A Republican Congressman said that he would personally pay for plane tickets from the United States if any Democratic lawmakers want to leave the country.
Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-La.) was responding to criticism of President Donald Trump, who had said that some leftist members of Congress should return to their home countries if they don’t like the United States.
Trump wrote over the weekend that “‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all)” should go back to those countries to help “fix” them.
“Then come back and show us how it’s done,” he added. He seemed to be referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), an immigrant from Somalia, among others.
Abraham wrote on July 15: “There’s no question that the members of Congress that @realDonaldTrump called out have absolutely said anti-American and anti-Semitic things.”
“I’ll pay for their tickets out of this country if they just tell me where they’d rather be,” he added.
Abraham is running in the gubernatorial race in Louisiana.
Eddie Rispone, a Baton Rouge businessman also running for governor, also took to Twitter to defend Trump while attacking Gov. John Bel Edwards.
“Unlike @JohnBelforLA , I stand with @realDonaldTrump. And if these America hating crazies in Washington don’t like it, they should crawl back under the rock they came from,” he wrote.
Rep. Cedric Richmond, the only Democratic Congressmember representing Louisiana, took the opposing side, sharing a message from the Black Caucus that condemned Trump.
“These American citizens are exactly where they belong—here in the United States fighting to hold this corrupt, inhumane and inept administration accountable on behalf of the majority of the people who did not vote for this President and do not support his disastrous policies,” the post said.
“As far as I’m concerned, if you hate our country, if you’re not happy here you can leave. And that’s what I say all the time,” he added.
“That’s what I said in a tweet that I guess some people think is controversial. A lot of people love it, by the way. A lot of people love it. But if you’re not happy in the U.S., if you’re complaining all the time, very simply you can leave. You can leave right now. Come back if you want, don’t come back, that’s ok too. But if you’re not happy, you can leave.”
Responding to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) saying Trump wanted to “make America white again,” Trump added: “That’s a very racist statement and I’m surprised she’d say that.”
