Former President Barack Obama on Saturday praised staffers who served in his administration after roughly 150 African-Americans signed an opinion-editorial bashing President Donald Trump’s recent comments regarding the far-left Democrat “Squad.”
“I’ve always been proud of what this team accomplished during my administration. But more than what we did, I’m proud of how they’re continuing to fight for an America that’s better,” Obama, who has largely remained silent about the Trump presidency, wrote on Twitter.
In a Washington Post op-ed published Friday, the ex-Obama administration members wrote they “witnessed firsthand the relentless attacks on the legitimacy of President Barack Obama and his family” from their “front-row seats to America’s first black presidency.”
The op-ed reads:
Witnessing racism surge in our country, both during and after Obama’s service and ours, has been a shattering reality, to say the least. But it has also provided jet-fuel for our activism, especially in moments such as these. We’ve heard this before. Go back where you came from. Go back to Africa. And now, ‘send her back.’ Black and brown people in America don’t hear these chants in a vacuum; for many of us, we’ve felt their full force being shouted in our faces, whispered behind our backs, scrawled across lockers, or hurled at us online. They are part of a pattern in our country designed to denigrate us as well as keep us separate and afraid.
The Obama-era officials then expressed support for the four progressive lawmakers, accusing President Trump of being “complicit in the poisoning of our democracy.”
“We stand with congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, as well as all those currently under attack by President Trump. There is truly nothing more un-American than calling on fellow citizens to leave our country,” the wrote.
Earlier this month, President Trump challenged the “Squad” to leave the U.S., citing their frequent verbal attacks on the country, writing on Twitter: “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.”
During a recent campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina, President Trump’s supporters broke out into a “send her back” chant about Omar, sending Democrats and the establishment media into a tizzy. The president later said he was “not happy” about the chants, and Vice President Mike Pence suggested the president may stop them in the future.
Absent from the op-ed was any mention of various inflammatory and antisemitic comments made by the “Squad.” Omar has repeatedly sparked political firestorms for her anti-Israel comments and pushing anti-Jewish tropes. The Minnesota Democrat has suggested pro-Israel advocacy groups bribe members of Congress to support the Jewish state. In a 2012 tweet, Omar claimed Israel had “hypnotized the world.”
Tlaib has attacked opponents of the anti-Israel BDS movement by claiming, “they forgot what country they represent,” inferring they hold foreign allegiances. In May, the Michigan Democrat said Palestinians provided “safe haven” for Jews following the Holocaust. However, it is widely known Palestinian leaders, including former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Muhammad Amin Al-Husseini, collaborated openly with Adolf Hitler.
She has also met with Abbas Hamideh, a Hezbollah supporter who has described Israel as a “terrorist entity.” Ocasio-Cortez has come under fire for trivializing the Holocaust by comparing immigrant detention centers to concentration camps. Senior White House advisor Stephen Miller, who is Jewish, recently criticized the New York Democrat for likening the two, saying they minimized the “death of six million of my Jewish brothers and sisters.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.