At a press conference responding to President Trump’s racist tweet telling “‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen” to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” the women in question — Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — identified the president’s behavior as a “distraction” and called for his impeachment.
Trump’s language is a “disruption and distraction from the callous, chaotic, and corrupt culture of this administration all the way down,” said Pressley, the first congresswoman to speak. Next up was Omar, who addressed some of the many explicit examples of Trump’s racist language. She claimed that Trump’s tweet represents “the agenda of white nationalists” and is designed to “pit us against one another” so that he can continue to “enrich [his] friends.” Rather than focusing on “the pile of garbage that comes out of his mouth,” Democrats can “take action” and pursue impeachment, she said.
When asked if she would comment on the president’s claim that she is in favor of Al Qaeda, Omar declined, describing how every American “who is brown and black at some point in their life in this country” has heard a bigoted call like Trump’s “go back” targeted at them.
Tlaib, a notorious advocate for Trump’s impeachment, again called for proceedings to begin in the House, adding, “This isn’t the last time we’ll hear disgusting, bigoted language from the president.”
