It’s the tweet (or tweets) that some lawmakers have come to dread.
On Sunday, President Donald J. Trump essentially told progressive congresswomen who have been critical of his administration, and in his opinion of America, to “go back” from where they came.
Colorado’s Republican members of Congress have remained largely silent on this latest Twitter controversy, and have not responded to CPR’s requests for comment. But one of them, Rep. Ken Buck, who also chairs the Colorado Republican Party, told Fox News he thinks Trump is "frustrated" with certain members of the House, but that the president didn't use, "the most diplomatic way of trying to address that."
Meanwhile, Colorado Democrats came in quick defense of their colleagues.
The dean of the delegation, Rep. Diana DeGette tweeted that, “The hate and vitriol needs to end. There’s no excuse for such racist and xenophobic comments, especially from the president of the United States.”
Rep. Jason Crow wrote, “President Trump’s racist comments have no place in our national dialogue. We need leaders who will show decency, respect, & common purpose. To intentionally misrepresent & vilify members of Congress for political gain is not only a leadership failure, it's morally reprehensible.”
And Rep. Joe Neguse, who is the child of immigrants, described the President’s tweets as bigoted. He tweeted, "Fact check: 3 of the 4 colleagues of mine he's targeting were born in the U.S. And those of us serving in Congress who immigrated here or are children of immigrants like myself are American. Period."
The four Congresswoman Trump was likely calling out are Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib D-Mich., and Ayanna S. Pressley, D-Mass. Three of the women were born and raised in America, while Omar is a naturalized citizen. She was a refugee from Somalia.
President Trump doubled down on Monday saying, “If you’re not happy here you can leave.” He added that “it doesn’t concern me” that people view the tweets as racist “because many people agree with me.”
One person who doesn’t is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who in recent weeks has had her own conflicts with the progressive wing of her party. These tweets have managed to unify the Democrat party in the house. On Monday, she urged House Democrats to support a resolution condemning the tweets from President Trump.
"The House cannot allow the President’s characterization of immigrants to our country to stand. Our Republican colleagues must join us in condemning the President’s xenophobic tweets," Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Democrats announcing a "forthcoming" resolution.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include Rep. Buck's comments to Fox News. We will continue to update the story as other members of Colorado's delegation comment on this issue.
