After Trump Attack, Tlaib Tells NAACP: 'I'm Not Going Nowhere, Not Until I Impeach This President'

The different approaches of two prominent congresswomen who are key players in the legislative pushback against President Donald Trump were on display Monday at the NAACP’s 110th National Convention in Detroit.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American representing Detroit, is one of four freshman congresswomen — “The Squad” — who Trump said should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” in a July 14 tweet.

Tlaib was born in the U.S.

“I’m not going nowhere,” Tlaib said Monday. “Not until I impeach this president.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi invoked the words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the gathering of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization: “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”

Pelosi framed her remarks around the theme of achieving justice and spoke about the agenda of congressional Democrats rather than targeting Trump directly.

'The Squad Is All Of You'

After Tlaib spoke Monday, Trump again tweeted an attack aimed at her, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

"It's beyond just the four of us. The squad is all of you," Tlaib told the NAACP gathering. "This is the largest incoming [congressional] class since Watergate — ironically — and the most diverse."

The congresswoman touched on the issues of corporate pollution, mass incarceration, civil rights and discrimination in auto insurance pricing.

"This is a new era of the civil rights movement."

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Yvonne White, assistant treasurer for the NAACP National Board of Directors, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the NAACP’s 110th National Convention on Monday, July 22 in Detroit. Photo by Dustin Blitchok.

Pelosi Highlights Dem Agenda

Pelosi — who has been at odds with Tlaib and her freshman colleagues over the question of whether to push for Trump's impeachment — called the president's comments about the lawmakers "racist" on the House floor last week.

In Detroit, Pelosi said 60% of the House Democratic Caucus is comprised of people of color, women and members of the LGBTQ community.

Since the 2018 midterm election, the House has passed legislation that includes an increase in the minimum wage to $15, and House Democrats have sent 10 bills to the Senate that aim to lower the cost of prescription drugs and health care, Pelosi said.

"We must achieve economic justice, reverse the disparity of income in America and reverse the damage of the American special interest agenda," she said Monday.

Rachel Cunningham contributed to this report. 

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Lead photo: U.S. Rep Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, addresses the NAACP 110th National Convention in Detroit on Monday, July 22. Photo by Dustin Blitchok.

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Posted In: NewsPoliticsEventsGeneralAlexandria Ocasio-CortezAyanna PressleylIlhan OmarNAACPNancy PelosiRashida Tlaib
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