In a morning tweetstorm, Trump accused The Washington Post of using 'phony sources' and says he doesn't believe the 'Squad' is 'capable of loving our Country'
- In a series of Sunday morning tweets, President Donald Trump once again fueled his feud with the "Squad" of freshman congresswomen that includes Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib.
- Trump tweeted that he doesn't believe the four congresswomen "are capable of loving our Country," and that "They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said."
- The president also tweeted an accusation that The Washington Post used "phony sources" in a story about his North Carolina rally and his previous racist tweets that ask the congresswomen to "go back" to their countries.
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President Donald Trump poured more fuel on his week-long feud with the "Squad" of progressive freshman congresswomen in a series of tweets Sunday morning that say he doesn't believe Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib "are capable of loving our Country."
"They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said," Trump continued on in his tweet. "They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!"
Trump was seemingly referencing February tweets from Omar critiquing Israeli lobbying in the US, which some lawmakers said contained anti-Semitic undertones.
Trump's tweet joins a pile-on of racist rhetoric he ignited a week ago when he tweeted that the congresswomen should "go back" to their "broken and crime infested countries," despite three out of four of the women being born in the US, and all four being US citizens and elected representatives.
The tweets incited Trump supporters to chant "Send her back" at a Trump rally in North Carolina, which The Washington Post published an article about yesterday, relying on sources within the Trump administration to report on the backlash from within his own circle of family members and advisers.
Trump tweeted about that article, too, Sunday morning, accusing the Post of using "phony sources who do not exist" to write "Fake News." His tweet also claims that "The only thing people were talking about is the record setting crowd and the tremendous enthusiasm, far greater than the Democrats," likely referring to the people within his adminstration.
The Washington Post's story reports that Trump acted impulsively and alone when he sent out the racist tweets last week, and his trusted inner circle, including senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and Sen. Lindsey Graham, felt he had crossed a line that angered his Republican allies and enraged his political opponents, giving them a chance to unify themselves publicly, like the "Squad" did in a joint press conference.
Trump's Sunday morning tweets also included one that just said "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" and one that said "Presidential Harassment!"
An hour before his attack on the four congresswomen, he tweeted that there had been "Big Progress at the Border," but that Democrats must change immigration laws to "End the Loopholes and much more." He retweeted a Fox News segment about Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, starting a "Women for Trump" coalition.
Trump also tweeted that "The Great State of West Virginia is producing record setting numbers and doing really well," as compared to before his presidency, when it "was practically shut down."
It is unclear what numbers Trump is referring to, but West Virginia made national headlines yesterday when federal prosecutors in Ohio filed charges against a pharmaceutical wholesaler, two executives, and two pharmacists for conspiring to illegally distribute opioid painkillers to millions of people in vulnerable areas of Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
In his earliest original tweet Sunday morning, Trump tweeted that he would "help Angel Mom [...] with Twitter," referring to a conservative account led by Mary Ann Mendoza, an anti-immigration activist whose Twitter bio says her son, a police sergeant named Brandon Mendoza, was "killed by a repeat illegal alien criminal."
It appears that Mendoza's account was briefly suspended by Twitter, but has since been restored. Mendoza didn't immediately respond to INSIDER's request for comment.