Trump's Xenophobia And Racism Is Very Appealing To Some In Tennessee

Elaine Chao, Trump's Secretary of Transportation-- and Mitch McConnell's beard-- was born in Taiwan and Trump's Secretary of Veteran's Affairs, Robert Wilkie, was born in Germany. Texas Senator Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Currently 28 members of Congress were born in other countries, including close Trump crony, Mark Meadows, who was born in France. Among the naturalized Americans in Congress today are Stephanie Murphy (Vietnam), Ilhan Omar (Somalia), Adriano Espaillat (Dominican Republic), Ted Lieu (Taiwan), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (Ecuador), Norma Torres (Guatemala), Salud Carbajal (Mexico), Chuy Garcia (Mexico), Albio Sires (Cuba), Pramila Jayapal (India) and Mazie Hirono (Japan).

A normal American president would be thanking them for their service to the country and celebrating the fact that they chose to become citizens of the U.S. But no one ever accused Trump or being a normal American president. Many people have noted that, at least technically, he isn't even a legitimate president, since Russia helped to put him into the White House by stealing the 2016 election.

Sunday morning Trump was ranting and raving on Twitter about how "'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 too be run. Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places 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!"

Ted Lieu was on MSNBC a couple of hours later and he noted that Trump is a "racist ass." Want the full context? "I never thought I’d see the day when a president was telling immigrants to go back to where we came from. Donald Trump is demonstrating he’s a racist ass. He’s not uniting us. I can’t wait until he leaves the office of the presidency." James Slack, a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she thinks "the language used to refer to these women was completely unacceptable." Bloomberg reported that "May’s comments are likely to put pressure on the two rivals to succeed her, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson, to join her in denouncing the president’s language when they take part in a live debate on Tuesday evening." The head of Britain's Conservative Party is calling at Trump-- knowing full well he will attack her as soon as he hears about it, while not ONE Republican congressmember has said "boo." Where is John Katko? Fred Upton? Brian Fitzpatrick? Elise Stefanik? Lee Zeldin? Peter King? Doug LaMalfa? Where's Mario Diaz-Balart, Don Bacon, Michael McCaul and Jaime Herrera Buetler? All hiding out! Not a peep out of any of these morally bankrupt enablers! (UPDATE: Texas Republican Will Hurd, the party's only African American member in Congress-- and who represents a 70% Latino district, was just on CNN and he agreed that Trump's tweets were racist. That's one.)




Earlier today, Señor Trumpanzee tried defending his Sunday tweets telling the 4 Democratic women of color to go back to the "broken and crime infested" countries they came from, apparently unaware that 3 were born in the U.S.A., and asserting, falsely, to reporters, "These are people that hate our country." When asked if he was concerned that most people see his disgusting tweets as racist, he said, "It doesn't concern me because many people agree with me." That's true; many do-- basically his own revolting Know Nothing racist base. Meanwhile, congressional Democrats rallied behind the AOC, Ilhan, Ayanna and Rashida-- and Pelosi is scheduling a vote on a resolution condemning Trump's comments. This will force every Republican to take a stand. I wonder if it will make any of her "Majority Makers" uncomfortable too.

Milwaukie, Oregon Mayor Mark Gamba, like Ted Lieu, wants Trump to know what he thinks of his racist, xenophobic and unAmerica attack on the 4 congresswomen. "The Conman in Chief is terrified of the four young congresswomen because even at his level of self delusion he recognizes what true patriots look and sound like. He recognizes that if they can start to shift our country towards a direction that truly serves the 99%, his game is up as is that of all the status-quo corporate sellouts. I stand with @AOC, @RashidaTlaib, @IlhanMN, @AyannaPressley."

Jim Himes, a congressman from Connecticut who was born in Peru, told us a couple of hours after Trump's crazy tweet storm, that "Once again Trump demonstrates the contempt he holds for people of color and those he doesn’t deem sufficiently American because they’re not of European descent. Apart from betraying our country’s core values, he is encouraging white nationalism. This white guy is not holding his breath for the President’s demand that I return to Peru, the country of my birth."

It's worth remembering that although Ilhan Omar was born in Somalia-- but has been living in Minnesota since she was 10 years old-- the other 3 women Trump was attacking were all born in the U.S. Ayanna Pressley was born in Cincinnati. AOC was born in New York City. And Rashida Tlaib was born in Detroit, which she now represents in Congress. Ilhan responded by e-mailing her constituents that "Trump knows exactly what he is doing with this bigoted attack. He’s stoking white nationalism because he is angry that I am serving in Congress and fighting against his hate-filled agenda.

Since the beginning of Trump’s time in office he has tried to ban immigrants from Somalia from entering our country. He may have succeeded in getting his Muslim ban but he won’t succeed in banning my voice and fight.

I will fight each and every day to repeal the ban and put it into the dustbin of history where it belongs.

His administration has created and is fueling a human rights crisis on our southern border. He is keeping children in cages, detaining immigrants for profit, forcing people to live in unsanitary conditions separated from their loved ones. I have spoken out about these terrible conditions at every turn, have called for abolishing ICE, and voted ‘no’ on the recent bill to give the Trump administration more funding on the southern border with zero oversight or accountability.

I have repeatedly called for impeachment proceedings to begin in the House because we have a constitutional responsibility to investigate Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Donald Trump is lashing out at me because I am fighting back against his hate-filled policies at every turn and that makes me a target. I am fighting for an agenda that is supported by the American people and that terrifies him.

By telling me that I should return to Somalia, Trump is trying to silence the voices of the people I represent. But I will always fight for what is right and will never back down in the face of Trump’s attacks on me.

I didn’t run for Congress to sit on the sidelines. I ran to restore moral clarity to Congress and to fight for and defend our democracy. And that is exactly what I plan to continue doing. Donald Trump lashing out at Alexandria, Ayanna, Rashida, and me shows that he is threatened and angry about our progressive, for-the-people movement.

One Republican congressman finally spoke up. Maryland's one Republican, far right crackpot Andy Harris, defended Señor Trumpanzee‘s tweets, telling a Baltimore radio station, WBAL, that they were not racist. "They’re obviously not racist. But again, when anyone disagrees with someone now the default is to call them a racist, and this no exception." So there you go! Harris' gerrymandered district-- by the Democratic-controlled legislature-- packs every Republican within reason into one big red district in otherwise all-blue Maryland. The state's PVI is a nice healthy D+12-- and Harris' is R+14. Trump beat Hillary there 62.0% to 33.4%, while statewide, she beat Trump 1,677,928 (60.33%) to 943,169 (33.91%).

Has anyone connected Trump's penchant for putting women and children into concentration camps with his German ancestry? Maybe instead of slamming these 4 women of color working for all of us in Congress, Trump should join Ted Cruz in condemning therapist Republican governor of Tennessee for honoring the founder of the KKK. Because of Bill Lee's proclamation, Saturday was officially Nathan Bedford Forrest Day in Tennessee, as it has been since 1921.

If if Trump refuses to condemn the Tennessee governor, Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents Memphis in Congress, sure did: "We should not be honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and the perpetrator of the massacre at Fort Pillow. Gov. Lee should be bringing Tennessee into the 21st century not backsliding into the 19th."

In Trump's world Forrest is the "real" American while AOC and her colleagues are not. Here's a biographical sketch of Forrest-- so you can decide for yourself:

Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most polarizing figures of the Civil War era, was born July 13, 1821 in Chapel Hill, Tennessee-- a small town on the Duck River. When his father, a blacksmith, died when he was 16, Forrest moved to the Memphis Delta and eventually became a successful businessman-- indeed a millionaire-- dealing in cotton, land and slaves.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Forrest volunteered as a private before deciding to raise and equip an entire unit at his own expense. He was commissioned lieutenant colonel, and issued this call to arms in June, 1861:

“I wish none but those who desire to be actively engaged. COME ON BOYS, IF YOU WANT A HEAP OF FUN AND TO KILL SOME YANKEES”

In February 1862, Forrest’s unit was stationed at Fort Donelson on the Cumberland when Gen. Ulysses S. Grant forced its surrender. Rather than accept Gen. Buckner’s decision to capitulate, Forrest and his men slipped away, through the snow, and fought at the Battle of Shiloh less than two months later. That summer he began to make the kind of lightning raids that made him perhaps the single most feared cavalry commander of the entire war and earned him the nickname “the wizard of the saddle.”

He was promoted to brigadier general and at the close of the year made himself a thorn in the side of Grant’s Vicksburg campaign, disrupting his lines of communication and attacking his supply depots. During a skirmish at Parker’s Crossroads on New Year’s Eve, Forrest and his men were totally surprised when a Union force suddenly appeared in their rear and threatened to surround them. “Charge ‘em both ways,” Forrest famously ordered. They did, and were able to escape the trap and to fight another day. Constantly on the move, bold on the attack and swift in retreat, no Union commander was able to effectively come to grips with Forrest’s cavalry during the war.  In September, they took part in the great battle of the Western Theater: Chickamauga. Forrest’s men pursued the retreating Union army into Chattanooga and took hundreds of prisoners. In December, 1863 he was again promoted to major general.

The following spring, in April 1864, Forrest and his men were involved in one of the most controversial episodes of the Civil War. After surrounding Fort Pillow, near Memphis, Forrest demanded the surrender of the garrison, which included 262 soldiers of the U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery. When the Union forces refused, Forrest’s men easily overran the fort. Then, according to several eyewitness accounts, the Confederates, enraged by the sight of black men in Federal uniform, executed many of the colored troops after they had surrendered: an unambiguous war crime.  Though accounts varied, the incident stands as one of the most gruesome of the Civil War era; “Remember Fort Pillow” became a rallying-cry for African-American soldiers throughout the Union Army.

Later in the summer, Forrest won one of his greatest victories at Brice’s Cross Roads, defeating a force twice the size of his own. His legend was constantly growing. That year, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman declared: “that devil Forrest must be hunted down and killed if it costs ten thousand lives and bankrupts the federal treasury.”

Forrest continued to torment the Union high command as the war entered its fourth year. In February, 1865 Forrest was again promoted, to lieutenant general, becoming the only man on either side to rise so far. When Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant in April, Forrest surrendered as well, declaring that, “any man who is in favor of a further prosecution of this war is a fit subject for a lunatic asylum.” Over the course of the conflict, Forrest had given as much as probably any man for the cause.  He had 29 horses shot from under him, killed or seriously wounded at least thirty enemy soldiers in hand-to-hand combat, and had been himself wounded four times.

After the war, Forrest is best known as having been a prominent figure in the foundation of the Ku Klux Klan, a group composed of mostly Confederate veterans committed to violent intimidation of blacks, northerners and republicans. He was “Grand Wizard” until he ordered the dissolution of the organization in 1869. Forrest died of diabetes in Memphis on October 29, 1877.

UPDATE: Mike Siegel's follow up:

I stand with Ilhan.

If you’ve been on this list for a while, you know I don’t spend much energy talking about the President. You hear enough about Trump elsewhere, I’m sure, and I prefer to focus on the concrete work we are doing here in the Texas 10th to improve the lives of the people.

But what the President said yesterday deserves comment. In essence, Trump told four members of Congress-- all women, from diverse racial backgrounds-- to “go back to where you came from.” A racist message, based on the assumption that only white people are “from here.”  Nonsensical, to an extent, given that three of the Representatives are American-born. But also targeted: in particular at Rep. Ilhan Omar, a naturalized U.S. citizen who arrived here as a refugee from Somalia.

Trump thinks that attacking Omar, who is Muslim, Black, and progressive, is good politics.

We need to show the world he is dead wrong.

Mike's young family

I was lucky enough to be born in this country. But I come from a family that includes Jewish ancestors, who came here as refugees; much of our family was not so lucky, unfortunately, and perished in the Holocaust. I also come from a family that includes Protestant ancestors, who came here as refugees, fleeing religious persecution. And so many of us have similar histories: how we came here, recently or generations ago, for sanctuary and opportunity.

And that, truly, is what makes America great. Despite the structural flaws in this country, the history of injustice and inequality, there is also a recurring theme: of families from around the world, from hundreds of countries and cultures, who arrived here to build a better life, not just for themselves, but for all of us.

And the attack on Rep. Omar-- at the same time we are locking up asylum seekers in concentration camps, and announcing nationwide “raids” to terrorize immigrant communities-- is an attack on the promise of America itself. Trump knows he cannot win if the diverse, open-hearted people of this country come together. His regime only prospers through division, fear and hatred.

We must fight back. We must stand up for Rep. Omar-- not just because she is an important voice and leader, a loving community member and sincere and committed representative, but also because she represents the best of this country. The promise of a better life. The poetry inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, that all will be welcome within these borders.

So let’s stand up for Ilhan. Let’s stand up for refugees. Let’s stand up for all of the marginalized communities in this country. Let’s unite across cultures and differences.

Together, we are strong. Unbeatable, even. And Trump knows that. Let’s make sure his days are numbered.