GREENVILLE, North Carolina: Going after four Democratic congresswomen one by one, a combative President Donald Trump turned his campaign rally Wednesday into an extended dissection of the liberal views of the women of color, deriding them for what he painted as extreme positions and suggesting they just get out.
“Tonight I have a suggestion for the hate-filled extremists who are constantly trying to tear our country down,” Trump told the crowd in North Carolina, a swing state he won in 2016 and wants to claim again in 2020. “They never have anything good to say. That’s why I say, ‘Hey if you don’t like it, let ‘em leave, let ‘em leave.’“
Eager to rile up his base with the some of the same kind of rhetoric he targeted at minorities and women in 2016, Trump declared, “I think in some cases they hate our country.”
Trump’s jabs were aimed at the self-described “squad” of four freshmen Democrats who have garnered attention since their arrival in January for their outspoken liberal views and distaste for Trump: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. All were born in the US except for Omar, who came to the US as a child after fleeing Somalia with her family.
Taking the legislators on one at a time, Trump ticked through a laundry list of what he deemed offensive comments by each woman, mangling and misconstruing many facts along the way.
Omar came under the harshest criticism as Trump played to voters’ grievances, drawing a chant from the crowd of “Send her back! Send her back!“
Trump set off a firestorm Sunday when he tweeted that the four should “go back” to their home countries — though three were born in the United States. Trump has accused them of “spewing some of the most vile, hateful and disgusting things ever said by a politician.”
Before he left Washington, Trump said he has no regrets about his ongoing spat with the four. Trump told reporters he thinks he’s “winning the political argument” and “winning it by a lot.”
“If people want to leave our country, they can. If they don’t want to love our country, if they don’t want to fight for our country, they can,” Trump said. “I’ll never change on that.”
Trump’s harsh denunciations were another sign of his willingness to exploit the nation’s racial divisions heading into the 2020 campaign.
His speech was filled with Trump’s trademark criticisms about the news media, which he says sides with liberals, and of special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. Mueller had been scheduled to testify Wednesday on Capitol Hill, but it was postponed. Trump brought him up anyway. “What happened to me with this witch hunt should never be allowed to happen to another president,” he said.
He also talked about illegal immigration, a main theme of his first presidential bid that is taking center stage in his re-election campaign. He brushed off the criticism he has gotten for saying that the congresswomen should go back home. “So controversial,” he said sarcastically.
The four freshmen have portrayed the president as a bully who wants to “vilify” not only immigrants, but all people of color. They say they are fighting for their priorities to lower health care costs and pass a Green New Deal addressing climate change, while his thundering attacks are a distraction and tear at the core of America values.
The Democratic-led US House voted Tuesday to condemn Trump for what it labeled “racist comments,” despite near-solid GOP opposition and the president’s own insistence that he doesn’t have a “racist bone” in his body.
Trump hasn’t shown signs of being rattled by the House rebuke, and called an impeachment resolution that failed in Congress earlier Wednesday “ridiculous.” The condemnation carries no legal repercussions and his latest harangues struck a chord with supporter in Greenville, whose chants of “Four more years!” and “Build that wall!” bounced off the rafters.
Vice President Mike Pence was first up after spending the day in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and visiting troops at Fort Bragg. “North Carolina and America needs four more years,” Pence said.
It was Trump’s sixth visit to the state as president and his first 2020 campaign event in North Carolina, where he defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Before Trump arrived, Wayne Goodwin, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, spoke at a rally in Greenville and called Trump “just another corrupt snake oil salesman.”
“From sparking a harmful trade war that puts our farmers in the crosshairs, to giving corporations a billion-dollar giveaway at the expense of our middle class, to repeatedly pushing to end protections for pre-existing conditions and raise health care costs, his broken promises have hurt hard-working families across North Carolina,” Goodwin said.
‘Send her back!’, US crowd roars as Trump steps up ‘racist’ attack on 4 congresswomen
‘Send her back!’, US crowd roars as Trump steps up ‘racist’ attack on 4 congresswomen
- Trump’s targets are Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan
- He described the targets his hate campaign as ‘hate-filled extremists who are constantly trying to tear our country down’
India’s new budget bets on AI, data centers to sustain growth
- Budget features new Bharat‑VISTAAR AI‑powered platform for agriculture sector
- It also includes tax holiday until 2047 for foreign companies using Indian data centers
NEW DELHI: India’s latest budget has emerged as one of its most technology-focused, with new measures to utilize artificial intelligence, semiconductor manufacturing, and expand digital infrastructure aimed at offsetting the impact of global tariff wars.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the 2026-27 budget in parliament on Sunday, saying it would “accelerate and sustain economic growth by enhancing productivity and competitiveness” at a time when India was facing “an external environment in which trade and multilateralism are imperiled and access to resources and supply chains are disrupted.”
New Delhi has yet to secure a trade deal with its largest trading partner, the US, which last year hit it with punitive tariffs of up to 50 percent over India’s purchases of Russian oil. To mitigate their impact, India has been looking for alternative agreements, including last week’s agreement with the EU, cutting duty on 99.5 percent of Indian exports to the bloc.
The new budget prioritizes infrastructure and domestic manufacturing, with a total expenditure estimated at $583 billion.
It offers tariff concessions for products from the marine, leather, and textile industries — all of which have been affected by US tariffs — and provides duty exemptions on materials and goods used to process rare-earth minerals, make lithium ion batteries, solar glass, and components for electric vehicles.
The finance minister also announced doubled spending for semiconductor manufacturing to $4.8 billion and a tax holiday until 2047 for foreign companies providing cloud services using Indian data centers.
The budget also features Bharat‑VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources), a multilingual AI‑powered platform for the agriculture sector to give farmers customized, real‑time advisory on crop management, weather, soil conditions and government schemes in different Indian languages.
“There is a lot of focus on AI and technology. It is to achieve the ambitious target India has already declared — Viksit Bharat 2047. It is very clear that without technology, it would be difficult to achieve that target,” Prof. Pardeep S. Chauhan, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Arab News, referring to the government’s plan to transform the nation into a fully developed country by 2047 — the 100th anniversary of its independence.
“That was the need of the hour, and the government has taken care of it, focusing on semiconductors, AI, and rare-earth minerals.”
The technology focus also comes against the backdrop of China’s dominance in the global critical minerals supply chains, and last year’s restrictions imposed by Beijing in the wake of escalating trade tensions with the US.
“India lags far behind the US and China, particularly China,” Chauhan said. “India has taken this move to maybe after five, 10, 15 years ... compete up to some extent. Without technology, nobody can think of establishing (their) leadership — whether it’s in the economy, defense or financial infrastructure architecture. Everywhere you need technology.”
