Trump red-baits the Democrats’ most radical quartet into being their party’s public face as he says AOC and other first-term congresswomen might be COMMUNISTS – after Lindsey Graham rebrands them on TV
- Trump maneuvered Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayana Pressley and Rashida Tlaib into defending themselves against his accusations
- The four radical first-term congresswomen, known in D.C. as ‘the squad,’ held a press conference, making them the face of the Democratic Party
- Graham said: ‘We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of communists’
- Trump claimed they ‘might be’ communists but they’re ‘definitely’ socialists
- Democrats in leadership don’t want the left-wing of their party to dominate news headlines since elections will go better for them if moderates have starring roles
Donald Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham re-introduced the concept of red-baiting to American politics on Monday, suggesting that a quartet of left-wing Democratic lawmakers are communists.
By day’s end the president had managed to whip Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib – four of the most outspoken radicals in Congress – into a frenzy, practically daring them to respond.
They did. Their group press conference, while a rambling wreck, established the four first-term congresswomen as the new public faces of the Democratic Party.
A White House official said afterward of Trump: ‘POTUS couldn’t have scripted this any better. They warned against taking the bait, and then they took the bait. Now they’re the party of AOC, and that won’t end well.’
Trump later tweeted an exclamation point to the day: ‘The Dems were trying to distance themselves from the four “progressives,” but now they are forced to embrace them,’ he wrote. ‘That means they are endorsing Socialism, hate of Israel and the USA!’
President Trump baited ‘the squad’ – four far-left first-term Democratic congresswomen – into asserting themselves as the new face of their party on Monday by saying they might all be communists
The four (L-R), Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, held a press conference at the U.S. Capitol following a day of accusations and invective
While they were defending themselves on TV, Trump tweeted that America ‘will never be a Socialist or Communist country,’ with the timing leaving little doubt about his meaning
Graham started the ball rolling early in the morning on ‘Fox & Friends.’
‘We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of communists,’ he said, adding: ‘They’re anti-Semitic. They’re anti-America.’
Trump hinted at it later on the South Lawn of the White House, reflecting on Graham’s choice of words.
‘He said they’re communists. I’m saying that they’re socialists, definitely,’ Trump told reporters. ‘As to whether to not they’re communists, I would think they might be, but this isn’t what our country is about.’
A reporter asked Omar to respond to Trump’s specific assertions that she is ‘a communist’ and ‘pro-Al Qaeda.’ The congresswoman had no answer.
Lindsey Graham said Monday morning that Ocasio-Cortez ‘and this crowd are a bunch of communists,’ adding that ‘they’re anti-Semitic, they’re anti-America’
She spoke instead about how Muslims and other ‘people who are brown and black’ reacted to Trump’s recent tweeted challenge that she and her colleagues should ‘go back where you came from.’
Meanwhile Trump was tweeting the political ‘c’-word – ‘communist’ – and left no doubt about why.
‘We will never be a Socialist or Communist Country,’ he wrote. ‘IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE! It is your choice, and your choice alone. This is about love for America.’
‘Certain people HATE our Country. They are anti-Israel, pro Al-Qaeda, and comment on the 9/11 attack, “some people did something”,’ he added, a reference to Omar’s dismissive comment to an Islamic organization this year.
Graham presaged the day’s political jiu-jitsu, saying on Fox News that the president could do serious harm to Democrats by maneuvering the four ultra-liberal women, known on Capitol Hill as ‘the squad,’ into prominent positions.
‘They wanted to impeach Trump on day one. They’re socialist. They’re anti-Semitic. They stand for all the things that most Americans disagree with,’ Graham said he has counseled the president.
‘Make them the face of the future of the Democratic Party and you will destroy the Democratic party.’
The White House official who spoke with DailyMail.com added on Monday that ‘the day couldn’t have gone better.’