President Trump on Wednesday took a swipe at the “squad” of progressive lawmakers he’s repeatedly attacked in recent days by featuring the group’s nickname in a video promoting some of his recent White House events.
The president shared a 75-second video set to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” that features clips of him meeting with members of the military and border agents, attending his “Salute to America” event on Independence Day and greeting student-athletes at the Army-Navy game.
The video concludes with the phrase “America: One ‘Squad’ Under God” displayed on the screen. It’s unclear whether the White House produced the video.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) refer to themselves colloquially as the “squad.”{mosads}
The video comes after Trump on Sunday suggested those lawmakers — all women of color — should “go back” to other countries, despite all four congresswomen being U.S. citizens. The president faced swift backlash over the remarks, which Democrats have said play into a racist trope.
A handful of Republicans, including Reps. Will Hurd (Texas) and Michael Turner (Ohio), have described the language as racist, though most Republicans have stopped short of using the term explicitly.
The president has doubled down on the attacks despite Democrats and some Republicans condemning them as racist. He has suggested the lawmakers “hate our country,” and has indicated he will seek to paint them as the face of the Democratic Party.
The House on Tuesday passed a Democratic-led resolution condemning Trump’s tweets, largely along party lines. Four Republican lawmakers — Hurd and Reps. Susan Brooks (Ind.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Fred Upton (Mich.) — broke with their party to vote in favor of the resolution.
Trump is likely to continue to lob insults at the progressive congresswomen on Wednesday night at a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C. The president tweeted earlier in the day that the rally would focus on the economy and “people who love, and hate, our Country.”