President Trump defended his tweets suggesting prominent progressive freshmen congresswomen should “go back” to their home countries while speaking to reporters on Monday.
The controversial statements from the president came Sunday morning in a thread of three tweets.
“If somebody has a problem with our country, if somebody doesn’t want to be in our country, they should leave,” Trump said, addressing the tweets publicly for the first time. He added that his tweets were “not at all” racist.
“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,” Trump tweeted Sunday morning. “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. Then come back and show us how.”
The tweets were directed toward Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. Omar is the only of the group that was born outside of the United States.
A multitude of Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, came out with statements labeling the president’s comments as racist, with a few Republicans condemning the comments later on.
The four freshmen congresswomen the tweets were directed to all responded defiantly, as well.
Update: Trump elaborated on those tweets when taking questions from reporters during a separate event minutes later. He called out the four members of Congress, specifically naming Omar and referencing some of her controversial statements. He encouraged them to leave the country if they are unhappy in the United States.
