your 21st century Republican can be skittish and is sometimes surprisingly sensitive. We don’t want to unduly alarm them.
So choose your verbs with great precision as did the Romans.
Credo - I believe
Cognitio - I think
Suspicio - I suspect or I guess
Example:
I believe that the president is a hateful racist.
I think he should be impeached, convicted and removed from office.
I suspect Trump combs his hair with a Dust Buster.
Got it?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say.
7
Trump has so many tells of a liar, it's hard to know where to start.
Over-generalized statements, avoiding details, using "always" and "never" frequently, stalling, refusing to answer direct questions, overemphasizing their trustworthiness ("I'm the most honest person there is! I'm not a racist!"), hedging, dodging/evading, blaming others, defensiveness, manipulation... the list goes on.
Then there's the outright lying being tracked by several organizations and fact-checked daily.
Hilary's emails though...
7
Now that “what is racism” has definitively been laid out for us today by the House, the next important unanswered question is: Is there room on the Capitol Mall next to MLK’s giant statue for an even bigger one of the Squad?
2
The people who hate America
- as it is now -
Are President Trump and his followers.
This is clear by their message to make America great AGAIN.
As if we were not before.
Those who believe we were not a great nation in our particular time on Earth, are solely uneducated and willing to follow a man blindly to achieve their own individual goals.
Beware this man and his deceitful message.
6
Saying to someone "go back where you came from" is an act of overt racism. When a POTUS says this, it is act of near-criminal irresponsibility (it's very likely to spawn other acts of racism, some clearly criminal). When a large portion of the nation's population supports this racism, that is societal madness.
16
Ok. So after some politically inspired comments by these four attention grabbing luminaries Trump tells them to go back to their country. So he’s ignorant. I got it. I agree. But how is that racism? Then the House passes a resolution condemning the president as a racist. Great theatre.
5
The Grand Old Party is dead as we knew it. There is no longer a conservative party in America. The Republican Party has officially transformed into the Trumpublican Party which stands for the Rich, Nationalists, Racism and vulgarity. They voted on a resolution that condemned Trump's Tweet against four Minority Congresswomen as Racist. Well, it was blatantly racist. You can't even defend it as anything but racist. So, The House voted 240 to 187 in favor of condemning the Tweet as racist. Only four Republicans voted in favor. So, 187 of 191 Republicans apparently favor racism in America. Since the victims of this racist Tweet are all women, I'm guessing that today's Trumpublican Party also is largely anti-woman. This guy that somehow became President has dragged the good old United States into the gutter.
17
Has anyone else noticed that Trump just threw out some red meat, and changed the topic from Epstein to a topic he’s comfortable with? Of course he’s reprehensible; why do we keep taking the bait?
20
I have a great idea! If Trump doesn't like being president of both parties, he can just always step down and return to real estate!!!
15
"Go back to where you came from" must be one of the oldest and most common racist tropes there is. There's no ambiguity here. I remember someone shouting it at my mother when I was a kid in the 1960s. Why? Because she took a parking spot at the supermarket that a man thought should have gone to him. A parking space. And BTW my mother was an American citizen.
23
This confrontation in the House over condemnation of the President’s attack on the diversification of the new Democratic House members has occurred because of how civility and partisanship has been eroded by the Presidential influence on national attitudes regarding race and tribalism. Without this negative influence and the acquiescence of Congressional leadership, primarily that of the GOP, we would not have this diversion from acceptance of different groups.
17
@NOTATE REDMOND
Right, and those 4 congresswomen have been oozing with civility and partisanship.
Can we just ignore trump no matter what he says?
13
That Trump is a racist has been a matter of public record since his campaign (before?).
What continues to shock is how the Republican party has rolled over for Trump and condoned him at his most destructive. They are true accomplices by taking Trump mainstream.
I was a registered Republican until 2016, and I am not looking back. I urge those presently registered as Republicans to consider changing their registrations to Independent or Democrat in protest. Never Trump.
38
If DT loved our country he wouldnt be continuously trying to divide us.
36
Trump is so under water against any reasonable Democrat in 2020 that he needs to pick a more convenient opponent.
These four Congresswomen.
Socialism.
And anything else that his handlers come up with.
Total ruse and campaign strategy.
But, effective distraction.
Out of the blue!
And, hey, a distraction is great when the press is about to sniff out how many underage girls he and Epstein mingled with.
And worse.
22
At least history books will not be able to ignore his behavior; for ever and ever, he has been correctly labelled a racist in an official government record.
32
Trump denies his racism, claiming it is patriotic nationalism that requires him to call out "the squad". That is how his supporters see it, and that fanatic liberals are apoplectic please them no end. They enjoy seeing the "unpatriotic" left scream in agony, for the hand wringing and clothes tearing are proof they are against the country as they are against their chosen president.
Trump knows well how to keep his base alive. And he will let the economy win the middle for him. Meanwhile, the dems will quake with impotent fury, sling mud at each other, and miss the opportunity of turning this country to a different future.
5
"This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be." - Alan Turing
13
Do you really think Turing had Donald Trump in mind when he said that? I believe not; no more than Calling Trump a racist. What has happened to logic in this country?
1
I'm hoping everyone votes in the upcoming elections to remove the bigoted, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic man in the White House who says he represents "America." Because he doesn't.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
8
Let them call a spade a spade on the floor!
If those republicans can’t take the truth, they shouldn’t be allowed in the arena.
13
We now know exactly how many Republican members of the House of Representatives are decent and not racist: four. Sad.
26
I think it is very telling that Trump sees 4 women with brown or black skin and says "go back where you came from. " He simply would never have said that to 4 white women. It never would have entered his mind. Ironically Trump is only 1st generation American on his mother's.side. She came from poverty, but a white country. His grandfather came from Germany to avoid the draft. Another white country. In Trump's twisted mind as long as you are white you belong here. And if you are not white, you are an immigrant and don't belong here So please stop saying he's not a racist. He is. Big-time. And his enablers are disgusting.
31
Dear USA,
Unless you are a Native American or a descendant of a Native American your ancestry is European, Middle Eastern, African, Asian - in fact any country other than the USA.
It looks like all of you will have to go back where you came from.
Last one out, please turn off Liberty's lamp, the golden door is now closed.
24
The President responds to the hate squad with simply suggesting they go somewhere else that makes them happier and then the liberal media takes it as it's new slogan against the Trump... They are wrapped, tied, labeled, and ready for the post office thank you Trump...
5
@CoachJames
Trump didn't suggest they go to a place that makes them happier. He told them to go back to where they came from. Huge difference,because he's talking about American citizens, three of whom came from the US.
6
Imagine what will be tweeted the closer we get to the election. I don’t think this country can take much more of this ignorant nonsense.
24
The US Media, and now the US Congress, is naively promoting Donald Trump day in & day out by repeating & responding to his provocative tweets. This is exactly the same way Donald Trump played the Media in 2016 to win the Elections. It is high time the Media & Democrats realised Donald Trump’s simple ploy to set the Political Agenda again & again. The Congress & Democrats Must highlight their Alternative National Priorities & actively Work to promote their Agenda in the American People’s minds. Instead of the rigmarole of a Congress Resolution, any one of the 4 Congresswomen should have responded with a one-line zinger tweet followed by total silence to consign Donal Trump’s tweet into cold storage. Please.
6
Tell Mr. McConnell that the tone of discourse in this country took a marked dive when Donald J. Trump announced his run for the presidency by immediately calling our neighbors to the south, "rapists." Imagine, after eight years of classy governance - whether you agreed with Mr. Obama or not, he never, ever, indulged in the vile and petty meanness that Mr. Trump demonstrates daily through a dependable stream of foul tweets. Yes, Mr. McConnell is correct about the tone, but he should go all the way, blaming the tone and the content of today's often horrific discourse on the bloviator who spews this toxicity.
17
"So great to see how unified the Republican Party was on today’s vote concerning statements I made about four Democrat Congresswomen," Trump tweeted. In other words...the GOP voted to back racism. What else is new? Vote them out. Every last one of them.
23
Excellent. Now if they could do something more than a symbolic action, I might be marginally encouraged.
10
“Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, made a formal objection to the remarks, charging that they had violated the rules of decorum, which call for lawmakers to avoid impugning the motives of their colleagues or the president.” We’ve really taken a tumble down the rabbit hole. Those rules of decorum were set in place assuming that we were led by a president who respected decorum. Sadly, that hasn’t been the case since January20, 2017.
26
I'm white as white can be and I don't genuinely love my country right now. I haven't in quite a long time (since well before 45 took office). Don't forget: dissent is patriotic.
19
To dissent is to love.
Let us start with the basics: President comments are racist - period. There is no doubt about it. However, the debate and the vote is a sad reflection of the state of our country. Less than a handful of members of the party of Lincoln had the courage to support the resolution. At the same time, the Democrats led by the Speaker decide to stoop down to the President's level. Whatever happened to "you go high when they go low". Speaker Pelosi has now lost the moral high ground by her comments in the House.
Today may be the turning point in the next election. Ironically, the debate and the vote will play down very well with President's supporters and given the electoral system, we should be prepared for four more years of one party rule across all branches of government. I cry for our country and the ideals it has stood for generations. Ideals that motivated myself and millions of immigrants to make US our home. Now is it time to "go back to where we came from"?
1
Let us start with the basics: President comments are racist - period. There is no doubt about it. However, the debate and the vote is a sad reflection of the state of our country. Less than a handful of members of the party of Lincoln had the courage to support the resolution. At the same time, the Democrats led by the Speaker decide to stoop down to the President's level. Whatever happened to "you go high when they go low". Speaker Pelosi has now lost the moral high ground by her comments in the House.
Today may be the turning point in the next election. Ironically, the debate and the vote will play down very well with President's supporters and given the electoral system, we should be prepared for four more years of one party rule across all branches of government. I cry for our country and the ideals it has stood for generations. Ideals that motivated myself and millions of immigrants to make US our home. Now is it time to "go back to where we came from"?
Kellyanne Conway's cynical contribution to today's chaos was pure demagoguery, adding to the disdain she's shown by refusing to testify before the House committees. Can't the Capitol Police be empowered by the Speaker to enforce the extant subpoena, knocking on her door (like ICE does), presenting the warrant, and taking her into custody? I'm sure her husband George will help put the cuffs on his wife just for the entertainment value of her testimony — UNDER OATH.
18
What those who support Trump and his comments do not realize as stated by Robert Kennedy:
“What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.”
The arc of history is long and Trump's words will ultimately suggest his place in history, not as someone who helped America take the next step in a globally diverse world, but as someone who failed to guide the country at a complex moment. The result of which is ultimately a reduced economy as there is not an adequate infrastructure (where is our version of the bullet train of China, Japan and Korea), people die in the opoid crisis or because they cannot afford their insulin, people work two jobs to survive, climate creates a crisis across the continent, to name of few.
15
Trump's arguments are not in tandem with the true humanitarian mission of the United States.
6
"The vote on Tuesday evening was a show of unity for Democrats — who had been squabbling for weeks — and a test of Republican principles."
Yes, a test of. principles, and the Republicans failed that test miserably.
11
What Mr. Trump did was insult every person who voted to elect them to congress...I really thought there was chance that he might say he misspoke, in the follow up message.
4
Each of the four representatives are from very safe very blue districts, I’m sure he has zero concerns about the voters therein
1
I feel like loving America is a privilege these days which is why so many of us are forced to have our own reservations. Sorry, President Trump.
3
Meanwhile, the folks whose votes actually count way out in flyover country roll their eyes. They're okay with racism, it's just a fact of life. If this country is ever going to regain its sanity it will be because of leaders like Bernie Sanders that won't take the constant bait trump throws. Democrats need to retake control of the discussion away from trump and the media he plays so well. Nobody votes based on racism, they vote based on healthcare housing retirement and taxes. It would be nice if democrats could play the media game too and put this administration on the defensive about their failing policies and disgraceful performance in the recent past. We need clarity, not racist confusion and constant outrage.
7
Democrats cannot take the narrative back if they keep feeding his ego (and chances of re-election) with the likes of staging press conferences and reflexive outrage for public consumption, however much it’s genuine.
2
Doesn't anyone understand still that the moderate-tentative path sank the Democrats in 2016, and that the turnaround in 2018 was a call to move forward without fear? These 4 congresswomen have mandates from their respective districts - they are not the Chicago 7 for crying out loud.
Never have I seen so much timidity in the mainstream media and in the so-called-thoughtful GOP - where are your collective spines? Do none of you remember those who came before you - Goldwater, Wiggins, Wright, and others - who had a strong sense of ethics? Why are people on both sides of the aisle still leveraging for positions, afraid of alienating segments of the population?
There is absolutely nothing left-wing about knowing right from wrong. Sheesh!
10
I hope no one is even pretending to be surprised by Trump's racism. There's nothing new about it and "it isn't a bug, it's a feature" -- a primary feature of his political persona and his appeal to 40-plus percent of Our Fellow Americans.
Indeed, it is probably accurate to say that the Trump presidency is a *result* of the deeply-ingrained racism of 40-plus percent of our electorate. Perhaps we should be grateful to him for making the extent of that racism so utterly visible.
I wonder if there's anything we can do to change that now-undeniable reality.
9
So? What are the consequences of such a vote?
2
I don't understand something. Ever since MS. Omar has been elected she has done nothing but complained over and over about everything the USA does that's wrong.She has made many offensive remarks about the USA. She complains about being targeted because she is Muslim.Further at a time when there are so many more important issues such as health care & helping the children at the border, she & the three other women get involved in some offensive remarks( they believe are) & cause what happened today to take a lot of time away from important issue I am NOT a Trump Supporter. However what a happened today really angers me. Many times things that Ms. Omar has said are very offensive and should not have been said. To me, she is being a racists against Americans. My point is this, If you dislike America so much,if you dislike what we do here, how we live and how are Government runs why come here? Why run for Office in a Gov. that you disapprove of? Many people have been offended by Ms. Omar's remarks including myself And as I said to me, she could very well be considered a racist against Americans. Why is it OK for her to make offensive remarks against Americans all the time and nothing happens, yet when Americans express an opinion it is considered racist? Can we please concentrate on the REAL important issues now and stop hearing every single day about racism? We are reminded constantly everyday about it.it. It's time to move on. Now Lets get on with the issues..
10
To make America Great is a constant, ongoing struggle. The alternative is to turn Americans against each other, with escalating fear and inevitable collapse.
To love America is to fight for its soul. It is to respect and accept the worth of all its peoples. It is to understand that justice is the basis for social peace, and it points us towards equal treatment for all, because only when we acknowledge wrongs -- both past and present -- can we redress them, put them behind us, and build a country that is worthy of Lincoln's words:
"Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We -- even we here -- hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth."
7
@Bernard Tuchman
Thank you for this.
3
So many tactical experts commenting. How so many men can know so much is a mystery. I am glad the Speaker spoke and I apologize to those bright young Americans for my President’s behavior.
6
This was a waste of time. When they could have stayed focused on Impeachment.
2
I imagine there would be similar votes on impeachment. That's the joy of impeachment, it doesn't even need to be resolved to damage trump.
1
Any white man’s denial of the habits of racism in an overtly racist society is a tacit admission of a racist identity. Trump is not just an unexamined white man with learned habits of racism. He is intentionally racist in his actions and in his speech. Americans who remain silent in the face of this evil are abetting the crimes that will surely ensue from his deeds.
19
I think it is a given that many politicians are power hungry egotists. But it is dismaying to discover that in these fraught times none of the currently elected Republicans in the House, save four, have stood up to the president by condemning his clearly racist comments. They cannot seem to see beyond their own interests. They were elected to govern the land and its people, to put aside their egos and to propose, support and create laws and policies for the greater good. It strikes me that it is clear these politicians are only out for themselves, acting in self-serving ways, and possibly not even being true to themselves, all to gain advancement within the Republican Party and to curry favor with its putative leader.
10
I appreciate the squad. I don’t agree with everything they say or do but I’m grateful that they are speaking up. Their rhetoric is based on their experience as younger adults. We need to listen. Their world view is important. They have lived more and experienced more in their lifetime than most in this country.
20
Throw the dirty stuff in the hamper and get out the detergent.
If our machine doesn't break down there will be another laundry day in November of next year and we should get the wash done.
We can then donate the old, used, but clean clothes to charity.and get on with addressing, hopefully solving the problems of our shrinking, overpopulated planet.
5
“What has really happened here is that the president and his supporters have been forced to endure months of allegations of racism,” said Representative Dan Meuser, Republican of Pennsylvania. “This ridiculous slander does a disservice to our nation.”
Well, of course. Donald Trump can do no wrong.
Noted.
9
What Meuser is too dishonest or dense to admit is Donald Trump has earned those years (not months) of being labeled a racist.
It’s about the only thing he’s actually earned in his wastrel life—other than the disgust and disdain of people of conscience and decency.
6
So what does it mean that The House has now voted to condemn Donald Trump? Dems are united (at last), but what practical purpose does this action serve? It had to be done, Dems like me needed our leaders to stand up to this bully. Ok, good, it’s done.
But isn’t all of this obscuring the rest of the dreadful things the Trump admin is doing? Isn’t it just another smokescreen to focus the media away from his other horrible actions? Can’t we expect another smokescreen as soon as this dies down?
1
Who were the four decent Republicans who joined the motion?
7
@Isabel
They are listed about half way down in the article.
1
I believe the President and those that stand by him truly do not think the President’s comments are racist. This itself is sad and a deep fundamental concern. He lacks leadership and empathy. Unfortunately, this type of thinking creates justifications to treat “others” differently. Please call, email and write these congresspeople that this behavior does not represent America and they need to condemn this type of comments.
11
@TMR, see that's the problem here—calling, emailing, writing your reps and senators doesn't solve anything. This type of passivity is allowing the other side to destroy this country. We have to be willing to make sacrifices. We need to take to the streets. We need to have a prolonged general strike to shut this country down and bring the plutocrats to their knees. It can be done, we just have to want it and be willing to sacrifice. Some of us are ready. Are you?
4
Speaker Pelosi is a brilliant tactician. Donald Trump will go down in history as the only President to have been condemned for racism by the House of Representatives.
21
Kavanaugh hearings, redux. We show our moral outrage, they show us the door. Oh, how I wish Dems would quit stepping so eagerly into these traps!
4
@Marty No trap here. Trump hates to be disrespected, as he has a skin thinner than an onion peel. Well, Pelosi just doled it out tonight - he will go down as the only President ever condemned by resolution for racism in the US history.
And a well deserved one - and it shows that racism has no place. Even when it keeps rearing it's head.
6
Well, the die is cast and the stakes in the next election could not be clearer. We've seen this show before in the good old days of Dixie when segregationist politicians used racial animosity to whip white voters to a fever pitch, using blacks as scape goats, all the while picking the pockets of working people of all races. Trump is Bilbo, Eastland, Thurmond, Talmadge, Helms, the whole kit and caboodle of that sorry crowd, gussied up and reincarnated in the White House but echoing the ugliness that they spouted, against immigrants, brown and black people, Muslims, whoever he thinks can be used as scape goats while he fleeces those who support him most fervently along with everybody else. It's the old okey-doke, the con game, the film flam, the three card monte. Don't fall for it. Don't play by his rules. Trump must go. Those who enable his destruction by failing to oppose him must go. It's the only way to make America great again.
14
@Ncsdad: bless you have stated it most clearly of all. Some readers' comments. like yours, just deserve to be front page material and read out loud on the nightly national news.
1
I find it sickening that trump's racist tweets are now measured as variables in swing districts. rather than sharply condemn his virulent xenophobia, politicians are now either defending the indefensible (Republicans) or Democrats who gauge how the risks of offending "conservative,"meaning racists. trump and his enablers are taking this country back to the Jim Crow era. America's fatal flaw is rearing again. Expect soon more yahoo tweets followed by legislation allowing white evangelical restaurant owners to bar Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Muslims of reason of religious conviction. that's where trump is taking us
4
Of course Trump's remarks are racist and xenophobic. But he has brilliantly controlled the conversation by playing this group of 4 naive and inexperienced new people like a fiddle. He has made them the face of the Democratic Party and will continue to do this during the campaign. If they don't quiet down for a while and stop thinking that THEY are the party and the face of America, we will have Trump for another 4 years and maybe beyond.
10
To all member of congress who didn’t vote in favor of condemning Trumps' comments: to not denouncing Trump’s words means that yourself would be comfortable using the same exact words. This means that you would not oppose a class teacher using the same exact words. This means that you would not oppose your own children using the same words. The political reality that you are living in is not independent from the everyday reality most of us are living through. Where is you sense of decency?
11
I'm honestly far more disappointed in the dozens or hundreds of scared fearful hand-wringing comments from purported liberals here who seem far more concerned about the---gasp--- moderates, as if they rule the world, than actually standing up to evil and doing what is right. You can't just live for elections. You actually have to be brave and good and do stuff in between them.
7
Can we all pause the outrage long enough to laugh at that fool Trump, who didn’t even realize that 3 of the 4 women are FROM the United States? Donny was never the sharpest tool in the shed.
22
Mr. Trump (however he may perceive himself) is not "our country" and the Congresswomen about whom he is ranting are not people who "hate".
If he doesn't "have a Racist bone in his body", how else to explain his vile behavior?
Mr. Trump's behavior exposes what a weak person he is. That alone is sufficient to condemn him. House Res. 189 merely calls attention to what's there to be plainly seen.
8
The fact that the 4 congresswomen who were the subject of President Trumps misguided tweets are brown or black is irrelevant to the issue addressed. No mention was made of their ethnicity, and the attempt to label this as racist trivializes the moral weight of such a charge.
7
@RWall
agreed
@RWall
He told them to go back to the countries they came from...and three of them were born in the USA. He assumed that because they weren't white, they came from somewhere else. Isn't it interesting that he made that assumption about four women of colour?
A classic right wing strategy is the straw man. Trump says the congresswomen hate America. They have not said it at all. Put words in your opponents' mouth and then argue against it.
He more than anyone has expressed hatred of the America that is really there... not the America of Jim Crow that he seems to pine for.
15
Meanwhile, trade issues with China and Iran's antics in the Strait of Hormuz continue.
Answers to real issues escape the adults we put in office because they're all too busy name calling, walking out of meetings and working to demonstrate how bad their professionalism and manners really are.
American is stuck in finding the biggest racist and kicking out the folks that tend to our gardens and yards, clean our houses, help raise our kids, cook our meals in the back of food trucks and Mexican restaurants and do the things Americans will not do any longer.
Sticks and stones may break bones but apparently words have become nuclear weapons. What names do you think China, Russia and Iran call all of us, regardless of race, religion or where you were born? There's bigger issues that have far greater consequences and America, especially our "representatives" need to wake up, stop acting like children, get to work solving problems and the name calling. It's what you were voted in to do. Politicians nowadays spend too much time playing the blame game, blurbing on Twitter and defending their thin skins. Get over it, get to work and do something meaningful. The disfunction is beyond embarrassing on both sides of the isle, unstatesmanlike in the highest offices, immature and appalling to say the least. Lastly, while our "leaders" and "representatives" continue to be so distracted with thin skin disease and social media FOMO, the US continues driving off a cliff.
2
@Joe Taxpayer
Well said. Thanks. And important issues to keep in mind, which deserve repeating:
" Meanwhile, trade issues with China and Iran's antics in the Strait of Hormuz continue.
Answers to real issues escape the adults we put in office because they're all too busy name calling, walking out of meetings..."
Too much insensitivity, provocation, and offensiveness in this political climate.
Its not just global warming to be concerned about but political, social overheating.
Hating Trump is not the same as hating America, though he will claim that it is. Anger and often hate, is the human emotional response to the use of fear and lies being used to impose Trump's agenda.
7
Stand by for the tweet-storm to end all tweet-storms by the stable genius.
5
The Democrats need to stop picking fights over obviously incendiary actions by Trump and initiate impeachment proceedings immediately. There is nothing to be gained from their condemnation, but much to be gained by uncovering all that's been covered up.
Impeach now Nancy!
6
The prolix House Resolution properly nailed Donald Trump’s recent remarks as racist and was right to formally condemn them.
But it’s too bad that Democrats in the House cravenly avoided being equally forthright and ethical after one of their members, on more than one occasion, spouted antisemitic tropes.
To this liberal, it suggests that House Democrats vigorously oppose racist behavior, but are afraid to call out and confront antisemitism within their ranks. It’s more than disappointing.
5
"Go back to where you came from." "This is America; love it or leave it."
I can't think of any words that are more anti-American. America is NOT perfect -- our founders knew this, and knew we would always be striving to become a more perfect union. Those who are afraid of criticism and who condemn the critics are afraid of change, afraid of freedom and afraid of the promise of America. Perhaps they are the ones who should leave.
13
I wish Pelosi had described the problem of Trump's speech as one of patriotism. We do not denigrate duly elected members of Congress on the grounds of love of country. Period. Whether there are racial overtones to his statements (of course there are), or ageist and sexist ones (those too), or even political differences embedded there (again, yes), none of that matters more than preserving respect and decorum for people's right to criticize the way government serves the people.
I think this line of reasoning would be far more productive in the medium to long term.
5
"While the vote is symbolic and nonbinding, ..."
Contrast the ratio of the energy expended to generate and pass this resolution to its effectiveness and power as a statement, with the parallel ratio for Trump's tweets.
Pelosi is going to lose power if this is her idea of an answer to Trump's rhetoric. Trump doesn't care about laws, why would he even blink at this resolution?
1
Do people remember that in the 2016 election campaign when Melania's immigration was questioned? Trump said that after the election that he, and I think Melania would hold a press conference clarifying her migration for those questioning it. What happened to that? It went the way of "pre-existing" and the promised 10% tax cut for the middle class before the mid terms.
That press conference about Melania's immigration status is in the same ethereal space as the promise he made to release his own tax return.
Is Melania's parents' migration an example of chain migration?
14
I'd have preferred censure, but that'd likely not have drawn any GOP votes. But this is now indelibly stamped on history. And the vast majority of the GOP is on record with this very carefully & cleverly worded resolution. Campaign fodder going forward.
9
Speaker Pelosi,
NOW is the time (past time) to begin the impeachment inquiry. You can use Mueller's testimony next week to help save face.
It will unite and galvanize "your" caucus. Yes, it may not help out-of-touch establishment Joe Biden in the primaries. But that's just fine. Let's get going.
[And don't be afraid of Trump. Anyone you can reason with, whatever their political stripe and despite their silence, realizes Trump is unfit for office.]
9
The American people must recommit to the core attributes that made us successful as a nation: integrity, accountability, initiative, and toughness,”
Renouncing Trump is a good step in that direction.
4
What did this really accomplish? In fact, it could be considered a win for Trump based on how many Republicans stood by him with incomprehensible loyalty.
6
The POTUS's tweet may have been directed at a specific group of American citizens, but hundreds of thousands not only heard but also recalled how those words felt. They were hurtful and demeaning.
In the spirit of mutuality, I suggest that the current POTUS go back to where he came from, even though the uterus of his mother is no longer available.
3
Democrats finally agree on something in 2019! How long till the squabbling resumes and we lose focus on beating Trump in 2020 with sound policies? I give this unity 72 hours.
1
Tomorrow's outrage will outdistance today's, again and again. And when he says, "Now I am President for Life," we'll be so numbed by it all that he'll get away with it.
8
Want to end this? Donate money to challenge/unseat Mitch McConnell. Amy McGrath has a real chance to win, and at worst really make McConnell sweat it out.
Force the RNC to drain it's war chests and use up its resources protecting McConnell. Even if we lose in Kentucky, we at least divert their dwindling resources and increase Democrats odds in other states.
Amy McGrath is no lightweight. She's the real deal. Send her a few dollars to let McConnell know the storm is coming!
11
The Democrats will over play a winning hand and lose.
This is EXACTLY what Trump wanted.
Did he script it?
Hey, Democrats: take patriotism back. Call out Trump and the Republicans for their anti-Americanism. Do so at every opportunity. Call them snowflakes when they cry about the "race card."
Republicans: Stop crying about the "race card." Your party is racist. It's that simple. Have you guys ever thought that maybe we call you that for a reason? We need to start teaching children real history, including how the Republicans actively courted racists via the Southern Strategy.
22
To those who question whether "go back where you came from" is racist or not, try using the phrase tomorrow at work. Good possibility you will be out of a job by the end of the day.
47
Hey if this bigot wants to make the 2020 election about race...bring it on.
We the people of this country are NOT JUST white supremacist.
We the people are black, yellow, red, brown, off white, semites, islanders, mixed races and some are even lily white.
So if it comes down to white supremacy vs the real america, Bring it on.
23
There are about 180 sovereign nations in the world. Why is USA #1 immigration destination if it is apparently so racist and bigoted? Why do people not prefer to immigrate to those other 179 countries?
3
it is not America as a total entity that is racist, it is the leader who unfortunately uses his racism to appeal to his base. From the looks of it, the GOP is indeed racist for supporting the obvious , and our reputation is now pretty shameful.
6
Many do since Trump is trying to ruin our country.
1
@TCR
People want to come here because Trump has turned the economy around. When the economy crashed and was just limping along under Bush and Obama, there was less migration and even out migration back to mexico and poland.
Trump's cultist keep claiming "he didn't say one racist word" ... Trump's defenders need to stop pretending they don’t understand what racism is.
Everyone is free to defend racism, it's says so in the Constitution, so it’s not necessary for them to pretend that isn’t what they are doing ... but they need to "man up" and buy into it fully or stop doing do it … they can’t effectively justify it and claim he's not doing it at the same time ... that's just makes them look like idiots.
11
Pathetic that R’s cannot exhibit any shred of decency. This is no party of Lincoln.
20
Trump is a moral weakling and has always behaved like a racist.
Now Trump found cover in racism as the lesser of two evils (politically) from his association with Epstein the child rapist and his appointment of Acosta who protected the rapist from punishment.
Trump's racism is just a crude way to make people forget the photo with Epstein and wondering what were the two degenerates doing with two dozen women for a party of two men in 1992! https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/women-sent-mar-a-lago-vip-calendar-girl-party-trump-epstein.html
15
It is only racist if Trump would treat any other color different. And we all know he would not. He may just go after white men harder. This has become a racial circus.
1
Of course Trump's words were racist, unless you are a white supremacist. White Supremacist can't be racist because there is no one better then they are.
7
Telling people to leave for speaking out: Fascism
To People of color: Racism
To Women of color: Misogyny
A Trumpfecta of Hate
30
Now do the impeachment you’ve been sitting on
12
Racism is in the brain. There are no bones in the brain.
11
Is this a first of its kind?
1
The president might have said there's not a racist bone spur in his body.
17
Oh look, four Republicans have a spine.
42
By not joining the censure of Trump for his horrible racist/misogynist and anti-American comments, the Republicans have show their disdain for the Constitution, laws of this country and all non-male and all non-"white" Americans.
18
I want to “go back to my country” circa 2015 #makemypresidentblackagain
50
My wife and two daughters were all born in Africa, and immigrated to this country with me several years ago. I myself have been employed as a migrant worker in four countries. I know what it means to be told to "go back where you come from," and I know the bigotry, ill-will and irresponsible animus that resides in the hearts of people who say such things. In Trump's case, racist? Surely. White nationalist? Certainly. Anti-American? Indubitably.
58
Trump: "I don't have a racist bone in my body".
Me: "... and I first to walk on the moon, not
Neil Armstrong".
10
These women are all American citizens all but one where born in American. Telling them to “go back to their countries” is the very definition of racist. Full stop.
27
Another Trump distraction, geared to whip up traveling friends another Trump distraction, geared to whip up tribal frenzy. Democrats are taking his bait. Woe be all of us who drink DJT’s toxic Kool-Aid.
3
This is surely as surreal as American politics ever become. For the hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, speak-no-evil congressional Republicans to suddenly come to life over this!
Thousands of lies have been publicly spoken or written by this president.
Trump throws himself pep rallies where he makes the most obnoxious, ego-maniacal claims imaginable. Locks children in cages. Alienates our allies. Fawns over foreign tyrants...
And the Republicans in the house and senate have nothing to say.
A formal condemnation of the president by the Democratic-controlled house — and bedlam!
Gerty bar the door!
Why?!?
Trump is, based on his performance to date, making an awful mess of being the POTUS. He’s a train wreck, on every level. So the congressional Republicans have been very silent.
Newspapers and news magazines have printed countless articles and editorials pointing out Trump’s racism, intolerance and prejudice, his sociopathic lack of humanity and empathy, his narcissism and egotism.
THEN. Nancy Pelosi condemns Trump as the racist he is, and Trump comes unhinged! What is that?!?
And why have the comatose Reublicans suddenly come to their feet?
Sen. Graham is using the “c”-word!!
What is happening?
The 2020 election is still 16 months away, off in the future.
I sure don’t know the answers to the questions I’ve posed in this comment, but prople who believe they can predict something that far in the future are hard to take seriously. The answer is not just the 2020 election.
11
Bravo! Perfectly stated. We've got to convince Americans of the devastating, almost irrecoverable harm he has done. The gaslighting has been so hard to endure. This shameless administration uses gaslighting in a way I never thought possible. The dishonesty, brutality, and arrogance are staggering and deeply depressing. Almost everything Trump has done has been so much worse than I thought possible.
5
We are playing into his hands; and in many ways re-electing this racist. My party, the democratic one that is, has figured out a way to elect a misogynist, racist, anti-intellectual, anti-democratic, anti-ethical (I suppose unethical but I was being poetic) orange madman. I surrender....welcome to the fall of Rome, or the United States (really the same difference).
3
Good job, Nancy. Now how about doing the same thing but with impeachment. You know, something that MATTERS.
7
This matters. It matters a lot. And I do want him impeached. So clear a case as has ever been for impeachment. But I also believe he has committed serious crimes and is fighting hard to not allow the evidence to surface.
I call her Speaker Pelosi. She's earned it. She doesn't need this job. She is good at it, and she cares deeply about helping those disenfranchised, and doing what is right for this country. Deep in her bones.
8
The most disgusting part of this story was Rep. Dan Meuser's attempt to turn trump into the VICTIM of months of racist allegations. The only way people like him can sleep at night is that they are as despicable as the president himself.
26
When will this insanity stop? The country created
by this president isn’t recognizable. It’s pure hate.
24
Donald Trump has said far worse publicly about the United States than any of these women have and has publicly sided with our hostile foreign countries. He’s the traitor.
36
But Donald says he doesn’t have a racist bone in his body! Will someone please explain to our President, racism is not a bone.
15
The article failed to mention about half of the "whereas" section of the resolution consists of lengthy quotations from the last presidential speech given by that flaming socialist anti-American ... RONALD REAGAN.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/read-full-text-house-resolution-condemning-trump-s-racist-comments-n1030281
2
Sadly Trump’s racist tweets simply endear him to his supporters, who revel in his unconventional, unpredictable behavior, who see him as the defender of white America against the overwhelming horde of immigrants storming our borders.
7
Our politicians are all rotten, all the time - it's a "cross party" thing. Trump may be the poster boy for a rotten politician, but the others are not far behind.
What good does "The Squad" accomplish? What concrete thing have they done? Just fresh faces at the same game.
3
Not an AOC fan, and far less a fan of Trumpy.
@Peter Zenger How odd - I said the same thing the same thing about the tea party.
1
What good? The squad forced congress to show their cards. Every time they poke the bear more fleas jump out
1
I don't necessarily agree with the Squad's policy goals or tactics. But for the president to tell 4 congresswoman of color to go back where they came from sounds more like ethnic cleansing than liberty and justice for all. It was a racist statement, and all but a few members of the racist GOP refused to condemn our racist president, arguing instead that they're tired of being called racist just because they're racist. I shudder to think of the racist constituents that see eye to eye with all of these racist politicians. Sorry if I haven't made myself clear.
25
So what was going on while you were distracted with this?
10
I am a brown person. I have met many people in America who I knew wanted me to go back to my home country. If Trump is saying this to a lawmaker, a democratically elected entity, I am much far below on the social ladder. What will stop anyone in authority to expel me from United States even though I am a permanent resident (or citizen in near future) and have been a contributing member of the society for the last 15 years?
Americans: Is this what you want your country to become? You can't hide behind any face saving excuse like a one issue voter now. Either you are racist and xenophobic, or you are not. Pick your side and vote wisely in 2020. My 15 years of taxation without a voice demand that you make the conscionable choice you will be able to live with for the rest of your life.
39
This is the correct optic. If it happens up there, it will happen down here. Guaranteed.
1
It's odd that some people are calling Trump a racist as it's some new found discover.
He won the election because his IS a racist. That's his base. The Klan, NRA, GOP. And his racism is even backed by some Catholics and the extremist Evangelicals.
Unfortunately I not going to believe even now that this will make more Democrats to go out and vote Nov. 2020. That's the problem. Waking up those voters.
34
It’s not waking us Dems up. It’s getting us to stop being babies and support whoever the eventual nominee is. My guess is the “progressives” will sit on their hands unless Bernie or Warren is the nominee.
4
Trump's comments were crude, insensitive and deplorable. Racist? Not so sure. But thank goodness, I mean really thank goodness, the squad never says anything crude or insensitive. You know like 9/11 was just something some people did. Or references to concentration camps. Thank goodness the far left is completely blameless in this respect.
13
I think maybe the Democrats were played.
9
After all the belly aching and complaining Trump and the Republicans did while Barack Obama was president to include claiming he was not really a U.S. citizen, how many times did President Obama tell them if they were so unhappy, if they didn't like it, leave? We all know the answer. Never. Only the most hypocritical people would be standing up for Trump's remarks to the four U.S. Congress women who dare to be critical of this pathetic man posing as a president.
33
About time the House started to take steps! Go for it Dems! get started...better late than never.
19
The photo of Trump holding up a picture of Rep. Ilhan Omar, with its accompanying the article, shows cabinet members grinning, and that simply says a great deal about the ethics of this administration. What do you laugh at?
19
the worst, and most on American by words and action, us elected official is Mitch McConnell! The defense department, the NSA, and general Richard Clarke all point this out because the bipartisan bill passed through the house last year and again this year to secure Federal elections and give millions of dollars to local counties to secure from Russian and Iranian and Saudi Arabian hacking and two are us local and federal elections. Mitch McConnell refuses to bring it for a vote in the senate three different times! this is filthy, atrocious, and un-american!
21
Trump is a known racist and additional condemnation will not make him a lesser one. The more important question, Democrats need to ask themselves is "Why and how a known racist can be elected into the highest office of this country?". The answer is because the Democrats often forget that they, like the GOPs, also live in an alternative universe on the left side.
It is in the records, cannot be erased.
Great! Nancy Pelosi is capable of doing something, unlike her Republican colleagues. May I suggest impeachment hearings to begin now?
10
By his actions, throughout his business life, and since he became President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has repeatedly shown the world that he is a racist, he is xenophobic, he is misogynistic, and he has engaged in criminal activities, including the kind of criminal activities which, in my opinion, and the opinion of millions upon millions of Americans, criminal activities which while not yet determined to be treason, by an authority having the power to determine so, they are in fact treason.
And contrary to the following statement, by Dan Meuser, Republican representative for Pennsylvania - "What has really happened here is that the president and his supporters have been forced to endure months of allegations of racism. This ridiculous slander does a disservice to our nation.”
In actual fact, as evidenced in the incessant twittering of Donald Trump, every single utterance on Twitter, and elsewhere, proves that his racism is every bit as vicious and evil as the hatred which owned the souls of those slave owners who not only believed in their "right" to own human beings, but also in their right to buy, sell, and rape them at will.
The Trump creature and his Republican partners and protectors are wholly fixated on undoing all decency in America, and whomever can't see that is willfully avoiding seeing it, which speaks volumes about their own sad existence.
14
Dear GOP
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionists.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
Pastor Martin neimoller.
14
Let me get this clear. Most Republicans did not argue that this man's rhetoric was despicable but that it was a lack of decorum to call him out on it? Decorum? Mentioned in the same sentence as Donald Trump? And Mr. McConnell, if this pearl of a tweet didn't prove that Trump is a racist, what will? Go back to where you came from? Really?
26
The right thing to is to condemn the president. Even better would be to tell him to go back home to
Russia, Scotland and Germany and fix the mess he made there.
11
This is what America is about - impassioned public debate.
I'm very happy that this vote took place, as well as the spirited discussion on the floor. The more the Republicans stand by the unconscionable actions of their Dear Leader, the more we can get to the bottom of what our country is about, and going to be about in 2020. I don't believe the majority of the country is racist, but it has now become clear that a large minority is.
The comments in this section which deny that these tweets were racist are a good reflection of a substantial part of the electorate who apparently don't realize how xenophobic, narrow-minded, and full of hate the president, and by extension, they themselves are. They cannot conceive that such comments can hurt people. Is this sociopathic behavior, or simply deep ignorance?
A bit of both, I suppose.
12
In poly sci class today (11 grade) my teacher explained that politically you are either a democrat or a racist, there is no third option. Those are the only 2 true political parties as there apparently has never been a viable third party. So, if you are not a democrat then you are in the other republican (racist) party but the good news is the choice is yours. We all agreed, and can't understand why this is still being discussed,we rather should accept and figure out what to do for the future. One option discussed today was deviding the country into 2 separate but economically closely tied nations and most of us feel this is the right thing to do probably the east and west coast will be one nation and the middle of the country the other. Do others agree or have a better solution? (It's a homework assignment)
3
Your ‘teacher’ did you a disservice.
My 11th grade teachers decades ago would tell us to take the opposite point from our personal opinion, research it, and defend it.
(Your ‘teacher,’ by the way, is grossly unprofessional in his/her approach but indoctrination is the name of the game in so-called ‘progressive’ circles.)
3
@DJ
It is a fabulous idea. As in divorce everything will be better.
Arguing is really bad for the kids. And right now the kids, that's the rest of us, are not doing well.
I have often contemplated the geographic feasibility of this dilemma. Let's do it!
@DJ I loathe Trump and all that he stands for, but a school teacher has no business pushing partisan politics on a roomful of 11th graders.
This is a nation of out of the closet Racist & Xenophobic people, and their elected representatives are not afraid to show it.
Their Leader is nothing but a little man from Queens, NY, that never has or will ever have the emotional intelligence to lead.
He thrives within his own created poorly scripted narrative. He is an Agent of Chaos, Narcissism, Segregation, Division, Negativity, Hate, Ignorance and a myriad of other words.
I find myself crying when I read the things he says and how his followers agree with him. I'm incredibly saddened and embarrassed. The Sociological and Psychological damage being inflicted on this country and others around the world will take years to fix.
And the reality is that many of the issues will never be fixed.
10
So if President Obama told Mitch McConnell’s non American born wife that she “should go back to where she came from” that wouldn’t be racist. Since Mitch McConnell thinks it’s not racist for Trump to tell American born women of color, who are sitting members of Congress, to “go back where they came from”. Right?
Trump, McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and William Barr, don’t believe in democracy, the Voting Rights Act, Article 1 powers, fair treatment under the law, being accountable, or even telling the truth. Considering how McConnell treated Obama from day one thru his final year, it appears McConnell doesn’t even believe in elections.
We are living in a time of great peril. All four of these men are unfit for office, as are all those who enable them, cover for them, and then help them to pack the federal courts with incompetent loyalists so that Republicans can continue to inflict their corrupt and damaging policies on the rest of us. Now made all the easier since John Roberts gave the green light on gerrymandering. Republicans have successfully rigged state elections for years now, in which a minority of the vote gets them the majority of the seats. By definition minority rule is undemocratic. And republicans are just fine with that.
19
My favorite word in the entire article is "unprecedented ."
After 3 yrs of watching Trump's "unprecedented" rule-breaking, I have no problem with the " unprecedented " act of Madam Secretary and the House passing a resolution to condemn his racist tweets.
20
I don't understand how can anyone say that the tweet was racist. It makes no sense to me.
Just because the people to whom it was directed were not white, it doesn't mean the comment is racist.
The fact that they or their families came from other countries, also doesn't make the tweet racist. For it to be racist, he would have to say that the people from those countries are not wellcome, but he only talked about those specific individuals (not their entire race or ethnicity).
The point of the tweet was not to attack them because of their race or ethnicity, but because they hate the country.
5
@dcfan, huh. Please cite your sources. None of these representatives have said that they hate our country.
Donald Trump claimed that they did so.
7
To say “go back where you came from” is a means of “othering.” It is saying “you are different from me, you are not from here, and you are not wanted here.” It’s an expression that has been hurled in hate at immigrants, or people who appear to be immigrants, for generations. Even though three of the four representatives were born in the US and all four are American citizens, all four are also women of color. It’s impossible to conclude that this was not a racist statement.
Also: Criticizing your leaders and your country is the highest form of patriotism. Saying that people who speak out against their leaders “hate their country” is not only untrue; it’s also jingoistic and dangerous.
7
@dcfan Are you a person of color? Were you born outside of this country? Are you a naturalized citizen or did you obtain your citizenship merely by dint of being born in the US? Have you ever had someone tell you to "go back to your country"?
Because if you are any of the above then you would clearly understand why it is a racist statement. I or my family members have experienced this and we've been US citizens for almost 4 decades. We've also worked and consulted for the federal gov't, in my father's case he had military clearance and worked on defense missiles/ satellites. Yet to Trump and his supporters, they would judge us first by a appearance rather than our citizenship status or contributions to this country.
Also, critiquing the country does not mean they "hate" it.
2
The President of the US inciting violence is not good idea.
We are inching closer to civil war all over again.
I wonder if Trump will use his "bone spur" excuse to sit this one out too.
10
Trump is completely destructive to our nation and to an increasingly fragile coalition of democractic countries, because he breaks all societal norms, shatters conventional protocols, treaties, relationships and corrupts established institutions with his relentless and childish attacks on his critics. With his "divide and conquer" survival strategy, and ceaseless lying, the world is in far greater peril than we might have imagined.
10
While immigration, the value, and the strength of new American citizens is a very important ‘issue’, as are many significant ‘issues’, like racism, political deceit, vast inequality, wars, and other predations, the seminal meta-causal and coherent founding of American from 1776 up until today, and for all future perfection of American democracy (for itself and for all hopeful and progressive Americans) will always be a people’s peaceful Revolutionary focus and commitment to overcome the deadly ‘disease to Republics’ (and democratic Republics) which our founders recognized as Empire, Imperialist pretensions, and Emperors, who would bend or distort democracy back into the long and dangerous polar opposite of democracy, which in “Common Sense” and plain-speaking is simply called Empire.
3
How low can the Republicans go? Is there any shameful behavior in which they will not engage and or endorse?
5
@Lee Siegel Apparently not nearly as low as the no class dems have.
1
"The highly unusual measure passed nearly along party lines, 240 to 187, after one of the most polarizing exchanges on the House floor in recent times. Only four Republicans and the House’s lone independent, Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, voted with all Democrats to condemn the president."
Is this a mistake? house.gov recorded 233 yeas and 190 nays, entirely party line + Amash voting nay as well.
1
@Miles I think I was looking at the vote on whether to proceed from earlier in the day. I guess the votes on the actual issue have yet to be recorded.
1
Shame on Republicans. They can not stand up to Trump due to the fear of not being re-elected. There is no statement ship left just worry about tomorrow not the next generation.
7
Articles of Impeachment have just been introduced against Trump. But will Republicans get on board? I doubt it. If Clinton could be impeached for lying about a consensual sexual act this president should certainly be impeached for his over 2,000 lies, his degrading our Constitution, his buddy buddy relationship with Putin, and numerous other things. Our country will slide if he is not impeached. I do not like Pence because he insists there is no separation of church and state which is contrary to how our country was founded but can he be worse? I doubt it..
4
BRING IT ON GOP! if you believe and have factual evidence that any of these four congresswoman said anything anti-American or had any actions against America and their constituents, Bring It On! Bring on your own resolution to censure these women, which is reminder they were censured as a whole to not use unprofessional words, and profanity. So that was done in past a year ago. And they have never violated that censure since.
6
Just listening to the NPR story on Judge Stevens...was the only way for the GOP to win power making our politics a blood sport and playing up racial animosities? GOP, after you make the public sour in pursuit of power, non-whites ARE STILL HERE. What did you accomplish for the future? Sure, it got you elected but what use is being captain of a foundering boat? The GOP has been a disaster for the country for decades.
13
Sad days and times for the United States. It's sad to see the President intentionally do this to rile up his base and also cause divisiveness. I do believe that Trump is smart enough to make his tweets both be taken as racially offensive while also can be defendable by his base. In fact, this makes it even worse. It would be one thing if he were just stupid and ignorantly doing this, but he is intentionally causing divisiveness among americans. Who does this benefit? Yes, short term prize is he's protecting himself or sees himself as protecting his base in the election, to get reelected. However, long term...in my opinion this is creating the perfect oppurtunity for a foreign power to step in and act on this. Take advantage of our own bitter war amongst ourselves. While we are brawling like children in the playground...what threat lurks outside that we aren't watchin gand should be preparing for?
11
I am so proud of the language of this resolution; I am so proud of the quotes that were chosen to represent the ideas the resolution expresses. This language—in such complete contrast to the Trump’s words—captures the best of who we are as Americans and what country can be.
19
So quick to condemn the President's remarks as hateful, yet so unable to condemn hateful words from within their own ranks! I cannot recall a more hypocritical, empty gesture. This proves that the Democrats are as far gone as the Republicans when it comes to partisan theatrics. I predict that we will see members of both parties thrown out of office when the American people finally tire of all of this extremist political vitriol.
7
I don't remember Dems told American citizens to go back to their original countries. Did I miss something?
2
I would like to know, what exactly, the Republicans do see as racist. So far as I can tell, their definition of racism is “when people hold us accountable for our bad behavior”.
17
We have passed Brown v. Board, civil rights acts, fair housing legislation, equal opportunity legislation and legislation about hate crimes, all to fight racism. Now, we are name calling. How far we have fallen.
4
Sad to see being respectful and having decency has to do with bipartisan.
3
The "debate" brought into focus for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear that the "representatives" of the "people" embrace two opposed visions of America. May those who embrace inclusion find a way to bring those who embrace exclusion to understand that life in America is to be open and open-ended, not closed, and not a zero sum game.
6
Is this the feel-good vote of 2019?
This reminds me of Woodstock.
I can feel the love
3
Trump says Democrats hate America. As with all things Trump, the truth is 180 degrees from his mouth.
Truly, Trump hates the United States of America. He sells out this country to the dictators. He punishes the working class by raising their taxes. He destroys alliances with long-term, reliable friends such as Britain, France, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Canada. His so-called tariffs (additional taxes on American consumers) has virtually destroyed farming and its related industries. He has most of the executive departments in tatters, certainly the Justice Department, Defense Department, State Department, Interior.
Trump wants to destroy the United States of America and hand over its ashes to the dictators.
25
The most important statement of the day, not part of the actual condemnation, but very important nonetheless: "Trump is not fit to be President."
20
The electorate in this country had better discard the surprise (shock) of the result of the 2016 presidential election. Shake off the numbing affect of the repeated carnival activity coming out of the White House these past 2+ years.
The corrosive behavior emanating from this White House is real and is damaging to our country on a variety of levels on a daily basis. The selection of Mr. Trump as president may well prove to be one of the biggest political mistakes our system of government has ever produced. It calls out for nothing less than sensible adult participation in order to correct it. With all due urgency.
Time to wake up folks.
10
Along with belief in science, respect for the truth, and commitment to democracy, add common decency to the list of values that break along partisan lines.
13
This reminds me of the "love it or leave it" rhetoric of the Vietnam or Iraq wars. If you voiced dissent from the government's position, you weren't "supporting our troops." I never believed that criticizing policies that were killing our youngest and finest was not supportive of them. The young politicians being insulted by Trump, while certainly at the left edge of politics, are simply trying to call out the wrongs being perpetrated by our government in our names. If they didn't love this country, they would never have gone into politics, particularly at this difficult time, and are only trying to right the injustices so glaringly apparent in our system. Their language may be strong because moderation has resulted in our current morass.
22
@Bob Well said. Thank you.
1
"For their part, Republicans took to the floor not to defend the president’s remarks but to condemn Democrats for what they called a breach of decorum for calling Mr. Trump out."
This is known as "clutching their pearls".
19
It looks like the Germanic and Teutonic rudeness runs deep in the personality of Trump. He is far being a good American adopted to the culture of this country based on tolerance and diversity.
6
And the GOP continues to march to the tune of "Party Above Country", with Mr. McConnell as drum major.
17
In future, health insurance companies in the US will not cover spiral surgery for the majority of Republicans because lack of backbone will be deemed a pre-existing condition after today's vote in the House.
12
There shave been arguments made elsewhere that the Democrats should not play Trump’s game BUT
The resolution tells the Squad that Democrats are united and an attack against four is an attack against all
And for those voters who stayed home in 2016 thinking there was no difference between candidates and parties that, oh yes there is.
And there is a line that not even Trump, the bulls can cross. Think Joe McCarthy and the Army hearings.
4
Pelosi wins. The Squad won't forget who had their backs when Trump attacked, and more importantly, who had the power and experience to make it work. Now will you listen to her? She's on your side.
27
Why is it that the Republicans in Trump's administration do not know how to answer simple questions like "do you think Trump's tweets are racist?", with simple "yes" or "no" responses? McConnell went all the way around the world to talk about his wife and "legal" immigration. What exactly was his point? Then he concludes with "Trump is not a racist.", as if that is all intellectually ethical people need to hear in order to believe Trump's gaslighting? Democrats have not been "squabbling" among themselves as this article maintains but have been moving forward the peoples business, as their jobs demand. Perhaps Trump should stop abusing our taxes by playing GOLF all week and tweeting all day and pick up a 700 to 1000 Lexile leveled manual to learn his reason for being at 1600? And while he is at it, he should look at the demographic makeup of our nation's people and their children to learn that we are all a rainbow.
3
"They can leave our country." Why isn't this their country too? So when Trump criticizes America, where should we send him? If that doesn't clarify it for what it is, I don't know what will.
14
In my dreams, every person of color and/or recent immigrants to this country would go on a one day strike. This country literally can not function without them - whether doctors, scientists, and IT professionals or police, firefighters, nursing home aides, farm workers, restaurant and construction workers, to name a few. This country is a nation of immigrants and it is time that we reminded Trump, Stephen Miller, Mitch McConnell, and the Republican Party of the extraordinary contributions such people make every single day. Trump’s record of vicious racial and ethnic slurs in the past and especially this week cannot be ignored any longer.
15
@J. Does that mean we can deport the illegal criminals?
If the Democrats don’t steer around all this identity politics and get back to health care, jobs and other kitchen-table issues, they will lose the election in 2020. If they allow Trump to keep them riled up and in a state of disarray, what does that say to the voters?
This is only the beginning of the campaign, and he’s already let all the air out of their balloon. They must find a strategy to deal with this. Perhaps some kind of benign neglect, where they simply do not respond to his taunts. It would require an enormous amount of personal and party discipline, and Madam Speaker would have to control her temper.
Likewise, the four "Squad" members would have to be uncharacteristically quiet for awhile. The stakes couldn’t be higher. If the Democrats lose next year, all the pious hopes of these young women will come to nought.
7
@Ron Cohen Maybe the dems could drop the double standard and the resultant faux outrage.
I strongly support the House’s resolution condemning the president’s racist language. And yet, it was just days ago that AOC and the Squad implied that Speaker Pelosi’s actions had racist implications. The juxtaposition of the president’s bigotry and the speaker’s moral clarity could not be clearer tonight. And with the benefit of this clarity, the squad would do well to direct its energies toward more productive, less self-serving (and less self-destructive), political action.
7
Good for the House. Pelosi, AOC and the others have a right to squabble over the Democrats' proper positions and tactics. It's called being a political party. Trump's rant is something else. It's about stoking fear and division and has no place in decent society.
The real irony of all of this, to my progressive eyes, is that Trump would never tell a descendant of Swedish, German, or Norwegian immigrants to "go back and fix the problems in their own country" -- not only because he doesn't see white people as foreigners, but because Sweden, Germany and Norway are widely viewed as being successful, stable countries with a solid middle class. And why are they so successful and stable? Because they have adopted exactly the same policies that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is proposing.
24
I am curious about the apparent pivot in the Trump message from "I am very worried about illegal immigration" and there fore will do everything I can against Muslims and Mexicans from elsewhere to the current I will do anything I can against people of black or brown skin even if US citizens.Its not as if any such people voted for him before, and not as if any of his base will find his current views over the top. thus, it may indeed be a winning strategy. However, it could be political danger for him are if something goes wrong, some violence clearly driven by his tweets. I also just saw the video of Kelly Anne asking a reporter what his "ethnicity" is. She then offered that hers was OK, Irish and Scottish, apparently acceptable to white supremacists. Anderson Cooper said the reporters name was Friedman, although I dont know if she knew that. Is this a scary escalation toward frank white supremacy? Her question reminded me of the news report that white supremacists are flocking to DNA sites, and yes, Irish, Norwegian, German and Scottish ancestry seem to be OK.
6
@WHM
Wow, more misrepresentation.
Ms Conway reported her ethnicity as Italian and Irish.
Incidentally, these two groups endured plenty of hardship over the centuries, irrespective of their skin complexion. But they worked hard and integrated and.....
1
The way thing are going, Russia, China, Iran and North Korea will soon have our president for lunch. Very sad.
Disclaimer: My wife and I frequented the Trump Taj Mahal "Sultan's Feast" buffet dozen of times when we had a condo on the Jersey Shore. Trump's Alaska king crabs were huge, delicious and AYCE! It made me sad to learn, years later, that Mr. Trump bankrupted many subcontractors who built the Taj and underpaid thousands of Black Atlantic City casino workers in order to subsidize our sumptuous meals.
6
Nancy Pelosi is a rather brilliant strategist, isn't she? She just forced the Republican party to show us exactly who they are.
10
@KFree Not so brilliant, as she's been showing us what the dems are for quite some time, and it's not pretty.
Can't you say whatever you want as long as it's not slander or directly endangering anyone based on the First Amendment?
His rants can certainly be claimed in court as opinions.
Does anyone actually think members of Congress and other two branches haven't used foul, hateful language before? It's just now we have all their Twitter feeds in writing.
Now it's certainly tasteless, and almost political suicide, but not illegal.
1
To my knowledge, no one has claimed it is illegal. It is behavior that is beneath the Office of the Presidency.
3
Standing on the House floor to defend Donald Trump's behavior must surely be the low point of a political career.
14
Shakespeare could see through such behavior long ago
The Republicans know Trump's statement directed to 4 women of color was racist. But they are afraid to stand up for what is right. So, they are over the top in trying to blame the victims and those who stand up for them to avoid going on record and to divert attention from their shameful behavior.
6
Trump and his allies believe that sowing the seeds of racial tension will deflect attention from his failings. His language is insulting to our collective intelligence as he seeks to distract his followers from the (thankfully) unfulfilled promises he makes. He damages our relations with other countries by unilaterally revoking our commitments in treaty after treaty. He gets high on his own bombast, his ability to get away with behavior unbecoming of any principled person. I'm glad Speaker Pelosi takes him to task when he is clearly trying to provoke the nation with his irrational handling of the reins of power. My fervent desire is to see him booted from Pennsylvania Ave and to fade away to obscurity. He will go down as one of the most corrupt and viscous presidents in our history.
12
"Methinks thou dost protest too much"
Shakespeare could see through such behavior long ago
The Republicans know Trump's statement directed to 4 women of color was racist. But they are afraid to stand up for what is right. So, they are over the top in trying to blame the victims and those who stand up for them to avoid going on record and to divert attention from their shameful behavior.
Well, they are on record now supporting racist statements.
12
I dislike even thinking this, but I think Trump "won" tonight. He succeeded in making this an "us" versus "them" fight. In doing so he has further strengthened his grip on the Republican party, drove the wedge between Americans deeper, and totally changed the definition of what at least Republicans consider "racism". We're going to have a hard and long time reversing this.
4
Well, of course Trump is racist. He knows his constituency--white, rural, and afraid--and he plays them like a fiddle. They not only agree with Trump, but view him as their champion, and they'll vote for him in 2020. As he continues to play the race and fear cards over the next 15 months, there will be enough undecided (and not terribly sophisticated) voters who will fall for his sad tropes that Trump will be re-elected. Good luck to all of us. We'll need it.
6
There is nothing excusable about Trump's comment. Nothing at all. That being said. Did the House really waste a vote to decide whether or not it was racist? Any primate with access to a dictionary knows that it was racist AND that the remark was made to silence people who disagreed with him. Why wasn't the House voting for something like how to give more funding to the Congo to combat their new Ebola epidemic? Media attention needs to focus on something more than affirming what we already know. Trump is racist and not qualified to rule a business, let alone a country.
8
Better Idea...... he needs to leave all the Republican Party less 4 who have courage to speak against him.
Yes...?
No....?
The next vote/count REALLY MATTERS.
3
As much as we need to call out Trump for his racism, we must also recognize that this is part of his strategy to divide our country and to divert our attention from the outrageous damage he is doing to our government institutions, civil discourse, and our standing in the world.
Woe is us!
7
When will Congress condemn him for his lies?
12
That’s a trickier thing because what we know of as lies, he claims are just his opinion.
2
We all know the tweets were not racist.
They were insensitive and stupid.
Calling them racist belittles actual racism.
6
@Mel That ship has already sailed. Everyone is racist, so no one is racist.
1
When someone told me to go back to the crime infested place from which I came from, even though I lived my whole live in this country, I would surely think this person is a racist. I wouldn’t just think he’s being insensitive. And those words didn’t come from anyone, but from the president of the USA himself.
1
@Vincent Ojeda The statement was but not racist. Words needs to have meaning. You might may feel he is a racist but my that statement isn’t racist.
1
Trump would rather have people talking about whether he is a racist than whether he is a pedophile. Well played.
13
There may not be any racist bones in DJT's body, but there are clearly lots of racist thoughts in his head.
13
Thankfully we have moved on from 'I'm not calling you a racist but racists are calling you a racist."
Long overdue but welcomed nonetheless.
2
If you have to state that you do not have a racist bone in your body, you are probably a racist. Your words and/or actions convey who you are and hint, hint, suggesting that any person of color go back to the country of their family's origin is racist. I doubt that the president ever said that to a person of Caucasian heritage. By the way, other Caucasians saying you aren't racist doesn't count. It is how persons of color take your words and actions that matter. We shouldn't need to have this conversation in 2019. Sad. Sad. Sad.
10
Republicans you must step up. It is unequivocal at this point he is a racist.
You can’t support a raging racist and not be a racist.
Lindsey listen to yourself.
Graham: Trump a 'race-baiting, xenophobic religious ... - CNN
https://youtu.be/2bkDykGhM8c
10
Racist Republican Congressmen, Go Home! You will never progress in House or the Senate from this point on. Forget even thinking about a governorship or a presidency. You just voted yourself out. Cohen predicted you would.
11
Trump may not have a racist bone in his body, but he has a racist mouth.
11
Vote out trump
Vote out mcConnell
Vote out every hypocritical republican who has not stood up to this racist president.
Use your vote, use your voice and let’s end this
13
America is a nation of no color, no religion, no ethnicity. We are a people that support all that wish to be with us. That is what makes us great.
The rest just sickens me.
10
@Greensteel
That is not true . More and more people are separating themselves on the basis of racial identity. The 4 Congresswomen referenced in this article identify themselves as Women of Color. Black Lives Matter is a group focused on racial identity . There are right wing groups that get to focus on their skin color. Sadly we are pairing off into our own little groups and that America you described has all but disappeared . Racism is pervasive among all groups. However some will not admit it
4
"Racist" isn't the right word to describe Trump's comments and thinking.
It's worse.
It's "blood and soilist". Meaning, only people of a certain bloodline are considered Americans. Who gets to decide that bloodline? Whoever is in power? And when the Democrats are in power do they decide the bloodline?
We need a term for "blood and soilist" that is a real word - help me out NYT readers. It's not nationalist. It's not white supremacist. It's not racist. It's what the Nazis thought - only those of German bloodline could remain. What's the term, please? Stop using racist because it isn't accurate. It's far worse.
11
@Djt There is Lebensraum which essentially meant living space and validated Germany taking lands for their expansion. There is also eugenics which moves toward the philosophy of a master race. All of this was based on the belief of one right race and country. Disgusting we're even having this discussion in the US in 2019 due to our president. Disgusting.
3
@Djt
>What's the term, please?<
I think the term you are looking for is Aryan (or Aryanism to name the doctrine). See explanations here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race