News24
22 Jul 2019, 16:11 GMT+10
US President Donald Trump renewed 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 with a series of tweets, saying they should "go back" to their countries of origin.
The group - three of whom were born in the US - are of Hispanic, Arab, Somali and African-American descent.
'Send her back'
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.
To the delight of his thousands of supporters, Trump described Omar and the other Democrats 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 chant continue for more than 13 seconds, only resuming speaking as they died down.
The president demonstrated in Greenville 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.
Several of the Democratic presidential hopefuls who plan to run against him and a few of the Republicans have urged Trump to tone down the rhetoric.
But the president has made it clear - despite the risk of inflaming racial tensions and widening the partisan divide - that he believes he has latched on to a winning strategy.
Trump tapped into grievances among white blue-collar and rural Americans to eke out a narrow victory in 2016, winning 57% of white voters while his rival Hillary Clinton won 37%.
GET THE NEWS at your fingertips and download the News24 app for Android here now. Get it for your iPhone here.
Get a daily dose of Philadelphia Herald news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Philadelphia Herald.
More InformationMOSCOW, Russia - A new theme park, set to become the largest in Europe, will open in Moscow in the ...
SEOUL, South Korea - Samsung Electronics has denied media reports that it has sold a million Galaxy Fold smartphones in ...
MANILA, Philippines - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $200 million loan to help the Philippine government prepare ...
DUBLIN, Ireland - The government of Ireland has awarded a contract for the provision of two new Maritime Patrol Aircraft ...
The upsurge of Somali piracy after 2005 led to significant international activity in the Horn of Africa. Naval missions, training ...
SHANGHAI, CHINA - China has suspended additional tariffs on some U.S. goods that were meant to be implemented on Dec. ...
Donald Trump is no Richard Nixon.Nixon was a bully, a cynic and a crook who did all kinds of damage ...
LOS ANGELES, California - Michael Henschel offered to help financially struggling individuals save their homes.Instead, he stole their American dream.Henschel, ...
Last Easter an antisemitism crisis erupted in the UK setting the Jewish Community against the Labour Party, or more precisely ...
On December 30, 2015, in a court in Florida, Alan Dershowitz, was accused of having had sex on seven occasions ...
WASHINGTON, DC - In a big development, the United States' Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear appeals from President ...
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - New Zealand Defence Force and police officers successfully recovered six bodies from Whakaari/White Island on Friday, ...