Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took issue with President Donald Trump’s claim that he doesn’t have “a racist bone” in his body.
When asked about Trump’s comments on July 16 about five minutes after he posted it on Twitter, the freshman congresswoman told TMZ: “I think he’s got a racist brain in his head, and I think he’s got a racist heart in his chest.”
“I have never personally met a racist that admitted to being a racist,” she added.
Trump stood by his tweets some said were racist: “Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body.”
The difference of opinion was over a series of Twitter posts Trump made on June 14 and 15, where he most notably called on “‘progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen” to “go back” to their countries to help fix the “totally broken and crime infested places” before returning to the United States to “show how us it is done.”
On Monday, July 14, he wrote: “So sad to see the Democrats sticking up for people who speak so badly of our Country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion. Whenever confronted, they call their adversaries, including Nancy Pelosi, ‘RACIST.'”
Although Trump had not specifically identified the Congresswomen in his Twitter posts, several Congress members and media outlets have linked the president’s comments to four far-left members of the Democratic party—Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).
On Tuesday, while answering questions during the “Made in America” event at the White House, Trump provided more clarity about who he was referring to in his Twitter posts, notably Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a close ally of Ocasio-Cortez.
He kept up the push against Omar, Ocasio-Cortez, and other far-left members of the Democratic party on Twitter, calling on Democrats in the House of Representatives to condemn them over past comments, pointing out how Omar had previously trivialized the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks during a CAIR speech where she controversially said, “Some people did something.”
…..Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country. Get a list of the HORRIBLE things they have said. Omar is polling at 8%, Cortez at 21%. Nancy Pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the Democrat Party. See you in 2020!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2019
…..shouting of the F…word, among many other terrible things, and the petrified Dems run for the hills. Why isn’t the House voting to rebuke the filthy and hate laced things they have said? Because they are the Radical Left, and the Democrats are afraid to take them on. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2019
“The Democrat Congresswomen have been spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate, & yet they get a free pass and a big embrace from the Democrat Party,” he said in part.
A number of Democrats have defended the freshman lawmakers and lambasted Trump, including longtime Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).
Appearing on the openly anti-Trump MSNBC network on Tuesday, he said: “This is not any way for the president of the United States to be attacking, to be saying what he is saying, about these young women.”
“They are duly elected officials, elected by the people of their congressional district to serve as members of Congress,” he said, calling his remarks: “dead wrong.”
NEW: Asked if Pres. Trump’s tweets telling congresswomen of color to “go back” to where they came from were racist, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy answers, “No.”
“This is about ideology. This is about socialism versus freedom.” https://t.co/VpZTiwqq68 pic.twitter.com/XEV0aOhQ6j
— ABC News (@ABC) July 16, 2019
Republicans mostly defended Trump, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who said “no” when asked if he thought Trump’s missives were racist.
“I believe this is about ideology,” McCarthy said. “This is about socialism versus freedom. And it’s very clear what the debate is happening.”
“I understand when I listened to their press conference yesterday, they talked about impeachment more than anything else,” he added. “This is about politics.”
