July 15, 2019

Conservative journalist Salena Zito argued on Sunday that "both sides" are at fault for a racist tweet from President Donald Trump.

In a rant on Twitter on Sunday, the president suggested that four non-white congresswomen should "go back" to their country of origin -- even though three of them were born in the United States.

Zito asserted that "both" Republicans and Democrats were responsible for the conditions that led to the tweet.

"I wish I had just stayed in church instead of hearing [Trump's tweets]," Zito lamented. "Here's the unfortunate thing -- there's two unfortunate things -- that we are so polarized right now that even if you are a Trump supporter and you don't like what he says, you may not say anything at all, pushback at all or may not even see it as racist."

Zito suggested that the tweet might not be seen as racist because Trump offered to allow the four congresswomen to "come back" to the U.S. after they fixed their countries of origin.

"I just think that we are so polarized, I don't know that this moves anything," she opined. "And I'm not saying that's right or wrong. I'm just saying that's where we are today."

Zito continued: "And the really frustrating thing is the state of immigration on both sides. Washington can't even have an effective way of discussing it because you look at the protests, you look at the possible ICE deportations and no one is talking meaningfully about how we fix this."

Earlier, CNN coverage had correctly labeled the president's tweet as "straight-up racist."

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