For over 60 years, a country called Malaysia was divided along racial lines between ethnic Malays and non-Malays. And for as long as one could remember, the Malays from UMNO, the political party that dominated the previous government before they were defeated in the last May general election, have been treating the ethic Chinese and Indian as punching bags.
Whenever the UMNO-Malay likes, they would tell the Chinese to go back to China and the Indians to go back to India – despite them being born as third generations, or even earlier, in the country they called their motherland. However, when the UMNO-Malay was told to go back to Indonesia, the non-Malay would be charged for seditious and thrown into prison.
People thought perhaps such deplorable racism only existed in Malaysia. But over the weekend, President Donald Trump, the most powerful man on planet Earth, has taken the United States to a new level when the world leader performed exactly the same stunt as UMNO-Malay – telling four non-white congresswomen leave the U.S. and “go back to Africa!!”
Trump tweeted – “So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run.”
“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infestedplaces 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. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!” – Trump happily unleashed his attacks against the women.
Calling them “the squad”, the four Democratic congresswomen targeted are Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, was born in the Bronx, New York, and raised in suburban Westchester County.
Pressley, the first African American woman elected to the House from Massachusetts, on the other hand, was born in Cincinnati. Born to Palestinian immigrants, Rashida Tlaib was previously slammed by Trump and Republicans for twisting facts and being anti-Semitic – boasting that she was humbled by her ancestors for providing safe haven for Jews after the Holocaust.
Only Omar, who is from Somalia, was not born in America. A Muslim, she was born in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 4, 1982 and came to the US at the age of 12 after a spell in a refugee camp. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, said – “Let’s be clear about what this vile comment is: A racist and xenophobic attack on Democratic congresswomen.”
Shortly after the tweets, Trump left the White House to go golfing at his Virginia club. However, this is not the first time that he has been accused of holding racist views. In his campaign kickoff in June 2015, Trump regarded many Mexican immigrants “rapists.” Last year, Trump wondered why the U.S. was admitting so many immigrants from “shithole countries” like African nations.
While most of the Republicans have chosen to hold their tongues over Trump’s repetitive mocking of arriving immigrants as an “infestation”, his racist remarks have set tongues wagging among the Democrats. Trump’s latest nuclear attack appeared to be defending rival Democratic Speaker Pelosi, who has been seeking to minimize Ocasio-Cortez’s influence.
Ocasio-Cortez has accused Pelosi of trying to marginalize women of color. Apparently, the old guard Pelosi could not see eye to eye with the 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez, who together with Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar formed a squad so daring they refused to give face to veterans like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The so-called four women-immigrants, as Trump would like to call them, labelled Pelosi a racist when the Speaker criticised them for opposing a border spending bill they said failed to protect migrant children from President Donald Trump’s policies. As proof that Pelosi was not a racist, she came to the defence of the four women in the wake of Trump’s latest attack.
On Friday, Trump told reporters that the four women had been “very disrespectful” to Pelosi, saying – “I don’t think that Nancy can let that go on” – suggesting that that four congresswomen have gone too far left. According to Sophia A. Nelson, an MSNBC commentator, Black women are deemed “angry”; while Latina women are deemed “fiery” and Muslim women are “radical.”
However, it’s also true that Trump’s latest racist remarks could be a strategic move to further divides the Democrat caucus, already strained over internal debates on liberal policies and on whether to proceed with impeachment proceedings against Trump. Perhaps it’s true when Nancy Pelosi said – “Trump wants to make America white again”. For that, perhaps Trump will win the 2020 Presidential Election again.
– Finance Twitter
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