WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday increased his attacks on four freshman Democratic congresswomen and warned the party about uniting “around the foul language & racist hatred spewed” from the four American women whom he recently told to “go back” to their own countries.
Fellow Republicans have been reluctant to publicly respond to Mr. Trump’s comments, widely seen as racist and directed at four liberal Democrats who have been at odds with the party leadership: Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts. Three of the four were born in the United States.
Instead of walking back his remarks, Mr. Trump accused the women themselves of using racist hatred and demanded that they issue their own apologies to him and “the people of Israel.”
“So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions!” he wrote.
Mr. Trump’s early morning Twitter assault also addressed tensions from earlier this year when Ms. Omar sent jolts through her own party when she criticized Israel and suggested that advocates for Israel were pushing for “allegiance to a foreign country.”
On Sunday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to the president and suggested he was advocating white nationalism.
“When @realDonaldTrump tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making America white again,” she said in a Twitter post.