Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Trump vs. Democrats: 'Racist' and 'Socialist' Lines Drawn for 2020
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
July 17, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — With tweets and a vote, President Donald Trump and House Democrats established the sharp and emotionally raw contours of the 2020 election campaigns.
In the process, they have created a fraught political frame: “racists” vs. “socialists.”
Trump’s aggressive condemnation of women of color in Congress has allowed House Democrats to mend, for now, their own political divisions as they put the president on record with a resolution condemning his words as racist.
But by pushing the House majority into the arms of the squad of liberal freshman women, Trump also adds to his narrative that Democrats have a “socialist” agenda, a story line he started to bring into focus during his State of the Union address.
Political triumphs are being claimed on all sides. Yet it’s unclear whether either approach is what’s needed to sway independent-minded voters who typically determine congressional and presidential elections. And at a time when polling shows Americans sense a worsening of racial attitudes, the searing attacks along Pennsylvania Avenue are tapping potentially explosive emotions.

The Four Lawmakers Portray President as a Bully

The state of affairs offers “a very clear choice,” said Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee on Wednesday.

“The Democrat party is now a socialist party, and these four women have become the de facto speakers of the Democrat House. So he’s saying, do you want socialism or do you want what we’re delivering with higher jobs, higher wages, more jobs, a strong economy.” — Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee
“The Democrat party is now a socialist party, and these four women have become the de facto speakers of the Democrat House,” she said on Fox. “So he’s saying, do you want socialism or do you want what we’re delivering with higher jobs, higher wages, more jobs, a strong economy.”
But the four freshmen, in their own appearance together, portrayed the president as a bully who wants to “vilify” not only immigrants, but all people of color. They’re fighting for their priorities to lower health care costs, pass a Green New Deal addressing climate change, they say, while his thundering attacks are a distraction and tear at the core of America vales.
“America has always been about the triumph of people who fight for everyone versus those who want to preserve rights for just a select few,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, perhaps the most recognizable of the newcomers.
“And there is no bottom to the barrel of vitriol that will be used and weaponized to stifle those who want to advance rights for all people in the United States,” she said on “CBS This Morning.”
Trump on Wednesday tweeted a video featuring clips of himself meeting with law enforcement and military personnel juxtaposed with patriotic scenes and Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American,” closing with the slogan, “One ‘squad’ under God” — a dig at the progressive lawmakers’ adopted moniker.
Photo of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
From left, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., respond to remarks by President Trump after his call for the four Democratic congresswomen to go back to their “broken” countries. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
In a political repudiation, the Democratic-led U.S. House voted Tuesday to condemn Trump’s “racist comments” against the congresswomen of color after he told them to “go back” to their own countries.
The women, Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, all were born in the U.S. except for Omar, who became a U.S. citizen after fleeing Somalia as a refugee with her family.
Democrats eased the resolution through the chamber by 240-187, joined by four Republicans and one Republican-turned-independent congressman.
Trump accused the women of “spewing some of the most vile, hateful and disgusting things ever said by a politician” and added, “If you hate our Country, or if you are not happy here, you can leave!”

Democrats Know They Need to Return to Their Campaign Messages

Republican operatives swiftly dispatched their own attacks on nearly 30 of the House Democratic freshmen who helped take the majority in 2018 by winning seats from areas that Trump also won in 2016. They are seen as the front liners needed to retain control of the House, and many face tough re-election races in 2020.
“Deranged,” read the missives from the National Republican Congressional Committee. The committee is raising money off Ocasio-Cortez as the face of the “socialist” agenda and drawing links to the party’s presidential contenders, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and other liberal front-runners.
“This wasn’t what people in the Trump districts elected them to do,” said Bob Salera, a spokesman for the GOP’s campaign committee.

Democrats also know they now need to return to their core campaign messages — lowering health care costs, conducting oversight of the administration — or risk having Trump define them and the 2020 candidates.
Democrats believe Trump’s attacks will have the opposite effect, turning off the suburban voters, particularly women, who helped elect Trump but also turned out for Democrats last fall and are tiring of it all. Trump tried a similar approach last fall, invoking fearful warnings of “caravans” of immigrants pouring into the U.S., but voters tuned him out to give Democrats control of the House. The party will try again to persuade voters away from Trump’s vision of America.
But Democrats also know they now need to return to their core campaign messages — lowering health care costs, conducting oversight of the administration — or risk having Trump define them and the 2020 candidates.
“I’m trying to represent my district, a very diverse district,” Tlaib said. “This is a distraction.”
When asked if they, as the four newcomers, were also a distraction, Omar, a Muslim-American, objected to the question: “He wants you to focus on that, and you should be asking, Why is it that we are being criticized?”

DON'T MISS

$165 Billion Revenue Error Continues to Haunt California’s Budget

DON'T MISS

California’s Water Crisis Deepens as San Joaquin Valley Sinks

DON'T MISS

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

DON'T MISS

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

DON'T MISS

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

DON'T MISS

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

DON'T MISS

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

DON'T MISS

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

DON'T MISS

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

DON'T MISS

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

UP NEXT

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

UP NEXT

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

UP NEXT

Republicans on House Ethics Reject for Now Releasing Report on Matt Gaetz

UP NEXT

Defining Deviancy Down. And Down. And Down.

UP NEXT

Lawmakers Are Concerned About Background Checks of Trump’s Cabinet Picks as Red Flags Surface

UP NEXT

Matt Gaetz Meets Privately With Senators to Shore Up Support as House Ethics Decision Looms

UP NEXT

To the Wire: Rep. John Duarte Grows His Lead Over Adam Gray In Razor Thin Race

UP NEXT

Bomb Cyclone Kills 1 and Knocks Out Power to Over Half a Million Homes Across the Northwest US

UP NEXT

Trump Chooses Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker as NATO Ambassador

UP NEXT

What to Know About Linda McMahon, Trump’s Pick for Education Secretary

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

12 hours ago

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

12 hours ago

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

13 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

13 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

13 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

13 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

14 hours ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

14 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

14 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

15 hours ago

$165 Billion Revenue Error Continues to Haunt California’s Budget

History will — or at least should — see a $165 billion error in revenue estimates as one of California’s most boneheaded political act...

37 minutes ago

37 minutes ago

$165 Billion Revenue Error Continues to Haunt California’s Budget

Photo of Friant-Kern Canal
2 hours ago

California’s Water Crisis Deepens as San Joaquin Valley Sinks

11 hours ago

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

12 hours ago

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

12 hours ago

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

13 hours ago

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

President Joe Biden with Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, at the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14, 2022. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to erase the Biden administration’s tailpipe rules designed to get carmakers to produce electric vehicles, but most U.S. automakers want to keep them. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
13 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

13 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend