--- title: Transcript: Trump Doubles Down on 'Go Back' Remarks description: President Donald Trump defended his attacks on four freshman Democrats at a White House event on manufacturing Monday. canonical: https://time.com/5626813/donald-trump-racist-tweets-transcript/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-15T19:30:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:59:19.085Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Doubled Down on 'Why Don't They Go Back' Remarks: Read the Transcript og:description: President Donald Trump defended his attacks on four freshman Democrats at a White House event on manufacturing Monday. og:url: https://time.com/5626813/donald-trump-racist-tweets-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta280575ef3ed2fe6/6989fff609208f7ad54153db/gettyimages-1155792891.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-PRODUCTS-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Doubled Down on 'Why Don't They Go Back' Remarks: Read the Transcript twitter:description: President Donald Trump defended his attacks on four freshman Democrats at a White House event on manufacturing Monday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta280575ef3ed2fe6/6989fff609208f7ad54153db/gettyimages-1155792891.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Doubled Down on 'Why Don't They Go Back' Remarks: Read the Transcript by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jul 15, 2019 7:30 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump takes part in the 3rd Annual Made in America Product Showcase on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC, on July 15, 2019. US President Donald Trump takes part in the 3rd Annual Made in America Product Showcase on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC, on July 15, 2019.NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jul 15, 2019 7:30 PM UTC President Donald Trump defended his attacks on four freshman Democrats at a White House event on manufacturing Monday, arguing that it was not racist to tweet that they should [“go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1150381395078000643) Over the weekend, Trump tweeted the criticism of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, all of whom are U.S. citizens and all but one of whom were born in the United States. Democrats [denounced the tweets](https://time.com/5626266/democrats-unify-after-trump-tweets/), while Republicans mostly stayed silent. Then on Monday, Trump responded during a White House event, reiterating that it the lawmakers did not like U.S. policy “then you can leave.” Below is a transcript of his remarks. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5626813/donald-trump-racist-tweets-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5626813/donald-trump-racist-tweets-transcript/"},"headline":"President Trump Doubled Down on 'Why Don't They Go Back' Remarks: Read the Transcript","datePublished":"2019-07-15T19:30:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:59:19.085Z","description":"President Donald Trump defended his attacks on four freshman Democrats at a White House event on manufacturing Monday.","url":"https://time.com/5626813/donald-trump-racist-tweets-transcript/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","transcripts","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta280575ef3ed2fe6/6989fff609208f7ad54153db/gettyimages-1155792891.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta280575ef3ed2fe6/6989fff609208f7ad54153db/gettyimages-1155792891.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-PRODUCTS-TRUMP","caption":"US-POLITICS-PRODUCTS-TRUMP","creditText":"NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5626813/donald-trump-racist-tweets-transcript/","name":"President Trump Doubled Down on 'Why Don't They Go Back' Remarks: Read the Transcript"}}]}] ```