U.S. House condemns Trump over 'racist comments' tweeted at congresswomen

By Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan

 

U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) participate in a House Oversight Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. July 15, 2019. REUTERS/Erin Scott

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to condemn President Donald Trump for "racist comments" against four minority Democratic congresswomen, a symbolic measure aimed at shaming Trump and his fellow Republicans who stood by him.

 

Tempers flared in the hours leading up to the 240-187 vote that split mainly along party lines, the culmination of three days of outrage sparked by a Trump tweetstorm that diverted attention from all other business in Washington.

 

Trump had told the group of congresswomen to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

 

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to condemn President Donald Trump for "racist comments" against four minority Democratic congresswomen, a symbolic vote aimed at shaming Trump and his fellow Republicans who stood by him. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

Tempers flared in the hours leading up to the vote that mainly split along party lines, the culmination of three days of outrage sparked by a Trump tweetstorm that diverted attention from all other business in Washington.

Trump had told the group of congresswomen to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

All four lawmakers - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan - are U.S. citizens. Three were born in the United States.

Democrats, who have a majority in the House, passed the symbolic resolution of condemnation on Tuesday evening, which said the House "strongly condemns President Donald Trump's racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color."

Four Republicans joined the Democrats to support the measure.

 

 

All four lawmakers - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan - are U.S. citizens. Three were born in the United States.

 

Democrats, who have a majority in the House, passed the resolution on Tuesday evening, which said the House "strongly condemns President Donald Trump's racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of colour."

 

Four Republicans and one independent joined the Democrats to support the measure.

 

The White House did not immediately comment.

 

Trump's attacks on the four progressive congresswomen - known as "the squad" - have been viewed as an effort to divide Democrats, who won control of the House in 2018 and have the power to thwart his legislative agenda.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has struggled at times to work with the progressive newcomers in her caucus, staunchly defended them in the debate.

 

"These comments from the White House are disgraceful and disgusting and these comments are racist," Pelosi said. "Every single member of this institution, Democratic and Republican, should join us in condemning the president's racist tweets."

 

Pelosi's comments put the House into a two-hour limbo after Republicans argued she went too far in her comments and broke debate rules.

 

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy criticized Democrats for remarks that upset the "order and decency" of the chamber, saying: "Today is the day that historians will write about."

 

He had urged his colleagues to vote against the measure. "It's all politics," McCarthy told reporters.

 

Republican Representative Doug Collins of Georgia said lawmakers should be pursuing reconciliation rather than escalating divisive arguments and attacks against Trump, condemning the "breathtaking partisanship of today's exercise."

 

REUTERS/IPSOS POLL: LITTLE POLITICAL DAMAGE

Trump has a history of what critics consider race-baiting. He led a movement that falsely claimed Barack Obama - America's first black president - was not born in the United States, and said after a deadly, white supremacist-led rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 that there were "very fine people on both sides" of the incident.

 

Trump's approval rating plunged after the 2017 comments. But a Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed little immediate political damage from his latest tweetstorm.

 

Support among Republicans increased slightly, the poll showed, while he lost support with Democrats and independents after the comments. His overall approval rating was unchanged.

 

At his rallies, Trump has often talked about proposals from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which he calls extreme, as he seeks to energise his political base ahead of the November 2020 presidential election.

 

Trump had warned Republican lawmakers against voting against him, and only four defied him: Will Hurd of Texas, Fred Upton of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Susan Brooks of Indiana. Independent Justin Amash of Michigan, who quit the Republican Party last week, also voted for the resolution.

 

"If we're going to bring civility back to the centre of our politics, we must speak out against ... inflammatory rhetoric from anyone in any party anytime it happens," Upton said on Twitter after the vote.

 

Democrats have targeted the seats held by Hurd, Upton and Fitzpatrick as ones they want to "flip" in congressional elections in November 2020. Brooks said recently she would retire from Congress next year.

 

(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Amanda Becker, David Alexander, Eric Beech, David Morgan and Mohammad Zargham; Writing by Roberta Rampton and Susan Heavey; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-17

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Politics as usual...no winners here.

Surreal. The political and moral divide in that country is astounding. Truly saddening. 

Bunch of snowflakes, Take his comment in a positive way and take a look at yourselves.

 

5 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Politics as usual...no winners here.

Please, that's a pathetic spin. Trump squarely and undeniably showed he is a bigot.

Bunch of snowflakes, Take his comment in a positive way and take a look at yourselves.

 

What's positive about it?

His tweets were bullying, ignorant, and racist.

Such a low character we don't need working at Arby's much less as US president.

I present as white but I remember walking in a Chinese district of San Francisco with an Asian friend and randomly out of the blue some white racist moron shouted Go Back to China! He was shaken. I was feeling shame and embarrassment that a fellow American could act that way.

That racist moron will never be president but tragically we've got the same kind of hateful low life in the white house. There is no excuse for this. He is unfit to be president of a nation of immigrants.

 

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6 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Please, that's a pathetic spin. Trump squarely and undeniably showed he is a bigot.

And the Republicans (some in swing states) who voted against this resolution are now on record for supporting a racist.

 

Which was the trap Pelosi set for them, and which they eagerly stepped into.

Surreal. The political and moral divide in that country is astounding. Truly saddening. 

Permanent damage. The longer he stays as president the more severe the damage.

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And the Republicans (some in swing states) who voted against this resolution are now on record for supporting a racist.
 
Which was the trap Pelosi set for them, and which they eagerly stepped into.

No profiles in courage there. They are complicit.

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Here is the tweet:  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....

 

Talib is from Dearborn Mich, Presley is from OH, AOC is from NY and Omar is from Minnesota and a refugee from Somalia.  

 

This is stupid but Racist?  I guess it depends on your perspective.  There are many broken and crime infested places in the US.  

 

Just another day in the Swamp.  Only 16 more months until the next Presidential Election.  

Funny, you guys (and maybe girls) are complaining about Racism (i don't believe he was Racist) when you live in a highly racist country like Thailand.

 

There is nothing wrong in defending your country, and Trump is just excercising his constitutional right to free speech. If those around him, are displaying negative attributes towards the country, then certainly he's entitled to defend it.

 

It seems yet a again a storm is brewing in a teacup.

4 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

This is stupid but Racist?

Everything is racist now (even dogs and time).

 

The defenders of the "poor oppressed brown people" AKA White Knights are the real racists because they think that minorities cannot handle themselves without the assistance of the white benefactors.

 

 

7 minutes ago, DoctorG said:

Everything is racist now (even dogs and time).

 

The defenders of the "poor oppressed brown people" AKA White Knights are the real racists because they think that minorities cannot handle themselves without the assistance of the white benefactors.

 

 

The message here is that when minorities, and especially minorities who are women, do speak up for themselves, the President feels he needs to attack them with a racist tirade.

 

Away with your ‘White Night’ nonsense.

Trump was the winner in this little dustup and the squad of 4 America-hating shrews the losers. 

They played right into his hands and were even dumb enough to repeat proven lies about collusion and drinking out of toilets, they just made the public even more aware of their lies and stupidity.

6 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The message here is that when minorities, and especially minorities who are women, do speak up for themselves, the President feels he needs to attack them with a racist tirade.

 

Away with your ‘White Night’ nonsense.

hehe, Did you fall off your horse and bump your head?

Not one of these cretins had a thing to say about Ilhan Omar saying things about Jews and Israel.  Pathetic hypocrites all of them.

Please take the mobile phone off the little boy until he grows up.

Why does the President of the US need to "tweet" anyway ?

Chomper Higgot, I am not “white” or Caucasian.  I am a person of color and the son of a Legal Immigrant to the USA.  

11 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Trump was the winner in this little dustup and the squad of 4 America-hating shrews the losers. 

Trump is building an economic disaster with his tax cuts and stock market bubble. He is cowering before the Chinese when push comes to shove on trade. But he does appear to be a more masterful campaigner than I ever imagined. He has made these four radicals the face of the Democratic Party. They are who he will be running against in 2020, despite whomever the Democrats actually place on the ballot. And this just might allow him to win, despite the catastrophe he is in virtually every sphere of foreign and economic policy.

3 minutes ago, natway09 said:

Why does the President of the US need to "tweet" anyway ?

Because the "Fake news media" bangs on about Russian collusion, pee pee tape dossiers, and all sorts of total BS instead of reporting what is actually happening, the news. News about US stock markets smashing all time highs again and again and again, more minorities off food stamps and welfare and back into the workforce. Trumps Twitter feed is a good dose of reality. But of course for haters it tends to trigger them because all they want is more dog whistles and negativity to froth over.

 In this case Trump clarified in his Twitter account that he is not a racist. Good enough for me.

 

1 hour ago, nev said:

Bunch of snowflakes, Take his comment in a positive way and take a look at yourselves.

 

How do you want to take this racist shit in a positive way?

19 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Because the "Fake news media" bangs on about Russian collusion, pee pee tape dossiers, and all sorts of total BS instead of reporting what is actually happening, the news. News about US stock markets smashing all time highs again and again and again, more minorities off food stamps and welfare and back into the workforce. Trumps Twitter feed is a good dose of reality. But of course for haters it tends to trigger them because all they want is more dog whistles and negativity to froth over.

 In this case Trump clarified in his Twitter account that he is not a racist. Good enough for me.

 

You believe anything the racist, woman molester, perpetual fake news spreading, commander in chief says.

Just 4 Republicans voted for the motion

Are all the others as racist as Trump or just scared of 2020?

 

 

I’m not American but the way I see it, Trump has played a blinder over the last few weeks.  Trump supporters are voting Trump no matter what and Dems mostly the same. It’s the swing voters who win elections in the US.  And the face of the democrats is now those four in the picture. Who I might add come across as the usual progressive nut jobs who hate their own country, want open borders and if you don’t agree then you are a racist blah blah blah. The usual bull.

 

Trump got 2020 in the bag. All the haters get over it. Others like myself couldn’t care less.

Trump is right as usual. The House is run by a bunch of America-hating communists that should leave the country they hate so much.

2 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

You believe anything the racist, woman molester, perpetual fake news spreading, commander in chief says.

The REAL racists are the leftist, America-hating communists in the democrat party.

This is the type of women who he said it to.

 

It is GREAT not be an AMERICAN and be able to sit back and laugh.

It is GREAT not be an AMERICAN and be able to sit back and laugh.

Thanks a million.

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