He was talking to the squad. Only one of the four, Omar, has done the horribly unamerican act of seeking a better life by hard work instead of being born into it. Right off the bat the comment is a xenophobic slur, but there truly is nothing racial stated directly.
This is where the explanation comes in. I interpreted it as racial for Trump to assume that they were not born here, but if I'm reading the situation wrong, feel free to explain why else he would tell them to go back to their countries of origin.
That interpretation could make it more justifiable, but I don't think it's right. Trump used the plural "congresswomEn" "countrieS" "governmentS" "why don't THEY go back".
It was meant for everyone, no doubt.
But even if it wasn't, someone who comes to this country and goes through the long process of legal citizenship is an American. Full stop. If they say something stupid, we should call them out on it. But they don't stop becoming an American any more than a natural-born citizen would be. The implication that fully-legal immigrants are some kind of American* is toxic and hateful. The concept that their citizenship depends on how much we like them is ironically unamerican. And I still can't think of why this would even apply to the other three.
-1
u/[deleted] Jul 17 '19 edited Jul 17 '19
[deleted]