Trump: One Man Tweet Squad

It's no secret that President Donald Trump likes to control the news coverage by taking to Twitter and talk about anything that crosses his mind.  It's his way of taking attention from Congressional investigations, low poll numbers, or decades-old videos of him palling around with a billionaire who is now accused of having sex with teenage girls.

The latest example?  His Make America White and Male Again crusade against undocumented migrants coming across the U.S.-Mexico border who he thinks doesn't belong here was reaching critical mass, with reports of migrants young and old being held in filthy conditions at overcrowded facilities and ICE going into several cities making raids to deport violators.  So Trump uses Twitter to invite four members of Congress to leave the country.

These four Congresswomen--Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan--are multicultural freshmen Democrats who have made names for themselves as progressives with their youth and outspokenness, sometimes to the dismay of their party.  All were born and/or raised in the United States, with Omar having come from war-torn Somalia.

None of that matters to Trump.  He wrote a tweet that wasn't intended for anybody in particular, but everyone could figure out who he meant.  It reads, in part, that the women should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came".   What people actually heard was "go back to where you came from".

This request has problems on several levels, such as :  Go back to where?  Their place of ethnicity?  Their hometowns?  Raise families?  Stay in the kitchen?  Get a real job?  What?

The President has insisted that he doesn't have a racist bone in his body, and that there are lots of people who agree with him on this issue.  He's called white supremacists "very fine people", his daughter Ivanka is married to a Jewish man, and his wife Melania is an immigrant.  If there is a racist bone in his body, let us see the x-rays.

Outrage over the tweets has led the House of Representatives, on a mostly party line vote, to decide that the President must be censured.  The Republican-controlled Senate probably won't go along.

The GOP is too afraid of Trump, and it's destroying their party.  Many a Republican has seen their careers come crashing down if Trump considers them "weak" or "not loyal enough" for him if they dare cross the line.

Congresswomen Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressly and Tlaib have been putting on a brave face after getting the Trump treatment, because it's possible their careers and lives may be in danger.  Already, shouts of "Send Her Back!" have been aimed in Omar's direction at Trump rallies.

The Democrats have so far not come up with a convincing alternative to Trump in its multitude of presidential candidates for 2020.  But Senators Elizabeth Warren (who was once dubbed "Pocahontas" by Trump), Kamala Harris (who is biracial and spent some time in Montreal) and other candidates of color should be watching their backs while trying to stay on message.

Who's next for President Trump to attack?  LGTBQs?  African-Americans?  Women?  Anyone except Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un?  The more Americans of all shapes, colors and beliefs want to get rid of this President, the more incentive there is for him to put them in their place.

Because, like it or not, Donald Trump is still your President.  At least until November, 2020.