Cheap shots reveal a very weak man
But it is not part of Trump's job to declare, as he then typed in the same tweet, "Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came...."?
Places from which they came? Right. Like Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts and New York. "Go back" where? Is he too lazy to bother with learning anything about the people whom he insults before he insults them?
All four women are American citizens -- born in the United States, except Omar who is a naturalized citizen, born in Somalia. But, to Trump, all Democratic women of color in Congress apparently look alike.
I hope our country's president is not as deranged as he sounds. Surely he knows that our elected lawmakers -- regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin -- have as much of a right to praise or criticize our country as he did when he launched his presidency with his dark "American carnage" inaugural address.
Now his rant about the squad sounds like the "America Love It Or Leave It" bumper stickers from the Vietnam War era.
And his rhetorical attempt to devalue their citizenship sounds like birtherism on steroids -- or, to put it more bluntly, identity politics for white folks.
In that vein, Trump was asked at an impromptu news conference Monday if he was concerned that white nationalists had found common cause with him after he said the four progressive Democrats should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."
"It doesn't concern me because many people agree with me," Trump said. "And all I'm saying is if they want to leave, they can leave."
Yes, many people agree with President Trump, I am sure. Many of them are racists and sexists, although, as Trump said about Mexican immigrants, "some, I am sure, are good people."
Yes, Trump appears to be sticking with his base-focused strategy to the end, even though his lack of outreach has made him the first president since polling began to fail to rise above 50% approval in major polls this late in his presidency.
Perhaps Trump is old, bold and craven enough to rely on duplicating the narrowly focused divide-and-conquer strategy that managed to win the Electoral College in 2016 with all of that dark "American Carnage" divisiveness.
That's not a very brave approach, but he is not a very brave man. He's just weak.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2019 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
