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Rabat – The US President may provoke more than just a media backlash with his recent comments targeting four American congresswomen, who are all women of color, telling them to go back to “the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
Believing something must be done to formally condemn Trump for his racist comments, Democratic leaders are pushing for Trump to be censured or possibly impeached.
The US Senate describes a censure as a measure that does not remove an official from office but instead “provides a formal statement of disapproval, that can have a powerful psychological effect on a member and his/her relationships in the Senate.”
President Andrew Jackson was the first and only US President to ever be censured, and that was in 1834, over 180 years ago, meaning Trump’s possible censure would carry significant weight.
Trump’s comments “do not belong in Congress or in the United States of America”
On Tuesday evening, the House of Representatives voted on a nonbinding resolution that affirms support for immigrants and condemns Trump’s comments. The House successfully passed the measure, even though just four Republicans out of 197 voted for the resolution.
“President Donald Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color: Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the House of Representatives […] condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments,” said the resolution from the senate.
The comments “have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color by saying that our fellow Americans who are immigrants, and those who may look to the President like immigrants, should “go back” to other countries.”
Trump’s statements “referring to immigrants and asylum seekers as “invaders”, and by saying that Members of Congress who are immigrants (or those of our colleagues who are wrongly assumed to be immigrants) do not belong in Congress or in the United States of America,” said the concluding words in the resolution.
Democrats calling for further action to be taken
While the resolution shows where the House of Representatives stands in regards to Trump’s racist comments, it is still not an official censure and Democrats are calling for further action to be taken.
“This sends a very, very clear message,” New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. said of the condemnation resolution. “But a censure … is more forceful.”
Some Democrats are calling for an even more extreme measure: impeachment. Impeachment would remove Trump from office, and the measure has only been taken against two US Presidents before.
On Wednesday, Texas Democrat Al Green filed a resolution to impeach Trump, but the measure failed to gain support, with 332 voting against it. However, a total of 95 Democrats voted in favor of the measure, showing a marked increase for Green’s two previous attempts to impeach Trump, in 2017 and 2018.
Green said after Wednesday’s vote that he did not view it as a failure. “We got 95 votes this time, 66 the last time. So that’s a plus. But whether we get 95 or five, the point is we have to make a statement.”
Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, said she did not want to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump until an ironclad case is built against him.
“We have six committees that are working on following the facts in terms of any abuse of power, obstruction of justice and the rest that the president may have engaged in. That is the serious path that we are on,” Pelosi told reporters on Wednesday.
Trump continues to stick to his statements
During all the commotion over his statements in the House of Representatives, Trump was at a rally in North Carolina.
At the rally, he again accused the 4 congresswomen he originally targeted – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who were all born in the US with the exception of Omar who came to the US as a refugee from Somali aged 12 -of “hating America.”
As he talked, the crowd cheered him on – chanting “Send her back! Send her back!”
Trump also took to Twitter on Wednesday, where the controversy first began, to again attack the four women, calling them the “four horsemen of the apocalypse” and “wackjobs.”
“In America, if you hate our Country, you are free to leave. The simple fact of the matter is, the four Congresswomen think that America is wicked in its origins, they think that America is even more wicked now, that we are all racist and evil. They’re entitled to their…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 17 juillet 2019
…opinion, they’re Americans. Now I’m entitled to my opinion, & I just think they’re left wing cranks. They’re the reason there are directions on a shampoo bottle, & we should ignore them. The “squad” has moved the Democrat Party substantially LEFT, and…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 17 juillet 2019
….they are destroying the Democrat Party. I’m appalled that so many of our Presidential candidates are falling all over themselves to try to agree with the four horsewomen of the apocalypse. I’m entitled to say that they’re Wack Jobs.” Louisiana Senator John Kennedy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 17 juillet 2019
In response to the impeachment movement, he said it “ridiculous” and “should never happen to US President again,” especially to a president who “has led greatest Economic BOOM in the history of our Country, the best job numbers, biggest tax reduction, rebuilt military and much more.”
The United States House of Representatives has just overwhelmingly voted to kill the Resolution on Impeachment, 332-95-1. This is perhaps the most ridiculous and time consuming project I have ever had to work on. Impeachment of your President, who has led the….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 17 juillet 2019
….Greatest Economic BOOM in the history of our Country, the best job numbers, biggest tax reduction, rebuilt military and much more, is now OVER. This should never be allowed to happen to another President of the United States again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 17 juillet 2019
