US House votes to condemn Trump over his ‘racist’ tweets

Washington, July 17 

In a rare move, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution to condemn President Donald Trump’s “racist” tweets against four non-white Democratic congresswomen who have been critical of his harsh immigration policies.

The vote on Tuesday came days after Trump’s tweets about four newly elected lawmakers — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — triggered widespread uproar.

Trump, on Sunday, in a series of controversial tweets, said that four Democratic Progressive congresswomen should just “go back” to where they came from.

Moved by Congressman Tom Malinowski, the resolution was passed by the 435-member House of Representatives, the Lower House of the US Congress, on a partisan line of 240-184 votes.

The resolution also got support of four Republicans and an Independent in the House where the Democratic Party has a majority. Though the result carries no legal repercussions for President Trump, it was an embarrassing one for him. 

Reproaching a sitting President on the record is an extremely rare in the US House. “It’s not who we are. It is playing with fire because the words that the president used are heard by people with disturbed minds who do terrible things, violent things, and a line needs to be drawn,” Malinowski told the House. “So that’s what we hope to do,” he said.

“These comments from the White House are disgraceful and disgusting and these comments are racist,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during the debate. Trump had been accused of racism and xenophobia for telling the members of congress to leave the country. The President has since tweeted: “I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!” 

Congresswoman Grace Meng said President Trump’s comments are “racist” and his vile rants on Twitter are beyond the pale, and show his callous disregard for the office he holds. — PTI

Little political damage 

• Trump has a history of what critics consider race-baiting. He led a movement that falsely claimed Barack Obama, America’s first black President, was not born in the US
• A Reuters poll this week showed little immediate political damage from his latest tweetstorm. Support among Republicans increased slightly, while he lost support with Democrats and independents after the comments