House

Ocasio-Cortez doubles down on accusation that Trump is racist

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday repeated her accusation that President Trump is racist, saying that should make everyone “uncomfortable.”

The freshman congresswoman first took a jab at Trump during an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” saying there is “no question” that Trump is racist.

She elaborated on her claims on Twitter, listing instances she viewed to have racial undertones. 

{mosads}“The President defended Neo-Nazis who murdered a woman in Charlottesville. The Dept of Justice sued him for not renting to Black tenants,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “He launched his campaign by calling Mexicans ‘rapists.’ He banned Muslims.”

“The President is racist. And that should make you uncomfortable,” she concluded.

The progressive lawmaker from the Bronx told host Anderson Cooper on Sunday that Trump didn’t “invent” racism but has “given a voice to it and expanded it.”

“When you look at the words that he uses, which are historic dog whistles of white supremacy. When you look at how he reacted to the Charlottesville incident, where neo-Nazis murdered a woman, versus how he manufactures crises like immigrants seeking legal refuge on our borders, it’s, it’s night and day,” Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that Trump was a “symptom” of a problem.

Trump faced widespread criticism in 2017 when he said there was “very fine people” on both sides at the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

The White House tore into the 29-year-old lawmaker in a statement after the “60 Minutes” interview.

“Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s sheer ignorance on the matter can’t cover the fact that President Trump supported and passed historic criminal justice reform … and … has repeatedly condemned racism and bigotry in all forms,” the White House deputy press secretary said.