Tlaib says Trump’s attacks meant to distract from US Steel layoffs

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Tuesday hit back against President Trump’s latest attacks on her, tweeting that the president’s focus should be on issues like recently announced layoffs at U.S. Steel.

“The President should focus on this rather than his hate agenda,” Tlaib said, linking to a report on the company’s announcement that it will temporarily lay off nearly 200 workers at its Michigan plant.

The President should focus on this ⬇️ rather than his hate agenda. Workers in my district see right through his pathetic attempts to distract from his failure to deliver on campaign promises for anyone but the 1%. https://t.co/e845iwq7Ir

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 20, 2019

Tlaib’s tweet followed an attack on her by Trump earlier in the day after she became emotional during a press conference on Monday with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over Israel’s decision to bar them from entering the nation. Trump, who had called on Israel to block the two freshman lawmakers, suggested Tlaib had faked her tears and accused her of hating “Israel and all Jewish people.”

{mosads}”Sorry, I don’t buy Rep. Tlaib’s tears,” Trump tweeted. “I have watched her violence, craziness and, most importantly, WORDS, for far too long. Now tears?”

The back-and-forth is just the latest in the ongoing feud between Trump and a quartet of progressive first-term House Democrats, all of whom are women of color, and whom the president has tried to paint as the leaders of the Democratic Party. 

U.S. Steel said in a filing this week that it will let workers at its Great Lakes Works plant in Ecorse, Mich., go for at least six months after suspending operations at a blast furnace at the facility and another in Gary, Ind., citing lower steel prices and reduced demand.

Steel prices initially jumped after the Trump administration imposed a series of tariffs, but they have since declined, with hot-rolled coil prices falling nearly 37 percent since their high last year.