PD Editorial: Trump’s bigoted remarks warrant an unprecedented rebuke

(Editor's note: This editorial was updated following the House vote on Tuesday.)

It's usually best to ignore outrageous remarks by President Donald Trump. There's something new practically every day, after all.

But he stooped to a new low with a bigoted Twitter fusillade aimed at four House members, all of them women of color: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

On Sunday, Trump said they should “go back” to the countries they came from. For that alone, he owes each of them an apology. Instead, he doubled down on Monday, claiming that they “hate our country” and adding that they're free to leave.

He wasn't finished. Trump claimed he was the one who deserved an apology, and as for anyone who didn't like what he said, he declared that they're the real racists.

All four congresswomen are as American as he is. Three of them were born in the United States; the fourth, Omar, is a naturalized citizen, having emigrated from Somalia as a child.

Their political views are fair game. Their race and status as Americans are not.

Maybe Trump is confused by their dark skin and foreign sounding names. Or perhaps he just couldn't resist a familiar, racially loaded trope. Trump, as you may recall, was a vocal leader of a disreputable effort to spread false claims that Barack Obama, the first African American president, wasn't born in the United States and, therefore, wasn't eligible to be president.

He grudgingly acknowledged otherwise in 2016, then started raising doubts again after taking office, White House aides and a U.S. senator told the New York Times last year.

The four women targeted by Trump are political allies, calling themselves “the squad.” They are among the most liberal members of Congress and have been at odds with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other fellow Democrats on a number of issues, including whether to open impeachment hearings.

They're also freshmen members of a legislative body where seniority begets influence and power. Pelosi recently sent them a public message to remember their place in the political pecking order, and they lashed back at the speaker. Trump's remarks unified congressional Democrats, at least temporarily.

On Sunday, Pelosi castigated Trump for his history of racially charged statements, saying his slogan “‘Make America Great Again' has always been about making America white again.”

Republicans often excuse Trump's unpresidential statements, and after a brief silence the party's congressional leaders came to his defense yet again. But his repugnant remarks were too much for some GOP elected officials.

“Aim higher,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said Monday on “Fox & Friends.” “They are American citizens. They won an election. Take on their policies.”

“There is no excuse for the president's spiteful comments - they were absolutely unacceptable and this needs to stop,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said on Twitter.

Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, bluntly called Trump's remarks “racist and xenophobic” and “behavior that's unbecoming of the leader of the free world.”

Unfortunately, partisan tribalism prevailed in the end as only four Republicans joined House Democrats on Tuesday in passing a resolution condemning Trump's “racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.”

The resolution is nonbinding, and Trump is unrepentant. If he wants people to believe him when he says he isn't a racist, he needs to choose his words more carefully. If he doesn't, and we're not optimistic that he will, the House should escalate its response and censure him.

No president has been censured by the House, although the Senate censured President Andrew Jackson (coincidentally, a Trump hero) in 1834. A censure would be a largely symbolic act, but it would be another permanent and indelible stain on Trump's record.

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