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[Page S4814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, over the weekend, President Trump
launched a series of insults at Democratic congresswomen, suggesting
they ``go back'' to the countries they came from, despite the fact that
three of the four were born in the United States and that citizenship
in America, by birth or naturalization, is inherently equal and has
been for centuries.
These lawmakers are women of color. Telling them to ``go back'' to
their countries is one of the oldest and crudest tropes to malign
nonwhite Americans. The President's comments drip with racism.
We don't know why the President woke up on Saturday and made these
comments--perhaps to distract from his administration's barbaric
immigration policy, which rips children away from their parents, even
little children; perhaps to distract from the humanitarian crisis he
has exacerbated at our border and perhaps to detract from his planned
but not really executed deportation raids, which many in his own
bureaucracy do not want to carry out and feel are difficult to carry
out in a fair way because they can't be done fairly. Perhaps it is even
to distract from his administration's attempt to dismantle our
healthcare system through the courts. Maybe the President just feels
comfortable stoking racial divisions in this country. Maybe that is his
milieu. After all, this is part of a pattern of behavior that began
with the birther treatment of President Obama and his characterization
of Mexicans in his announcement speech, continued with his attack on an
American-born judge of Mexican descent, his proposed Muslim ban, his
response to Charlottesville, and includes comments about Caribbean and
African nations that cannot be repeated here on the floor of the
Senate.
Whatever the reason, whatever the motivation, the President's
comments demand condemnation from all corners of the political
spectrum--all corners. It has become frightfully common for many of my
Republican colleagues to let these moments sail by without saying even
a word.
Republican leadership especially rarely criticizes the President
directly, even in a situation like this that so clearly merits it. I am
left to wonder if the silence of many Republicans in the wake of
President Trump's xenophobic tweets is out of embarrassment or
agreement--embarrassment or agreement. Both are inexcusable.
Some of my Republican colleagues are hoping that the President
realizes the error of his ways and disavows or deletes his tweets from
yesterday. But the President just walked out of the White House a few
hours ago and doubled down on his racist comments.
My Republican friends, he is not backing off. Where are you when
something this serious, this bigoted, this un-American, happens? If you
are saying to yourselves ``Well, he got us our big tax cut; well, he's
taking regulations off big corporations; well, he pulled out of the
Paris Accords, so we have to go along with this racism,'' you are
making a deal with the devil. It is so wrong, so wrong.
The President of the United States is supposed to bring this country
together. It is clear this President will not, doesn't want to, and
revels in dividing us. No American President has done this. No American
President has resorted to open and bold-faced bigotry so often. His
goal--President Trump's goal--sadly is not to unite but to divide. That
is how he has climbed the ladder politically, and it is just awful.
It is incumbent on all of us, Democrat and Republican, to call him
out when he does this and remind the President and the country what
America truly stands for. Anything short of that is insufficient and is
un-American.
It could be argued that Republicans who fail to do so because of
shame, because they are afraid of offending the President's supporters,
because they are afraid of the President, or worse, because they agree
with the President--those who fail to condemn the President are fellow
travelers on the President's racist road, whatever their motivation.
Speaker Pelosi has said that the House will introduce a resolution
denouncing the President's comments. Our intention is to do the same in
the Senate. We will see how many Republicans will sign on.
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