“I will always refer to him as the occupant as he is only occupying space,” said Rep. Pressley, explaining that she would not give Trump the title of president.
By World Israel News Staff
The war of words continued on Monday between U.S. President Donald Trump and four “radical” members of Congress from the Democratic Party.
“When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said. So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions!” the president tweeted.
Trump was apparently referring to Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Rashida Tlaib (MI), and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.). The four women of color are known in Congressional corridors as The Squad.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted a suggestion that they “could go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.” Only Omar was born outside the U.S., coming from Somalia
On Monday, at the White House Rose Garden, Trump said: “They’re complaining all the time,” and then added: “Very simply, you can leave. You can leave right now. Come back if you want, don’t come back, that’s okay too. But if you’re not happy, you can leave… and you know what? I’m sure that there will be many people that won’t miss them.”
Omar, Ocasio-Cortez, and Tlaib have been outspoken in their criticism of Israel as a state as opposed to simply attacking government policy.
Omar has used a number of anti-Semitic tropes in her comments. Both she and Tlaib have been connected to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is said to be linked to Hamas and whose leaders have compared Israel to ISIS.
Ocasio-Cortez has accused Israel of committing a massacre in the Gaza Strip. She also compared the U.S. detention centers along the Mexican borders to concentration camps.
In response to the president’s comments, the four held a news conference late Monday afternoon, with Omar coming out hitting with a series of vulgarities: “This is a president who has said ‘grab women by the pu–y,’ this is a president who has called black athletes ‘sons of bit–es,’ this is a president who has called people who come from black and brown countries ‘sh–holes.'” she said, charging that “this is the agenda of white nationalists.”
Fox News noted afterward that “Trump, in fact, had called those who kneel during the national anthem ‘sons of bit–es,’ not black athletes generally. And his comments concerning ‘sh–holes’ referred to places, not individuals.”
Refusing to refer to Trump as president, Pressley told the news conference: “I will always refer to him as the occupant as he is only occupying space.”
She charged that “he does not embody the grace, the empathy, the compassion, the integrity that that office requires and that the American people deserve.”