Having told them on Sunday to “go back” to where they came from, yesterday he tweeted: “We will never be a Socialist or Communist Country. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE!” Mr Trump’s remarks came as the US House of Representatives prepared to vote on a symbolic resolution condemning his “xenophobic tweets”. The measure – which would have no force of law – is expected to pass because Democrats have a majority in the House. Mr Trump has never named the women he is criticising directly, but they are thought to be a group of Democrats known as “The Squad” – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. At a press conference in Washington on Monday, the women claimed Mr Trump was trying to distract attention from “failed policies” on immigration, healthcare and taxation.
Miss Omar claimed the President would like “nothing more than to divide our country”, and added: “This is the agenda of white nationalists.”
The proposed resolution means Republicans will have to choose between condemning their own President or backing his comments.
But when asked at a White House press conference if he was worried that his comments chimed with white supremacists, Mr Trump said: “It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me.”
He then tweeted: “Those Tweets were NOT racist. I don’t have a racist bone in my body!”
The president also said the Congresswomen had been “spewing some of the most vile, hateful and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate” and complained they “get a free pass and a big embrace from the Democrat Party”.
Mr Trump’s tweets have prompted a backlash from other world leaders.
Theresa May said the President’s language was “totally unacceptable”, while Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “That is not how we do things in Canada. A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.”