Donald Trump steps up ‘racist’ attack on minority Congresswomen

Trump steps up his attack on four minority Congresswomen, accusing them of hating the US.

Donald Trump has dramatically stepped up his attack on four minority liberal Congresswomen accusing them of hating America, being anti-Semitic and embracing terrorists.

The extraordinary attack, coming a day after the president said they should return to their “corrupt” home countries, led some Republicans to condemn Mr Trump for the first time.

But the president denied his attacks on the Democrat Congresswomen were racist and said many Americans agreed with his views.

“These are people who hate our country, they hate it I think with a passion,” he said, referring to four Democrat women of colour — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley.

“All I’m saying is, if they’re not happy here, they can leave. There will be many people who will be happy,” he said.

“If Democrats want to unite around the foul language and racist hatred spewed from the mouths and actions of these very unpopular and unrepresentative Congresswomen, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”

The president zeroed his attack on Ms Omar, a Muslim immigrant from Somalia, saying she was someone who “hates Israel” and “hates Jews, hates Jews, it’s very simple.”

“I hear the way (Omar) talks about Al Qa’ida,’ he said. “Al Qa’ida has killed many Americans.”

Ilhan Omar is accused of being anti-Semitic. Picture; Getty Images.

Ms Omar has recently apologised for comments which stereotyped Jews as being driven by money. She was also criticised for appearing to be flippant about the 9/11 terror attacks when she once said that they occurred after “some people did something.”

“When she talked about the World Trade Center being knocked down — ‘some people.’ You remember the famous ‘some people’?” Mr Trump asked. “These are people that, in my opinion, hate our country.”

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All four Congresswomen, who represent the left wing of the Democrats, have used their high public profile to launch stinging attacks on the president, especially on his immigration and border security policies.

Democrats have condemned Mr Trump for his comments, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying she would introduce a resolution to “condemn the president’s xenophobic tweets.”

“The House cannot allow the President’s characterisation of immigrants to our country to stand,” she wrote to her fellow Democrats. “Our Republican colleagues must join us in condemning the President’s xenophobic tweets.”

Many Republicans also condemned the president’s comments after largely remaining silent after his initial attack the precious day when he called on four Congresswomen to return to their “corrupt” and “inept” countries of origin to fix their problems before criticising the US.

“There is no excuse for the president’s spiteful comments, they were absolutely unacceptable and this needs to stop,” Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski tweeted.

Republican senator Tim Scott, an African American, condemned the president for using ‘unacceptable personal attacks and racially offensive language.”

“No matter our political disagreements, aiming for the lowest common denominator will only divide our nation further.”

Mr Trump’s comments are also attracting international attention with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau saying: ‘this is not how we do things in Canada … the diversity of our country is actually one of our greatest strengths.”

Mr Trump dismissed the criticism, saying it did not worry him.

“It doesn’t concern me because many people would agree with me,” he said.

The four young Congresswomen, known collectively as the ‘Squad,’ have carved out a high public profile which they have used to attack Mr Trump and pressure the Democrats to adopt more progressive policies on immigration, healthcare, education and climate change.

Ms Pelosi clashed with the Squad last week as the speaker sought to keep the Democrats on a centrist, moderate policy path which she believes offers the best chance of defeat Mr Trump next year.

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia