Martin criticises Trump’s ‘outrageous’ race remarks

Micheál Martin has lashed out at Donald Trump’s “outrageous” race-based comments claiming they do “a disservice to democracy” .

The Fianna Fáil leader has joined a growing number of national and international politicians who have criticised the US President for making controversial comments about four non-white congresswomen who he said should “go back” to the “crime-infested places from which they came”.

Mr Trump has since moved to distance himself from the reaction of his supporters who chanted “send her back” at a rally this week after he blasted Somalia-born US Representative Ilhan Omar. Republicans worry the incendiary mantra could set the tone for the 2020 campaign.

Under questioning from White House reporters, Mr Trump said: “I felt a little bit badly about it. I would say that I was not happy with it. I disagreed with it. But, again, I didn’t say that. They did.”

The controversy first erupted over the weekend when Mr Trump launched a twitter attack on four female Democratic lawmakers, all minority women, saying they should “go back” to the “crime-infested places from which they came”.

Mr Martin said: “I take great exception to what he said, and I think it was outrageous and totally at variance with the spirit at the core of the American nation which is about all races and all creeds coming together. to form a new, I mean that was the origins of the American state, and his comments were ridiculous, in terms of suggesting the newly elected representatives would go back to the countries of their parents, or grandparents in some cases, as if they were responsible for the poor governance in those countries.”

However he stopped short of stating that the Government should not meet Mr Trump in future.

Asked if he would stand up to Mr Trump if he were Taoiseach, Mr Martin said: “There are limitations to power and that applies in response to that question, but I would stand up for the values that I believe in as a democrat and a parliamentarian.

When one is in government, to be frank, and represents the country, we deal with many countries whose political systems we don’t agree with, where there are not the same freedoms for example that we experience here so I don’t differentiate.

“I think America is still a great democracy, it has its faults, so have we in our democracy But I do think the language being used to describe other public representatives, this demonisation of opponents, what I call the coarsening of political language, I think is something we have had enough of.”