President Trump Thanks ‘Vicious Young Socialist Congresswomen’ for Rise in Approval Rating

President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during his 'Made In America' product showcase at the White House in Washington on July 15, 2019. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Donald Trump thanked several “progressive” Democratic congresswomen who he called out in a series of Twitter posts after a latest Rasmussen poll showed a four-point jump in his approval ratings.

“New Poll: The Rasmussen Poll, one of the most accurate in predicting the 2016 Election, has just announced that ‘Trump’ numbers have recently gone up by four points, to 50%,” Trump wrote in a Twitter post on July 17. “Thank you to the vicious young Socialist Congresswomen. America will never buy your act!”

According to the Rasmussen Poll, which Trump often cites, the president’s approval went up from 46 percent on July 15 to 50 percent on July 17, days after he accused four far-left members of the Democratic party—Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)—of displaying anti-semitic and anti-American rhetoric.

Trump also had a five percentage point net approval increase to 72 percent among members of the Republican party, compared with a similar poll that ran last week, according to a recent Reuters-Ipsos public opinion poll.

The president ignited outrage after he unloaded several criticisms and accusations against the four “progressive” freshman lawmakers, known as the “squad,” between July 14 and 16.

His most notable post was one where he called on “‘progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen” to “go back” to their countries to help fix the “totally broken and crime-infested places” before returning to the United States to “show us how it is done.” Apart from Omar, who was born in Somalia, the other three lawmakers were born in the United States.

Many of Trump’s opponents denounced the comments, calling them racist. The four congresswomen also held a press conference on July 15 to publicly fight back against the president.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) speak at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 15, 2019. Holly Kellum/NTD

The Democrat-controlled House even passed a resolution to condemn the president’s remarks on July 16 largely on party lines.

Trump showed no signs of backing down when asked during a cabinet meeting also on July 16 about his Twitter posts and comments he made about the four freshman lawmakers.

“I think it’s terrible when people speak so badly about our country, when people speak so horribly. I have a list of things here—I’m not going to bore you with it because you would be bored. You wouldn’t write it anyway,” he said.

US President Donald Trump participates in a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on July 16, 2019. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

He continued: “But I have a list of things here said by the congresswomen that [are] so bad, so horrible that I almost don’t want to read it, it’s so bad. I think what you [should] do is: You have the same list that I do. You should repeat some of that. When the Democrats didn’t want to mention the name of the congresswoman, not so long ago, and what they did and the way they’re treating Israel is a disgrace.”

“But not only Israel, it’s what they say about our country. It’s my opinion they hate our country. And that’s not good. It’s not acceptable,” he added.

The president also denied that his posts were racist, saying “Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body,” while referring to the House resolution to condemn his comments.

Reuters contributed to this report.