« Asked by reporters if his message [to four Congresswomen—Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib—four women of color, that they should “go back” to the countries “from which they came”, bearing in mind they are all US-born except Omar who arrived at the age of 3 as a refugee] had been racist, Trump, of course, neither apologized nor retreated.
He amplified his message. “If you’re not happy here, then you can leave,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, if you hate our country, if you’re not happy here, you can leave. And that’s what I say all the time.”
“That’s what I said in a tweet, which I guess some people think is controversial—a lot of people love it, by the way,” he went on. “A lot of people love it. But if you’re not happy in the U.S., if you’re complaining all the time, very simply, you can leave. You can leave right now. Come back if you want. Don’t come back. That’s O.K., too. But if you’re not happy, you can leave.”
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From an article by David Remnick in the NewYorker, « A racist in the White House », July 2019.