Trump tells progressive congresswomen to ‘go back’ where they came from

President Trump on Sunday lashed out at a group of progressive Democrats, saying the female lawmakers should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” before criticizing policies in the U.S. 

“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run,” Trump said in an early morning string of tweets. 

So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019

….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….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019

….it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019

{mosads}”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 it is done,” he added. “These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!”

The tweets came after a week of heightened tensions between Pelosi and a group of freshman House Democrats, including Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). 

Omar was born Mogadishu, Somalia, before coming to the U.S. as a refugee with her family. Pressley was born in Cincinnati, while Tlaib was born in Detroit. Ocasio-Cortez was born in New York.

Pelosi experienced pushback from the group of lawmaker after questioning their influence in an interview with The New York Times and referring to them  as “the Squad.”

“All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” she said to the Times. “But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”

Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) responded by accusing Pelosi of repeatedly singling out elected women of color. 

“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Washington Post.

“But the persistent singling out … it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful … the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color,” she added.

Trump on Friday sought to defend Pelosi amid the turmoil, saying that it was “very disrespectful” for Ocasio-Cortez to criticize Pelosi.

“I think [Ocasio-Cortez] is being very disrespectful to somebody who’s been there a long time,” Trump told reporters. “I deal with Nancy Pelosi a lot and we go back and forth and it’s fine, but I think that a group of people is being very disrespectful to her. And you know what, I don’t think that Nancy can let that go on.”

Trump also called out Omar, saying that if “one-half” of the news reports and online criticism the first-term lawmaker has received from right-wing figures was accurate, she should not be in office.

Omar shot back on Twitter that “if one-tenth of what they say about you is true, you shouldn’t be in office.”

–This report was updated at 10:05 a.m.