트럼프, 여성의원 4명에 제안 “미국에 사과하라”

도널드 트럼프 대통령은 진보성향 민주당 여성의원 4명에게 “미국에 사과하라”라고 제안했다. 소위 ‘스쿼드(squad·소대)’라 불리는 모임을 이루고 있는 이 여성의원들은 성형수술을 제외한 모든 의료비 국가지원, 민간보험 전면 폐지를 주장하는 등 강한 사회주의적 정책을 추진하고 있다.

오카시오-코르테스 의원에 대해서는 민주당의 대표적 인물로 떠오르면서 전통적 지지층이 떨어져 나갈 수 있다는 우려까지 당내에서 나오고 있다. 오카시오-코르테스 의원은 의료비 지출을 놓고서도 트럼프 정부와 대결하고 있다. 그녀는 현 정부 출범 이후 약값이 상승했다고 주장하고 있지만, 경제자문위원회는 1968년 이후 약값이 가장 떨어졌다는 통계자료를 제시하며 일축했다.

스쿼드 4인방은 10년간 총 125조달러 재정지출이 필요한 ‘그린뉴딜정책’ 지지자이기도 하다. -편집부

President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of four freshmen progressive Democratic congresswomen on July 21, accusing them of being unable to love the United States and suggesting they “apologize to America.”

“I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!”

Trump’s message is the latest in a war of words with Democratic socialist Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).

In her response, Ocasio-Cortez didn’t challenge Trump’s assertion that she lacks patriotism. The Democratic socialist instead wrote on Twitter about several broad policy topics, including fighting to “guarantee” health care, student loan forgiveness, environmental protections, living wages, and “basic human rights.” She also accused the president of increasing drug prices, appointing “Betsy DeVos to scam student loans,” and hurting “immigrant kids.”

It’s unclear which data Ocasio-Cortez used in reference to increasing drug prices. The Council of Economic Advisors reported on July 11 that under Trump, drug prices dropped more in June this year than in any month since 1968.

The president started the tussle with the self-described “squad” on Twitter with a series of messages on July 14, in which he suggested that the four lawmakers “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.” The Twitter message resulted in a media frenzy and a rare vote by House Democrats to condemn the message as “racist.” The four congresswomen also held a press conference to criticize the president.

Trump responded to each attack with a salvo of his own. He spelled out his thoughts in detail during a campaign rally, with a long-form critique that focused on each congresswoman’s past controversial statements.

Trump launched his attack on the same day that Axios reported on an internal Democratic party poll among a group of swing voters who dislike socialism, that showed Ocasio-Cortez has become one of the defining faces of the Democratic party. The poll has party insiders worried because losing this group of swing voters could cost the Democratic party the House of Representatives and the presidency in the 2020 election.

“If all voters hear about is AOC, it could put the [House] majority at risk,” a top Democrat involved in the 2020 races told Axios at the time. “She’s getting all the news and defining everyone else’s races.”

The poll surveyed a group of white voters without a college degree who voted for Trump in 2016, but are crucial for Democrats in swing House districts. Nearly three in four of these voters recognized Ocasio-Cortez’s name. Of those, only 22 percent had a favorable view of her. The majority of the respondents also recognized Omar, with only 9 percent holding a favorable view.

The voters surveyed are highly averse to socialism, with only 18 percent viewing the ideology favorably. Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib, and Pressley advocate socialist policies, and all four support the socialist Medicare for All policy. All but Omar are cosponsors of the socialist Green New Deal proposal.

The Green New Deal proposes to hand government near-total control of the energy sector. The proposal calls for modifying or replacing every home in America and removing all gas-engine vehicles. It promises millions of jobs and universal health care, housing, economic security, and “clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and access to nature.”

Medicare for All would grant government control of the health care sector, while eliminating all private health insurance plans, with a fringe exception for plastic surgery.

The two policies would cost U.S. taxpayers $125 trillion over the course of a decade, according to two estimates. Currently, the entire United States government’s expenditures are estimated to total $60 trillion over the next 10 years.

(원제 : Trump Says 4 Congresswomen Should ‘Apologize to America’)