AAPI presidential hopefuls blast Trump's go-back-where-you-came-from attack

Democratic presidential candidates, from left, Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang.

The AAPI candidates for the Democrats' nomination for POTUS joined in the chorus of condemnation of Donald Trump's racist attack against four Congress members of color by "othering" them even though they are US citizens.

“It is absolutely racist and un-American. And it is an old trope, ‘go back to where you came from,’ that you might hear on the street, but you should never hear that from the president of the United States. said Sen. Kamala Harris, whose parents immigrated here from India and Jamaica. 

On Sunday, Trump  in a series of tweets, said some Democratic congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

While Trump did not name the targets of his attack, the context of his tweet made it clear it was aimed at a group of four progressive Democratic women of color – Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley. Except for Omar, the House members were born in the US. Omar became a citizen while still in teens.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Trump's remarks. Except for four Republicans who voted for the resolution, the tally was along party lines.
Of the three AAPI candidates, Harris issued the strongest reaction, saying Trump should "go back to where he came from."

Trump’s racist tweets “defile the office of the United States” and “take the presidency to a new low,” said Harris.

The 2020 presidential hopeful's comments came after the House of Representatives voted to condemn the US president’s racist tweets on Tuesday night.

In an interview with CNN, Harrs said, "I don't think that we can survive having a president of the United States who uses whatever voice he has in a way that is about dividing and fueling hate in our country." 

She added: “He wants to distract by lighting fires around the issue of race – it’s disgusting.”“I think it is a turn for this president,” she continued. “Could it get any worse? Apparently yes, it just did. How low can he go?”

“He needs to go back where he came from and leave that office,” she told CNN.

"I don't think that we can survive having a president of the United States who uses whatever voice he has in a way that is about dividing and fuelling hate in our country."

Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard told ABC News' Senior Washington reporter Devin Dwyer that Trump's remarks had what she described as devastating consequences.

"Stoking these racist feelings and stoking religious bigotry in this country, tearing apart and already divided country for his own political game is beneath the office of the presidency and undermines the very values and principles of our democracy," Gabbard said.

Gabbard further said that Trump was using the platform of the presidency to tell people who are critical of him that they should "go home."

Andrew Yang tweeted out:

In an interview with MSNBC, Yang was asked what his reaction was as a son of immigrants.

“Exactly what you’re suggesting," he responded. "As a son of immigrants myself, I know when someone says to go home in my case I was born in upstate New York, it’s the opposite of what we need from our president to try to call out these false distinctions between different types of people. We’re all Americans. These are members of Congress born in this country this is the opposite of what president should be saying.”

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