Furore in US over Trump’s race baiting with eye on elections

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on racist attacks against non-white American lawmakers, who he had earlier asked to “go back to where you come from” because they appraised America critically, saying Democratic support for them would be played out in the 2020 Presidential elections.
In a candid and fairly transparent revelation that his remarks, widely seen as incendiary, divisive red meat for his mostly white base, were made with an eye on the next Presidential elections, Trump tweeted: “If the Democrat Party wants to continue to condone such disgraceful behavior, then we look even more forward to seeing you at the ballot box in 2020!”
“If Democrats want to unite around the foul language & racist hatred spewed from the mouths and actions of these very unpopular & unrepresentative Congresswomen, it will be interesting to see how it plays out,” he added.

It was not clear why the President felt the Congresswomen are unpopular or unrepresentative since they won the popular vote (unlike Trump) and were legally elected from their district. Three of the four lawmakers Trump targeted for being un-American (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley) because of their criticism of US policies, were born in the US, and one, Ilhan Omar, was born in Somalia and is a naturalized American.
With the Republican Party and its lawmakers acquiescing with silence to Trump’s race-baiting, the US President turned the charge around against the opposition, tweeting, “So sad to see the Democrats sticking up for people who speak so badly of our Country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion. Whenever confronted, they call their adversaries, including Nancy Pelosi, “RACIST.”
Indeed, while some insurgent Democrats (notably Ocasio-Cortez) have been arguing that there was an element of racism even in the Democratic Party, the party closed ranks in the fact of Trump’s attacks.
"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," House Speaker and Democratic leader Pelosi said on Twitter. "Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power."
Trump’s provocative tweets, widely seen as red meat to galvanize his mostly white, poorly-educated base, triggered a wave of revulsion and disgust among many moderate and progressive lawmakers and public intellectuals. Lawmakers of Indian-origin pitched in against the President’s divisive agenda, as did most of the commentariat.
“In 2016, for the first time, I was told by people on twitter to go back to India. They -- all white nationalists -- sent me images of poverty in India, told to return. I was born here. But they saw me as less American because I am brown. Now Trump parrots them. That is what we fight,” said Neera Tanden, President and CEO of the think tank Center for American Progress.
Pramila Jayapal, Congresswoman from Washington state, who was born in Chennai, tweeted: "@RealDonaldTrump, you can only HOPE to be as patriotic as we are. @AOC, @RashidaTlaib & @AyannaPressley were born IN America. @IlhanMN & I are proud naturalized citizens, making sure America keeps to our ideals. YOU are expert at racism, xenophobia and doing everything you can to bring America down.”
“Luckily the vast majority of Americans DO NOT STAND with you on this, & remember their own immigration histories that brought them here. Majorities hate your policies that lock kids in cages & separate families. Your cruelty is sickening. Your egotism is laughable. And you are going to successfully turn millions of Americans into supporters of your opponent in 2020 with these disgusting attacks. You are a disgrace to our country and our values,” she added.
The handles #RacistPresident, #RacistinChief and #RacistTrump trended on Twitter for much of the weekend.
And from Ro Khanna, Congressman from California who represents the district covering Silicon Valley: “I was the son of immigrants...I had teachers who believed in me, little league coaches who believed in me. I now represent the most economically powerful district in the world possibly. That's the story of America. Not this president."
However, Trump supporters remained unfazed, and there as not a peep from Republican lawmakers except for a sole note by one regarded by the President as a rebel “loser.” Even Lindsey Graham, a Senator who had once called Trump a racist bigot, lined up behind the President, calling the non-white Democratic lawmakers a “bunch of communists” while suggesting Trump could “knock it down a notch.”