Jessica Tarlov blasts Trump's 'racist tweet storm' against progressive Democratic congresswomen
Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov calls Trump's tweet telling progressive Democratic congresswomen to 'go back' to where they originally came from 'disgusting' and 'the next round of birtherism.'
Former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, one of President Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, has called on others in his party to condemn the president’s recent controversial comments about several Democratic congresswomen.
Flake, who left office earlier this year after deciding not to seek re-election, slammed Trump’s “vile and offensive” tweets calling on Democratic congresswomen to "go back" to where they came from -- even though all but one of his apparent intended targets were born in America.
“I’ve often said that Republican elected officials can’t be expected to respond to every comment by the President. But there are times when the President's comments are so vile and offensive that it is incumbent on Republicans to respond and condemn. This is one of those times,” Flake tweeted Monday.
Flake has been a frequent critic of the president’s and previously called on a Republican to challenge Trump in 2020.
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“I hope somebody does [run], just to remind Republicans what it means to be conservative and what it means to be decent. We’ve got to bring that back,” Flake said last November.
“You can whip up the base for a cycle or two, but it wears thin. Anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy.
Meanwhile, Trump doubled down on his controversial comments on Monday, calling on the Democratic lawmakers targeted in his tweets to "apologize" while also chastising the party for defending them.
"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 and disgusting actions."
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He continued: "If Democrats want to unite around the foul language & racist hatred spewed from the mouths and actions of these very unpopular & unrepresentative Congresswomen, it will be interesting to see how it plays out. I can tell you that they have made Israel feel abandoned by the U.S."
Infighting between the Democratic establishment led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and young progressives led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., effectively paused Sunday when they united to condemn the president's Twitter broadside as racist. The offending tweets had said "Democrat Congresswomen" should go back and fix the "corrupt" and "crime infested places" they came from and then "come back and show us how it's done."
Those women, Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., had recently been at odds with Pelosi, with Ocasio-Cortez accusing the speaker of targeting young women of color in Congress with dismissive comments she made in a New York Times interview.
But Pelosi came to their defense after Trump's tweets.
"When @realDonaldTrump tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to 'Make America Great Again' has always been about making America white again," she tweeted Sunday. "Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power."
Ocasio-Cortez also wrote Monday: "It’s important to note that the President’s words yday, telling four American Congresswomen of color 'go back to your own country,' is hallmark language of white supremacists. Trump feels comfortable leading the GOP into outright racism, and that should concern all Americans."
Of the four freshmen, only Omar was born outside the United States.
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