President Donald Trump’s tweet proposing that four Democratic congresswomen of color — three of them born in the United States, one a naturalized citizen — “go back” to the “totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” was textbook racism. Yet while some Republicans condemned the statement — Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is black, lamented its “racially offensive language” — others flatly denied that there was a racial component to the salvo.
A particularly contorted reaction came from Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, who said, "Clearly, it's not a racist comment," adding that the president "could have meant go back to the district they came from, to the neighborhood they came from.