Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) held nothing back on Monday evening during a press conference on President Trump’s racist attack against her and three other Democratic congresswomen. Over the weekend, Trump tweeted at them to “go back” to “the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
At a press conference alongside Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Omar said that Trump made the racist comments to distract from his failure to provide equality under the law for all Americans.
She mentioned Trump’s policy at the border detaining undocumented children before launching into a list of Trump’s most controversial comments and policies.
“This is a president who has overseen the most corrupt administration in our history and pursued an agenda to allow millions of Americans to die from a lack of health care while he transfers millions of dollars in tax cuts to corporations,” she said. “This is a president who has said, ‘Grab women by the pussy’. This is a president who’s called black athletes sons of bitches. This is a president who has called black people who come from black and brown countries shitholes. This is a president who has equated neo-Nazis with those who protest against them in Charlottesville.”
She ended her remarks by calling for Trump’s impeachment.
The other congresswomen targeted by Trump also emphasized on Monday evening that Trump’s racist and xenophobic attack was a distraction from his policies. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) encouraged Americans “to not take the bait.”
Earlier in the day, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told MSNBC that Trump is employing “a strategy to divide the country because the more this country is divided, the more he benefits from it.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar responds to Trump's racist attacks against her and other congresswomen pic.twitter.com/0c8SqWedGV
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 15, 2019
They were all articulate, dignified, and resolute.
There was something very jarring in hearing a devout Muslim woman repeating Trump’s vile words. Rep. Omar showed just how awful Trump is and how important it is to remember that fact.
They’re going to put me in the madhouse before too long. Impeachment is a completely broken process and we need a different way to hold the executive accountable. As it functions now, it is worse than useless, a House censure which ultimately strengthens the president’s political position.
I don’t know what we need to replace the process with, but the current tool we have has completely failed. The Senate does not currently operate in good faith.
You need to ask yourself the question: Do I support empowering Mitch McConnell’s chamber to acquit Donald Trump? Because that’s the question we’re asking.
He asked for it and these women are letting him have it. I applaud them. This is what our country has come to by electing a racist, lying criminal that thinks he can use twitter as a national platform and no one will punch back. These women are and it’s great to hear.
"Trump is a weak man’s idea of a strong man." – George Will
I’m glad that they’re not censoring themselves and couching it in anything, but just putting it right out there. Of course, the papers will be talking about the “p-word” or somesuch crap, making it sound more PG.