Trump’s latest tweets cast him as Racist-in-Chief

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By EJ Montini

Opinion: I grew up among immigrants and their children and grandchildren. In some way, we ALL did. How does the president not grasp that?

President Donald Trump managed in a single tweet storm to be racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and ignorant by suggesting that four Democratic congresswomen “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

The president is unhappy with the criticism his administration has received over the horrid detention centers housing migrant men, women and children.

So he decided to take out his frustration on congressional critics by tweeting:

 

He’s speaking in the thread of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was born in the Bronx in New York. And Rep. Rashida Talib, who was born in and represents Detroit. And Rep. Ayanna Pressley who was born in Cincinnati and represents Boston. And Rep. Ilhan Omar. She was born in Somalia. Her family fled when she was a child. She represents Minneapolis.

“I believe, as an immigrant, I probably love this country more than anyone that is naturally born,” Omar has said.

If you know immigrants, or the children of immigrants, or the grandchildren of immigrants, you probably agree with her.

I grew up in a family of such people.

My whole neighborhood, our whole town, was made up of such people. Men and women with ancestral roots in Europe and Africa and the Middle East and Asia.

Who doesn’t come from immigrants?

And it’s not just my old neighborhood.

It’s ALL of us. Including the president.

All of Donald Trump’s grandparents, as well as his mother, were born in Europe. His wife is from Slovenia.

Among Arizona’s congressional delegation there was condemnation over Trump’s comments from Democratic Reps. Ruben Gallego, Ann Kirkpatrick and Raúl Grijalva. Republican Rep. Andy Biggs, a Trump apologist, tried to change the subject.

There hasn’t been anything yet from Sens. Kyrsten Sinema or Martha McSally, each of whom seems to sometimes confuse keeping a low profile with burying their heads in the sand.

A Congress of four?

In the current Congress 13 percent of voting members are immigrants or children of immigrants, with family links to  37 countries, according to the Pew Research Center.

In fact, if all members of Congress were made to “go back” to the countries from which their families originated, as Trump suggested for the Democratic congresswomen, there would be four members left.

That’s the number of Native Americans currently serving.

Given who we have in the White House, we’d probably all be better off.

ARIZONA REPUBLIC