NDP Chair Jane Kleeb on Monday pressed Nebraska’s congressional delegation to condemn racist comments President Trump made in a weekend tweet widely known to be aimed at four Democratic congresswomen.
Kleeb said that Reps. Don Bacon, Jeff Fortenberry and Adrian Smith and Sens. Ben Sasse and Deb Fischer — all Republicans and all remaining silent — should call out Trump.
Trump’s tweet said, in part: “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough.”
“Communities of color often hear the racist refrain ‘go back to your country’ screamed at them on the streets. And to now hear this from the President of the United States is unacceptable and must be condemned,” Kleeb said. “Nebraskans deserve an answer from our Members of Congress on whether they agree with Trump’s words.”
Trump’s tweet is widely known to be aimed at Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Pressley are natural-born U.S. citizens, while Omar was born in Somalia and immigrated to the U.S. when she was young. Omar became a citizen in 2000 when she was 17 years old, according to the New York Times.
“Our party hopes that Nebraska’s media outlets press Bacon, Fortenberry, Smith, Sasse and Fischer to go on the record about Trump’s racists comments,” Kleeb said. “How can our Members of Congress represent a state that welcomes the most political refugees in the nation on a per-capita basis and relies on communities of color for critical aspects of our state’s economy, including our Ag sector, and then remain silent in the face of the latest Trump attacks?”
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