President Donald Trump is renewing his attacks on progressive Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley, Raw Story reports.
Speaking to reporters gathered outside the White House on Friday, Trump accused the congresswomen of racism.
“You know what is racist to me? When somebody goes out and says the horrible things about our country, the people of our country, that are anti-Semitic, that hate everybody, that speak with scorn and hate — that to me is really a very dangerous thing,” Trump said.
The president accused the quartet of young women of color of “hating” the United States, while slamming them for criticizing Israel.
“We should never forget it. We’re dealing with people that hate our country,” he said.
The president also shared what he claims are first lady Melania Trump’s thoughts on the situation, while making a false claim about the congresswomen.
Insisting that the representatives had used the phrase “evil Jews” — which neither of them has ever done — Trump accused them of anti-semitism.
“The first lady thinks it’s horrible what they said about Israel and horrible what they said about our country, these congresswomen,” Trump said.
“They can’t be anti-Semitic. They can’t talk about evil Jews, which is what they say, evil Jews,” he added.
The commander-in-chief’s remarks are a continuation of his attacks on Ocasio-Cortez and others, and come just days after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to condemn the tweets in which he said that the congresswomen should “go back” to their countries.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , the resolution passed by 240 votes to 187, and Trump has since made attempts to clarify his remarks, continuing to claim that neither his intent, nor his words were racist.
The controversy was reignited on Wednesday, when a crowd of the president’s supporters chanted “send her back” as he viciously attacked Rep. Omar.
TRUMP on Omar, AOC, Pressley, & Tlaib: “You can’t talk that way about our country. Not when I’m the president … we have First Amendment rights also. We can certainly feel and say what we want.” pic.twitter.com/jsd1SN90VH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 19, 2019
According to The Guardian , Trump has gone back and forth between disavowing the chant, and praising the crowd as “incredible.”
As The Daily Beast reported, Trump has also spread baseless conspiracy theories about Ilhan Omar. Echoing a far-right conspiracy theory, Trump accused the Minnesota representative of marrying her brother in an immigration fraud scheme.
JUST IN: Trump says he doesn’t care if attacks on “The Squad” hurt him politically https://t.co/XJKZYfZkSH pic.twitter.com/blkuGK33S7
— The Hill (@thehill) July 19, 2019
As the publication notes, the conspiracy theory began on an obscure Somali diaspora forum, spreading to the furthest fringes of the far-right, and gradually reaching mainstream right-wing media.
Conservative pundits, which the president is known to have ties with, including Rush Limbaugh, Jack Posobiec, and Tucker Carlson, have all echoed the conspiracy theory on their shows.