[R]epublican Gov. Phil Scott condemned President Donald Trump’s comments demanding four female members of Congress “go back” to their home countries as “offensive” and “racist” at his weekly press conference Wednesday.
“I find these statements offensive, racist and certainly not what we expect from the leader of the greatest country in the world,” said Scott. “Words matter and we’ve seen the same rhetoric used throughout history to discriminate, degrade and divide.”
Scott’s comments come as few Republican officials have come forward to criticize Trump for the series of tweets he posted Sunday about Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
The president said that the four women of color “originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
So interesting to see “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), now loudly……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
On Tuesday, the Democratic majority House of Representatives passed a resolution, on a vote of 240 to 187, rebuking Trump’s comments. It was the first House condemnation of a president in more than 100 years. Only four Republicans supported the House resolution, and many in the GOP have not spoken publicly or criticized the president’s remarks.
Scott, who has long been critical of Trump, said he has not spoken with other Republican governors or elected officials about his belief that these comments are racist and whether more members of the Republican Party should condemn the president.
“I’m not trying to lead the GOP on this. I’m trying to stand up for what I believe,” Scott said. “I think we all have an obligation to step up and call it out for what it is.”
Scott would not go as far as to call Trump a racist for these comments and speculated that it could have been a strategy moving into the 2020 election.
“I don’t know him well enough to know whether they were racist and that’s the way he feels,” said Vermont’s Republican governor. “But again, does it really matter? The words are there, so whether it’s something he believes or something that he’s using for a politically strategy, both are equally bad from my standpoint.”
2020 gubernatorial race
During his press conference, Scott also commented on former Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe joining the race for governor in 2020.
The governor said he wasn’t sure what to make of Holcombe’s charge that his policies only benefit wealthy people in the state and pointed to his record of not raising taxes or new fees over the first two years he was in office.
“I think that I proved that over the last three years, that I’m trying to make it more affordable for everyone,” he said. “And I believe that we’ve taken a lot of steps forward in that regard.”
Scott added that he wasn’t surprised that Holcombe, who announced she was officially running on Tuesday, had entered the race and said he believes there will be more candidates announcing in coming months.
“I welcome her to the race and I would expect that there’ll be more candidates for governor before this is all over,” he said.
Burlington CityPlace delays
Scott, though he admitted he knew little about the specifics, also briefly spoke about the ongoing delays with the CityPlace development in Burlington.
An architect involved with the major downtown redevelopment project was overheard at a Monday City Council meeting saying the developer is considering an “extensive” redesign of the whole project.
“I’m concerned,” the governor said. “We need to move forward. It’s always great to see construction activity and it’s long overdue in that area.”
“I know the mayor is concerned about this and I expect from what I’ve read that they’ll have some more information hopefully this week about what direction they are going,” Scott said.
