Seth Meyers devoted eight minutes of his US talk show last night condemning Donald Trump for his recent spate of racist tweets aimed at progressive Democratic congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.
Trump tweeted Sunday that the four women, all of colour and collectively dubbed “The Squad” for their shared progressive politics, should “go back” to the “crime infested” countries they came from, prompting condemnation from Democrats in the US and politicians around the world.
In response, Meyers declared: “It’s been obvious from the very first moment he stepped onto the political stage that Donald Trump is a racist. And that racism is at the core of his political ideology. It’s not a side dish, it’s the main course.”
Meyers also criticised news outlets that refused to define Trump’s tweets as racist, adding: “First of all, there is no acceptable word for this other than racist, period. Not ‘racially charged’ or ‘racially tinged’ or, as The New York Times put it, ‘Trump’s racially infused politics,’ like it’s some sort of fancy drink at a Williamsburg cocktail bar.”
After noting that it is “beside the point” that three of the four women were born in the United States, despite Trump’s implication that they weren’t, Meyers went on to explain to Trump that “three of the congresswomen you’re attacking were born here and they’re all American citizens, so if you’re asking them to fix the ‘totally broken, crime-infested’ governments of their home countries, they’re trying!”
“They’re Americans, this is their country,” Meyers continued. “And they’re treating it with a lot more respect and devotion than the racist gargoyle who sits around tweeting from the back nine of his chintzy golf course.”
