Four House Republicans Crossed the Aisle to Condemn Trump’s Tweet
Four House Republicans broke rank Tuesday to vote with their Democratic colleagues in favor of a resolution condemning the Twitter tirade that President Trump directed at four progressive freshman lawmakers over the weekend.
Democratic leadership and members of the rank-and-file were quick to condemn as racist Trump’s instruction to the four freshman women of color, who collectively refer to themselves as “The Squad,” to “go back” to their countries of origin. They were joined by four Republicans: Representatives Will Hurd of Texas, Susan Brooks of Indiana, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Fred Upton of Michigan.
Hurd, the sole black House Republican, explicitly labeled Trump’s comments “racist” in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
“I think those tweets are racist, and xenophobic,” Hurd said. “They’re also inaccurate. The four women he’s referring to are actually citizens of the United States. Three of the four were born here. It’s also behavior that’s unbecoming of the leader of the free world.”
Brooks, who will retire at the end of this term, wrote on Twitter that she voted to condemn Trump’s “racially offensive remarks” because “they do not represent American values.”
Today, I voted to condemn the racially offensive remarks the leader of our country made. However, I remain disappointed that the Democrats refuse to hold their own members accountable for their targeted, anti-Semitic and hateful speech.
— Susan W. Brooks (@SusanWBrooks) July 17, 2019
Fitzpatrick cited Trump’s tone in explaining his opposition to the tweets in a Tuesday radio interview.
“I agree with a lot of what the President does from a policy standpoint, from tax reform, immigration, when it comes to border security,” he said. “What I disagree with the President on is his tone. I am a Ronald Reagan Republican and that’s the area I grew up in.”
Upton, meanwhile, argued on Twitter that Trump’s comments were not befitting a leader.
Today’s resolution was targeted at the specific words that frankly are not acceptable from a leader in any work place large or small. If we’re going to bring civility back to the center of our politics, we must speak out against…
— Fred Upton (@RepFredUpton) July 16, 2019
…to this land of opportunity, we're a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier…If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”
— Fred Upton (@RepFredUpton) July 16, 2019
Several other House Republicans, including Representatives Pete Olson of Texas, Mike Turner of Ohio, and Elise Stefanik of New York, chastised Trump but did not break ranks during the Tuesday vote. Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Tim Scott of South Carolina also condemned Trump’s comments.
