In case there was ever any doubt about just how racist Donald Trump is, the president’s Twitter fingers on Sunday more than confirmed exactly how he feels about Black and brown people who pose a threat to him. In no uncertain terms, the president tweeted that certain progressive Congresswomen of color should “go back” to where they came from.
Aside from how imbecilic a tweet that was (three of the four women he was probably tweeting about were born in the U.S.), Trump employed one of the oldest racist adages in the book: the old “go back to [name a ‘shithole’ country].” Democrats quickly condemned the tweets as racist while mainstream media reported the comments as racially charged instead of calling it what it is.
But Republicans have largely remained silent. That is, until Monday morning when former Utah Rep. Mia Love, who is Black, went on national live TV to head-scratchingly express how unsure she was whether the series of tweets from Sunday that Trump more than doubled-down on Monday morning proved the president is racist.
When Love was asked if she’s ever been told “to go back to a country from which you came from or which your ancestors came from,” Love appeared to play dumb.
“Oh, gosh,” she said. “The country I came from was the United States, the country I was born in.”
When Love waffled on answering whether she thought the tweets were racist, she got called out.
“You were asked if you thought the tweet the president sent out about the four women was racist and you said you didn’t like the word,” CNN contributor Frank Bruni said to Love.
“I did not run away from it,” Love replied. “I do not like using that word. I’m not going to get into the mind of somebody.”
Twitter was ablaze during and after the interview, with users in disbelief that Love wouldn’t use the opportunity to call out Trump’s behavior for exactly what it is. She certainly had no problem doing that last year after Trump called her homeland and other black and Brown nations “shithole countries.”
Love even wrote to her Republican colleagues after she was voted out of office and pleaded with them to connect with Black people after Trump mocked her losing midterm election efforts in November.
However, a closer look revealed that Love was weighing another run for congress in Utah. Chances are that her former constituents, who are 88 percent white, share similar views to the president.
Love was probably in campaign mode when she appeared on New Day Monday morning, but her comments likely did more damage to her credibility than it helped her chances of getting elected to Congress again.
Raw Story shared a clip of the interview.
In the meantime, Twitter users had a field day calling out Love for appearing to defend a president who has been open about his disdain for Black people, especially women. Scroll down to see a sample of tweets calling out Love.