Trump's remarks branded 'racist' in House vote

The US House of Representatives yesterday passed a resolution condemning Donald Trump’s incendiary remarks telling four congresswomen of colour to ‘go back’ to where they ‘came from’ as racist. The measure, which formally rebuked the President’s comments, was approved on a mostly partisan-line vote of 240 to 187, says a report in The Guardian. Just four Republicans joined Democrats in approving the resolution. The vote came days after Trump’s tweets about four newly elected Democratic lawmakers – representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – sparked a widespread uproar. Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley and Tlaib were all born in the US, while Omar is a naturalised American citizen who arrived in the country at a young age as a Somali refugee. ‘Every single member of this institution, Democratic and Republican, should join us in condemning the President’s racist tweets,’ the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said. ‘To do anything less would be a shocking rejection of our values and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people.’ Pelosi’s sharp words prompted a challenge of their own from Republicans, who accused the Democratic leader of violating rules that prohibit describing the President as ‘having made a bigoted or racist statement’ on the House floor. In a separate vote, the Democratic-controlled House voted against striking Pelosi’s comments from the official record. The drama on Capitol Hill unfolded as Trump renewed his attacks against the minority lawmakers and pressured Republicans to hold the line. Heeding the President’s words, Republicans largely echoed his argument that the issue was not one of race but of ideology. Faced with a choice to confront Trump, much of the President’s party instead decried the Democratic congresswomen as ‘socialists’ and branded them as ‘anti-American’.

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