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3 Aug, 2019 04:53

‘It was genius’: Farage says Trump’s ‘go back’ tweet played out to his advantage

‘It was genius’: Farage says Trump’s ‘go back’ tweet played out to his advantage

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has praised US President Donald Trump’s “go back” comment as a clever move that forced the Democratic party to embrace the ultra-progressive congresswomen of whom it had tried to steer clear.

Trump took heat from both sides of the aisle last month after telling the ‘Squad’ of four progressive congresswomen to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

Only one of the women, Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, was born outside the US, while the other three – New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib and Massachusetts’ Ayanna Pressley – are US natives.

In an interview with the Times on Friday, Farage said that he disapproved of the remark the moment he heard it, only to later be stunned at how it ended up playing out in Trump's favor.

“You realize, 48 hours on, it was genius because what’s happened is the Democrats gather round the Squad, which allows him to say, ‘Oh look, the Squad are the center of the Democratic party,’” the firebrand Brexiteer said.

Farage, who was the first British politician to meet Trump after his victory at the 2016 election, said that while Trump’s ways are often inexplicable, he has proven to be “a remarkably effective operator.”

Trump’s remark has spawned accusations of racism and resulted in several Republicans breaking ranks and joining the Democratic outrage over the comment. The US House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Trump’s words with Democrats insisting on formally labeling the tweet “racist.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who previously had been wary of the freshmen representatives pushing for a progressive agenda, was the leading force behind the condemnation, personally vouching for strong language to be included in the resolution.

Also on rt.com Groupthink or bust: House Democrats want to look united, delete tweets attacking each other

The scandal has propelled the ‘Squad’ to the front lines of the Democratic opposition to the president and saw the party fully embracing them, with squabbles around Israel and other issues seemingly forgotten.

Meanwhile, Trump's base consolidated and he emerged polling higher after the "go back" scandal than he did before.

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