Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Monday it was time for citizens to abandon President Trump’s concept of America because he “relies on racism, division and anti-immigrant sentiment.”
The New York Democrat was responding to a tweet Sunday where Mr. Trump said she and fellow progressive lawmakers — Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — should all go back to their “broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Three of the representatives were born in the U.S., and Ms. Omar has been a naturalized citizen since she was a teenager.
“I think it’s unfortunate that he feels the way he feels about people of color in this country. It’s unfortunate the way he feels about immigrants, naturalized citizens or not, in this country,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said on MSNBC.
“What I would tell him is: It’s time to move on from him, and it’s time to move on from his conception of an America that we have tried to move past for a long time. He relies on racism, division and anti-immigrant sentiment to consolidate power because he does not have a positive vision for the future of America,” she said.
Ms. Pressley told NBC Boston she had “moved on” from the attacks.
“The American people and my district need me to move on. I don’t have time to be offended or outraged about [a] predictable pattern of behavior of hateful, bigoted rhetoric from the occupant of this White House,” she said.
On Monday, Mr. Trump ramped up his Twitter attack, blasting the four as lawmakers who “hate our country” and inviting them to leave if they dislike the country so much.
While both Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Ms. Pressley said they’ve moved on, all four freshman congresswomen will be holding a press conference Monday evening to formally respond to the president’s comments.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.