'One of the all-time classics!': Trump celebrates Nancy Pelosi being forced to defend the four progressive congresswomen he attacked in racist tweets
- President Donald Trump is celebrating Nancy Pelosi being forced to defend the four progressive congresswomen with whom she had been previously been feuding from his racist Twitter attacks.
- "Look, they played the race card on Nancy Pelosi," Trump said of the congresswomen accusing her of singling out women of color. "She then - it's one of the all-time classics, they played it on Nancy Pelosi!"
- Tensions between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the freshman congresswomen Trump attacked had been brewing for weeks, but Trump telling the lawmakers of color to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came" forced Pelosi to defend them.
Trump told the Daily Mail he "wasn't unhappy" with how the events surrounding his tweets played out, adding, "the only thing they have, that they can do is, now, play the race card..which they've always done."
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President Donald Trump is celebrating Nancy Pelosi being forced to defend the progressive congresswomen with whom she had been previously been feuding from his racist Twitter attacks. Trump described the political episode as "one of the all-time classics" in an interview with the Daily Mail.
"Look, they played the race card on Nancy Pelosi," Trump said of the congresswomen accusing her of singling out women of color. "She then - it's one of the all-time classics, they played it on Nancy Pelosi! And I came to her defense ... she then, a week later, played it on me!" Trump said, calling it "rather amazing."
Tensions between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the freshman Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts reached a fever pitch last week, with Ocasio-Cortez accusing Pelosi of "singling out" women of color after Pelosi criticized the group in an interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
In the interview, Pelosi described the group as "just four people," and had previously scolded Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff for his tweets attacking more moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats.
Trump poured fuel on the fire with a series of racist Sunday tweets that - without using names - suggested that the congresswomen leave America and "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." Three of the four women were born in the United States, with Omar immigrating to America as a refugee from Somalia as a child.
Trump's tweets and subsequent defenses of his comments have since caused a firestorm on Capitol Hill, forcing Pelosi to put aside her disagreements with the four congresswomen and their staffs and come to their defense.
On Tuesday night, the House passed a resolution condemning Trump's tweets as "racist."
Not only did Pelosi defend the lawmakers on the House floor, but she found herself in a procedural skirmish by reading aloud the title of the resolution, which called the president's tweets "racist" - in violation of House procedure - leading to a vote to strike her remarks from the congressional record, which failed.
Trump told the Daily Mail he "wasn't unhappy" with how the events surrounding his tweets played out, adding, "the only thing they have, that they can do is, now, play the race card ... which they've always done."