Trump says if DC and Puerto Rico become states ‘country destroying sleazebags will dominate politics’
TheGrio...
“DC and Puerto Rico aren’t asking for special treatment. We’re demanding what should have never been denied: full representation and equal footing in our own democracy.”
President Donald Trump slammed the prospect of making Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico U.S. states, claiming that doing so would result in the country being dominated by “sleazebags.”
Trump aired his feelings about D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood in a lengthy Truth Social post, calling out Democratic strategist James Carville, who has long advocated for making the nation’s capital and Puerto Rico states. The president also slammed Carville’s suggestion to add more seats to the U.S. Supreme Court to give Democrats a better advantage after Trump nominated three conservative justices during his first term.
“Wacko James Carville, a so-called Democrat “strategist,” wants the Democrats to make D.C. and Puerto Rico States and, most importantly, pack the Supreme Court, putting 13 Justices on the Court. Other Dems want 21 Justices,” Trump wrote on Tuesday evening. “If they pull off adding these two States, these Country Destroying Sleazebags will dominate politics in America, if we even have a Nation left, for 100 years (TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!).”
For decades, residents of Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have advocated for statehood. Though the 700,000 U.S. citizens of D.C. and the 3.2 million citizens of Puerto Rico pay federal taxes and elect U.S. delegates to represent them in Congress, they are deprived of full representation, as delegates are not allowed to vote on legislation or policy. Or, in other words, taxation without representation.
Advocates argue that failing to make either the U.S. capital or the territory a state is undemocratic and falls short of the nation’s proposed ideals of equality and fairness.
“Donald Trump calling the people of DC and Puerto Rico ‘country-destroying sleazebags’ tells you everything you need to know — not about us, but about him,” said Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way.
Batchelor tells theGrio, “The people of DC and Puerto Rico serve and save this country every single day. DC residents pay federal taxes. We serve in the military at higher rates than many states. We raise families, build businesses, and contribute to the cultural and economic strength of this nation. Our communities — especially Black and Brown communities — have carried this country forward through sacrifice, resilience, and hard work.”
Jamal Holtz, president of the DC Young Democrats, tells theGrio, “The only person undermining this country day by day is the individual in the White House. To refer to American citizens as such, while ignoring the disenfranchisement of those same citizens, shows a real lack of regard for a fair and just democracy.”
The D.C. advocate added, “You can’t recognize DC residents as citizens when it comes to paying federal taxes, but treat us as second-class citizens when it comes to participation in democracy. That’s a contradiction to American values.”
Batchelor said Trump’s post wasn’t just “offensive rhetoric,” but part of a “long pattern of dehumanizing people.” He added, “Particularly Black and Brown Americans, to justify denying them power.”
“DC and Puerto Rico aren’t asking for special treatment. We’re demanding what should have never been denied: full representation and equal footing in our own democracy,” he asserted.
Batchelor denigrated the president as a “degenerate” who “spent his career destroying the very institutions he now claims to defend,” adding, “He’s been impeached twice, indicted multiple times, and built a political brand on division, grievance, and disrespect for the rule of law.”
The political operative pointed to Hurricane Maria in 2017 when Trump “left thousands of Puerto Ricans stranded” and Jan. 6, 2021, when he “sent a mob to the Capitol.”
“Our communities needed a voice and a vote to hold him accountable. We still don’t have it,” said Batchelor.
It’s long been understood that Republican lawmakers in Congress lack the political appetite to grant D.C. and Puerto Rican statehood because the political makeup of their populations appears to lean more Democratic. Doing so would likely hand Democrats two additional votes in the U.S. House of Representatives and four new votes in the U.S. Senate. And as the political parties in Congress see smaller majorities than at any time in recent history, those additional votes would prove to be influential on Capitol Hill.
“If this country can ask our residents to serve, to sacrifice, and to contribute like every other American, it should also give them a vote,” says Batchelor. “No amount of racist insults from Donald Trump will change that truth.”