US President Donald Trump (left), called Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (bottom right) and ‘her crowd,’ Rashida Tlaib (middle) and Ilhan Omar (top) Communists, Israel haters and antisemites. (photo credit: REUTERS)
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US President Donald Trump has brought Israel into his attack on high-profile freshman congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY, 14th District), broadening his offensive to include the entire Democratic Party.
He commented on Monday afternoon, US time, that he is not concerned if people think his tweets are racist. During an event at the White House he said: “As far as I’m concerned if you hate our country, if you’re not happy here, you can leave,” according to Reuters.
In a tweet posted Monday morning, the president tweeted, “We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of Communists, they hate Israel, they hate our own Country,” Trump tweeted. “They’re calling the guards along our Border (the Border Patrol Agents) Concentration Camp Guards, they accuse people who support Israel as doing it for the Benjamin’s,….” referenced Israel on Twitter Sunday amid an outcry over an earlier tweet he made that critics said was racist.
“We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of Communists, they hate Israel, they hate our own Country, they’re calling the guards along our Border (the Border Patrol Agents) Concentration Camp Guards, they accuse people who support Israel as doing it for the Benjamin’s,….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 15, 2019
Then he continued: “They are Anti-Semitic, they are Anti-America, we don’t need to know anything about them personally, talk about their policies. I think they are American citizens who are duly elected that are running on an agenda that is disgusting, that the American people will reject……”
….they are Anti-Semitic, they are Anti-America, we don’t need to know anything about them personally, talk about their policies. I think they are American citizens who are duly elected that are running on an agenda that is disgusting, that the American people will reject……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 15, 2019
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham appeared earlier Monday morning on Fox and Friends and defended the president’s remarks.
.@LindseyGrahamSC on Fox & Friends: “We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of communists … they’re anti-Semitic. They’re anti-America.” pic.twitter.com/lsFqZi1Eu8
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 15, 2019
Rabbi Jill Jacobs of the left-leaning rabbinical human rights group T’ruah tweeted of Trump’s evoking Israel to attack the Democrats that “This has nothing to do with Israel.”
””It’s about your behavior toward American citizens & congresspeople,” she wrote. “Please don’t try to cover up your racism by making Israel a wedge.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, added his voice to the chorus of critics who called Trump’s initial words racist.
“As Jews, we’re familiar with this kind of prejudice. It has no purpose but to divide us and spread hate,” he wrote. “Whether or not you like their politics, telling people born in the US to ‘go back where they came from’ is flat-out racist, and telling naturalized citizens the same is xenophobic.”
The latest tweets are part of a Twitter war that began Sunday morning, when Trump said in a tweet “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came?”
Trump was referring to those congresswomen who are either immigrants or born to immigrants. As part of the boxing match, the president said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would “be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements,” for these women.
On Monday, he asked when the “radical Left” congresswomen would “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 and their horrible and disgusting actions!”
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
Ocasio-Cortez did not remain silent to the attacks. She also took to Twitter, first calling the president a White supremacist and then taking aim at all Republicans for staying silent throughout the exchange.
“Until Republican officials denounce yesterday’s explicitly racist statements (which should be easy!), we sadly have no choice but to assume they condone it,” she tweeted. “It is extremely disturbing that the *entire* GOP caucus is silent. Is this their agenda?”
Until Republican officials denounce yesterday’s explicitly racist statements (which should be easy!), we sadly have no choice but to assume they condone it.
It is extremely disturbing that the *entire* GOP caucus is silent. Is this their agenda? https://t.co/NXIUiPAPls
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 15, 2019
The congresswoman was not wrong regarding Republican involvement. By the afternoon, only one Michigan Congressman could be found on Twitter responding. Justin Amash distanced himself from the Republican Party, calling the president’s tweets “racist and disgusting.”
“To tell these American citizens (most of whom were born here) to ‘go back’ to the ‘crime infested places from which they came’ is racist and disgusting,” he tweeted.
To tell these American citizens (most of whom were born here) to “go back” to the “crime infested places from which they came” is racist and disgusting. https://t.co/sIAqg8bTIb
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) July 14, 2019
JTA contributed to this report.
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