NPR

'Go Back Where You Came From': The Long Rhetorical Roots Of Trump's Racist Tweets

When the president told several young congresswomen of color to "go back" to where they came from, he borrowed nativist language about as old as the country itself. Here's a little history.
At a ceremony Monday at the White House, President Trump defended his racist tweets against Democratic lawmakers. The language used in that tweet has a long history connected with nativist political movements in the U.S.

When President Trump tweeted his racist remarks Sunday, asking why certain Democratic congresswomen don't just "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," he did not just take aim at the four young women of color — three of whom were actually born in the U.S.

He did so using a taunt that has long, deeply entrenched roots in American history: Why don't you just go back where you came from?

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