By Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trumpon Sunday stepped up his attacks on four Democraticcongresswomen who have criticized his policies, calling on themto apologize as he himself faced charges of racism.
"I don't believe the four Congresswomen are capable ofloving our Country. They should apologize to America (andIsrael) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said," Trumpsaid in a Twitter post.
Trump ignited controversy last weekend when he tweeted thatthe four lawmakers, who are all women of color, should "go back"to where they came from if they do not like the United States.
Three of the lawmakers - U.S. Representatives AlexandriaOcasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, andRashida Tlaib of Michigan - were born in the United States.Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota came as a refugee fromSomalia and is a naturalized citizen.
The first-term congresswomen, known as "the squad," havebeen highly critical of Trump and have also challenged their ownDemocratic leadership. Tlaib and Omar have been outspokencritics of Israel's government.
U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, the Democratic chairmanof the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, denouncedTrump's latest attack and said he had "no doubt" that Trump wasa racist.
"These are folks and women who love their country and theywork very hard and they want to move us towards that moreperfect union that our founding fathers talked about," Cummings,who is African-American, said on ABC's "This Week."
"So when you disagree with the president, suddenly you're abad person. Our allegiance is not to the president. Ourallegiance is to the Constitution of the United States ofAmerica and to the American people."
The Democratic-led House of Representatives passed aresolution on Tuesday that said the House "strongly condemnsPresident Donald Trump's racist comments." The symbolic measurewas aimed at shaming Trump and the Republicans who stood by him.
Unbowed, Trump launched a blistering critique of Omar duringa rally in North Carolina on Wednesday night, pausing when thecrowd erupted into chants of "Send her back."
After some fellow Republicans denounced that language, Trumpsaid the next day he did not agree with the chants. On Friday,however, he defended the North Carolina crowd as "incrediblepatriots."
Following Wednesday's rally, Omar accused Trump of "spewingfascist ideology." Ocasio-Cortez said he intentionally egged onthe vitriol.
"Roll back the tape ... He relished it. He took it in andhe's doing this intentionally," she said on Saturday at a townhall meeting on immigration in New York.
She retweeted Trump on Sunday with a list of things "wefight to guarantee," including healthcare, student loanforgiveness, living wages and basic human rights. "You: Jack updrug prices, appoint (Education Secretary) Betsy DeVos to scamstudent loans, hurt immigrant kids," she wrote.
Trump has repeatedly tried to tag Democrats as backingpolicies that he and Republicans in Congress portray as"socialist" and out of step with much of the country. At thesame time, he has relied on racially divisive rhetoric as hegirds for a tough re-election battle in November 2020.
U.S. Senator Cory Booker, who is seeking the Democraticpresidential nomination, said on Sunday Trump was "worse than aracist."
"He is actually using racist tropes and racial language forpolitical gain," Booker said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Stephen Miller, Trump's top immigration adviser, counteredthat the president had made clear he disagreed with the "Sendher back" chants.
"The core issue is that all the people in that audience, andmillions of patriotic Americans all across this country aretired of being beat up, condescended to, looked down upon,talked down to by members of Congress on the left in Washington,D.C., and their allies in many quarters of the media," he saidon "Fox News Sunday."(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)