‘Alcaida’: a closer look at Donald Trump’s note to self after racist tweets
- Trump accuses four first-term Democratic congresswomen – who are of Hispanic, Arab, Somali and African-American origin- of having ‘love’ for US ‘enemies like al-Qaeda’
- The president first attacked the lawmakers with a series of tweets on Sunday, saying they should ‘go back’ to their countries of origin
As is so often the case at the White House, reporters attending an event focused on American manufacturing preferred to ask US President Donald Trump questions on a somewhat different subject.
With controversy swirling around Trump after he suggested that progressive Democrats critical of him should “go back” to where they came from – a phrase with a fraught history – reporters pressed the president on what he’d meant and who he was targeting.
Somewhat unusually, though, Trump was ready for it. As The Washington Post reported, as Trump transitioned to take press questions, he pulled notes from his pocket which he glanced at occasionally as he spoke.
Post photographer Jabin Botsford was there and took photos of Trump as he transferred the notes into and out of his jacket pocket. In doing so, Botsford captured much of what the notes contained: reminders to the president of points he wanted to hit.
The notes have been recreated below. All typos are in the original. Obscured words are indicated with a [?].
What the notes said
At the top, handwritten:
Alcaida
Some people
Typed: