Donald Trump's attacks on Democratic congresswomen are becoming dangerous

Is this a new low in American politics?

We have asked that question a great deal over the last three years.

There have been plenty of taunts and insults hurled around; at a war hero, at immigrants, at refugees, at parents of a fallen American soldier, at entire African nations.

So I wouldn’t want to be the judge of the contest for the most inexecrable moment.

But on Wednesday night we had a contender for the lowest of the low.

At a rally in North Carolina, the President was ripping into the four Democratic Congresswomen once more.

These are the women he suggested in recent days "go back" to their native countries, an absurdity given that all four are Americans and three were born in the US.

It has been called a racist trope, and that it what it is.

But the President is not backing down or apologising.

Far from it.

At the rally, when Trump insulted Congressowman Ilhan Omar again, accusing her of anti-Semitism and of being part of a group of "hate-filled extremists”, some of those in the raucous crowd quickly joined in the taunts.

They shouted “send her back!”

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From left to right: Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley. Credit: AP

It was a cruel variation of the anti-Hillary chant, “lock her up!”

Omar tweeted back at the President some lines from a poem: “You may kill me with your hatefulness/ But still, like air, I’ll rise.”

The congresswoman arrived as a child refugee from Somalia and now serves in the House of Representatives.

Omar’s journey is an inspirational political story that any country would be proud of.

So who would have thought that she would be so viciously picked on by the President of the United States - and now by his army of supporters?

This is getting more than ugly.

More than offensive.

It is becoming dangerous.