For the third time in two days President Donald Trump took aim at a quartet of progressive congresswomen, demanding on Monday that they apologize to the country for “foul language” and “terrible things they have said.”
Trump did not mention any lawmakers by name but appeared to be referring to a group of lawmakers that include Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
“When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said,” Trump tweeted Monday.
“So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions!” he added.
When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said. So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 15, 2019
A day earlier, Trump touched off an uproar when he tweeted that a group of progressive congresswomen should“go back” and try to fix the “crime infested places” they “originally came from” before telling the U.S. government how to handle its problems.
Then, after his comments were denounced as racist, he doubled down.
“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,” Trump wrote in a series of three tweets.
Only one of the four congresswomen Trump appeared to be referencing was born outside the U.S.
Tlaib, a Palestinian American, was born in Michigan; Omar, a Somali refugee, moved to the United States when she was 12 and is a naturalized U.S. citizen; Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Latin-American descent, was born in New York; and Pressley, who is African American, was born in Cincinnati.
All four responded to the president on Twitter, and other congressional Democrats quickly, as well as several presidential candidates, condemned the tweets as well.
Apparently in response, the president tweeted Sunday night that it was “so sad” that Democrats were “sticking up for people who speak so badly of our Country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion.”