[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 118 (Monday, July 15, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S4814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, over the weekend, President Trump 
launched a series of insults at Democratic congresswomen, suggesting 
they ``go back'' to the countries they came from, despite the fact that 
three of the four were born in the United States and that citizenship 
in America, by birth or naturalization, is inherently equal and has 
been for centuries.
  These lawmakers are women of color. Telling them to ``go back'' to 
their countries is one of the oldest and crudest tropes to malign 
nonwhite Americans. The President's comments drip with racism.
  We don't know why the President woke up on Saturday and made these 
comments--perhaps to distract from his administration's barbaric 
immigration policy, which rips children away from their parents, even 
little children; perhaps to distract from the humanitarian crisis he 
has exacerbated at our border and perhaps to detract from his planned 
but not really executed deportation raids, which many in his own 
bureaucracy do not want to carry out and feel are difficult to carry 
out in a fair way because they can't be done fairly. Perhaps it is even 
to distract from his administration's attempt to dismantle our 
healthcare system through the courts. Maybe the President just feels 
comfortable stoking racial divisions in this country. Maybe that is his 
milieu. After all, this is part of a pattern of behavior that began 
with the birther treatment of President Obama and his characterization 
of Mexicans in his announcement speech, continued with his attack on an 
American-born judge of Mexican descent, his proposed Muslim ban, his 
response to Charlottesville, and includes comments about Caribbean and 
African nations that cannot be repeated here on the floor of the 
Senate.

  Whatever the reason, whatever the motivation, the President's 
comments demand condemnation from all corners of the political 
spectrum--all corners. It has become frightfully common for many of my 
Republican colleagues to let these moments sail by without saying even 
a word.
  Republican leadership especially rarely criticizes the President 
directly, even in a situation like this that so clearly merits it. I am 
left to wonder if the silence of many Republicans in the wake of 
President Trump's xenophobic tweets is out of embarrassment or 
agreement--embarrassment or agreement. Both are inexcusable.
  Some of my Republican colleagues are hoping that the President 
realizes the error of his ways and disavows or deletes his tweets from 
yesterday. But the President just walked out of the White House a few 
hours ago and doubled down on his racist comments.
  My Republican friends, he is not backing off. Where are you when 
something this serious, this bigoted, this un-American, happens? If you 
are saying to yourselves ``Well, he got us our big tax cut; well, he's 
taking regulations off big corporations; well, he pulled out of the 
Paris Accords, so we have to go along with this racism,'' you are 
making a deal with the devil. It is so wrong, so wrong.
  The President of the United States is supposed to bring this country 
together. It is clear this President will not, doesn't want to, and 
revels in dividing us. No American President has done this. No American 
President has resorted to open and bold-faced bigotry so often. His 
goal--President Trump's goal--sadly is not to unite but to divide. That 
is how he has climbed the ladder politically, and it is just awful.
  It is incumbent on all of us, Democrat and Republican, to call him 
out when he does this and remind the President and the country what 
America truly stands for. Anything short of that is insufficient and is 
un-American.
  It could be argued that Republicans who fail to do so because of 
shame, because they are afraid of offending the President's supporters, 
because they are afraid of the President, or worse, because they agree 
with the President--those who fail to condemn the President are fellow 
travelers on the President's racist road, whatever their motivation.
  Speaker Pelosi has said that the House will introduce a resolution 
denouncing the President's comments. Our intention is to do the same in 
the Senate. We will see how many Republicans will sign on.

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