Former Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) said that she would not make any excuses for President Trump’s tweets attacking four Democratic congresswomen, but stopped short of calling the tweets racist.
Speaking on CNN Sunday following Trump’s series of tweets earlier that day, Love said the president’s tweeting habit “has to stop,” according to a clip shared by Mediaite.
{mosads}“I’m not making any excuses for him. It has to stop. I always feel like I’m not part of the ‘America First’ that he goes out and he talks about all the time,” Love said. “I’m an American. I’ve always been an American. I’ve been a Republican longer than he has, so, you know, I think that that’s the problem. Most people don’t see, don’t feel like they’re part of this America that he talks about.”
In the tweets, which have been widely condemned by Democratic lawmakers, Trump suggested a group of progressive lawmakers should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
While he did not name them directly, Trump’s tweets appeared to be directed at Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). Omar is the only one of the four not born in America. She came to the U.S. after leaving Somalia as a refugee with her family at age 12.
Love, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and one of the few women of color in the GOP when she was a lawmaker, was clearly frustrated by Trump’s tweets.
“I don’t like any of it, and I’ve always called him out on tweets,” Love said. “I think that he has to be more presidential. Everyone is tired of not being a representative of everyone in this country. And when you are the president of the United States, you represent all Americans.”
Love added that all members of Congress should be “held responsible” and they need to “take the high road.”