Tipsheet

Title Downgrade: Rep. Ayanna Pressley Calls President Trump ‘The Occupant Of Our White House’

Alex Nitzberg
Alex Nitzberg  |  July 17, 2019 7:15 PM

Donald Trump does not merit the title of president according to Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). Instead the congresswoman refers to the President of the United States as “the occupant of our White House.” 

Rep. Pressley is one of the four progressive freshman legislators in “the squad” recently targeted by President Trump that also includes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). 

Rep. Pressley said during a recent press conference that the White House “occupant” does not exhibit the qualities of a president. 

“We are grateful for your solidarity, your encouragement and your support in the face of the most recent xenophobic, bigoted remarks from the occupant of our White House,” she said. “I will always refer to him as the occupant as he is only occupying space. He does not embody the grace, the empathy, the compassion, the integrity that that office requires and that the American people deserve.”

Rep. Pressley repeated her contention during the squad’s interview with Gayle King and asserted that she is not disrespecting the office of the president. 

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King pushed back when Pressley said she is not disrespecting the presidency: “But it sounds like you don’t have respect for the Oval Office when you call the President of the United States ‘the occupant.’” 

“No, because he is only occupying the space,” Rep. Pressley explained. “He does not embody the principles, the responsibility, the grace, the integrity of a true president. And so, for that reason, I’m not dishonoring the office, he does every day,” she said.

During a recent speech Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) also referred to President Trump as “the occupant of the White House.”

The president expressed his satisfaction on Twitter yesterday because only four House Republicans voted in favor of a resolution that condemned his recent remarks. The resolution condemning the president’s remarks as “racist” did ultimately pass.

The president received significant blowback from a tweet thread on Sunday suggesting progressive congresswomen return to fix their countries of origin before sounding off about how to run America. It seems that this comment was directed at “the squad” but of the four legislators only Rep. Ilhan Omar was born outside of the U.S. The president has pushed back against the claims that his tweets were racist and he has attacked the four Congresswomen for a number of days.