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Trump defends his offensive tweets

On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted a highly controversial message telling four newly-elected Democratic women to “go back to where they came from.” Now, Trump is refusing to back down in the face of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats over the racially-charged tweets.

“So interesting to see “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 to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” Trump tweeted on July 14th.

The four Congresswomen targeted by Trump–Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota–held a press conference to respond to Trump. Ocasio-Cortez rebuked Trump, saying, “The first note that I want to tell children across this country is that no matter what the president says, this country belongs to you. And it belongs to everyone.”

Of the four Congresswomen, who call themselves “The Squad,” only one was born overseas. Ilhan Omar came to the U.S. as a child refugee from Somalia.

On Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his comments. “Our Country is Free, Beautiful and Very Successful. If you hate our Country, or if you are not happy here, you can leave!” he tweeted.