The four freshman Congresswomen, known as the Squad, include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), are all American citizens, and only one was born outside of the United States. Regardless, Trump said of their criticism that they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” He continued to attack them using prepared talking points, and demanded an apology from Ilhan-Omar after saying she was “incapable” of loving America.

Trump doubled down on his remarks, saying that the Congresswomen should “love it or leave it.” Some pundits pointed out that the phrase was a slogan employed by various xenophobic groups, including the KKK. Trump also failed to explain how the four Congresswomen’s criticisms on the state of America were insulting to the country, when his own campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” presupposes that America was no longer great.

The New York Times – Trump Tells Congresswomen to ‘Go Back’ to the Countries They Came From
The Boston Globe – A painful history of Trump’s ‘love it or leave it’ argument
SBS News – How Trump invoked KKK slogan ‘love it or leave it’ at North Carolina rally