US President Donald Trump renewed his attacks Sunday on four Democratic congresswomen he launched xenophobic tweets against last week, demanding they apologise “for the horrible (hateful) things they have said.”
“I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country,” Trump tweeted of ethnic-minority first-term Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley.
“They should apologise to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!” the president tweeted.
The comments come a week after Trump sparked a firestorm of outrage when he attacked the left-leaning lawmakers in a series of tweets, saying they should “go back” to their countries of origin.
In a rare move, Trump was rebuked by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday for “racist comments” against the women, who are known as the “Squad.”
The following day chants of “Send her back!” broke out at the president’s “Make America Great Again” rally in Greenville, North Carolina, when he again attacked the women.
Trump claimed falsely that Omar had said the terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda made her “proud” and he described the congresswomen as “left-wing ideologues (who) see our nation as a force of evil.”
Trump later said there was “great energy” at the rally but claimed he was not pleased by the taunts.
“I was not happy when I heard that chant,” he said. “I didn’t like that they did it, and I started speaking quickly” to move on with his speech.
Television footage showed, however, that Trump let the chants continue for more than 13 seconds, only resuming speaking as they died down.
Analysts say the president’s performance in Greenville demonstrated that without a Democratic presidential candidate to focus on yet, he plans to make inflammatory attacks on the Squad a centrepiece of his 2020 re-election strategy.
Culled from Daily Nation
