Trump Suggests Four American Congresswomen Go Back To The Countries They Came From, Three Of Which Are The United States

WASHINGTON. President Donald Trump on Sunday offered a series of unsolicited geographic recommendations to four sitting members of the United States Congress, advising the Democratic lawmakers to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," a directive complicated by the fact that three of the four were born in the United States and all four currently help govern it.

The tweets, aimed at Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, characterized the women as foreign in origin despite their being American citizens, three by birth and one by naturalization. Officials clarified that the President's instruction to return to other countries applied specifically to four women who, between them, represent several million Americans in the legislative branch.

"If you're not happy in the U.S., if you're complaining all the time, very simply you can leave," the President told reporters at the White House, articulating a residency standard that, if applied uniformly, would require the relocation of a substantial share of the electorate. He added that the congresswomen "hate our country," a charge he leveled at four people who had recently sworn an oath to defend its Constitution.

The House of Representatives voted days later to formally condemn the remarks as racist, a rebuke the President cited as further proof of his own popularity. At a subsequent campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina, the crowd responded to the mention of Representative Omar by chanting "send her back," a phrase the President absorbed in silence for roughly thirteen seconds before later maintaining that he had tried to stop it.

Sources within the administration described the week as a productive one, noting that the President had managed to unite the entire Democratic caucus, command every news cycle, and field-test a 2020 campaign message, all before the following Monday. Allies praised the episode as a return to fundamentals, observing that the strategy required no legislation, no budget, and no country other than the one the women already lived in.

At press time, the President was said to be reviewing a map of the United States to determine which of its citizens were sufficiently happy to be permitted to stay.