By Dr. Carmen Schaye, NWPC Vice President of Diversity
In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib were elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. These four progressive women of color, who solidified around their shared desire to combat wealth inequality, the climate crisis, and student debt, have since become known as “The Squad.”
The Squad has set the agenda for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, challenging more moderate democrats, like Nancy Pelosi, to drive for more progressive legislation. Pelosi has not exactly embraced that energy, saying “by and large, whatever orientation they came to Congress with, they know we have to hold the center…we have to go down the mainstream.” To Pelosi’s discomfort, they have forced her and the democratic establishment to acknowledge that they are closer to the center than they are to the left.
Unsurprisingly, The Squad has also caught the attention of Donald Trump. For Trump, these four women serve as the ideal foil to rile up his base: young, non-white women unafraid to speak their mind. In criticizing The Squad, Trump has veered into unabashed racism; a few weeks ago he tweeted that it was ironic that these women would criticize the United States when their countries of origin were dysfunctional, and that they ought to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” That sentiment is, of course, racist. Three of the four members of The Squad were born in the United States; Ayanna Pressley’s family emigrated to the United States before Donald Trump’s family did.
It is difficult to discern what Trump’s strategy is in tweeting such outrageous and hateful bile. Some believe that it is just an attempt to distract from more important matters and to drive the news cycle. Pressley herself said that the President’s recent comments were just a “disruptive distraction” from a “callous, chaotic, and corrupt” administration. Regardless, the tweets provide ample justification for Trump’s supporters to deepen their feeling that white supremacy is valid in the United States. For Trump and his supporters, the United States is a nation made by white men and for white men, and that is a legacy to be protected.
As Trump’s reelection campaign kicks into gear, he will likely continue to stoke the flames of racism in order to stay in the conversation. Whether or not he is running against a person of color, he will likely use the squad as bait for his base to feel that someone is trying to take their country away from them, despite the obvious fact that the members of the squad are deeply intelligent, compassionate citizens fighting for legislation that would benefit all Americans.
The squad is comprised of four women, duly elected to office, entirely within their rights in criticizing President Trump and pushing for a bold agenda. They don’t need to go anywhere; the only country that they should be helping to fix is ours.
