Trump accuses Pelosi of ‘racist statement’ for saying MAGA means ‘make America white again’
President Trump on Monday hit Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for saying that his slogan of “Make America Great Again,” would more accurately be described as “make America white again.”
“Speaker Pelosi said ‘make America white again,’ that’s a very racist statement,” Trump told reporters at Monday’s White House event celebrating American manufacturing.
It was unclear if Trump, currently taking criticism for telling multiple congresswomen of color to “go back” to where they came from, understood the context in which Pelosi had made the comment.
{mosads}It appeared that Trump may have misheard a reporter’s question and suggested Pelosi herself was saying she wanted to “make America white again,” though the Speaker meant the remark as an accusation of racism against the president.
Reporters pointed that out to Trump while he was condemning the statement, but he did not appear to react to what they said.
In Trump’s under-fire tweets, which were directed at freshmen Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), he suggested they “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Pelosi responded to Trump’s tweet on Sunday, saying that when the president “tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making America white again.”
When @realDonaldTrump tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to “Make America Great Again” has always been about making America white again.
Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power. https://t.co/ODqqHneyES
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 14, 2019
Trump’s remarks about the Democratic lawmakers have been widely criticized, and on Monday Pelosi urged her colleagues to adopt a resolution condemning them as “xenophobic.”
“The House cannot allow the President’s characterization of immigrants to our country to stand. Our Republican colleagues must join us in condemning the President’s xenophobic tweets,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Democrats announcing a “forthcoming” resolution from Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), who was born in Poland, and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
Trump has not retreated from his initial remarks, saying they are not racist and claiming the four lawmakers are “not happy” in America.
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