July 18, 2019 12:49 PM UTC

Trump in Damage Control Mode After "Send Her Back" Chants

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• by: Colorado Pols

As CNN reports, President Trump is now pretending that he disavows chants of “send her back” that broke out at a campaign rally in North Carolina Wednesday evening:

President Donald Trump claimed Thursday to be unhappy that his rally crowd broke out into chants of “send her back” as he denigrated a Democratic lawmaker he’d previously said should leave the US.

“I was not happy with it. I disagree with it. But again, I didn’t say that, they did,” Trump said at the White House a day after the rally, when a crowded arena in North Carolina began the thundering chant as he assailed Rep. Ilhan Omar, a freshman Minnesota Democrat.

Trump’s apparent disavowal came after expressions of concern from Republicans and outright outrage from Democrats, who accused the President of stoking racist sentiments among his white working class base…

…Speaking to reporters, Trump claimed to have attempted to stop the chant Wednesday night by resuming his speech, though he waited 12 seconds before speaking as the crowd loudly shouted the three words.

In the lull, Trump appeared to listen, letting the chant gain momentum, before resuming his speech, which continued with a litany of complaints against Omar and the other lawmakers.

Later in his remarks, Trump encouraged his audience to “tell them to leave” the US if they continue to criticize him.

Kudos to CNN for including the qualifier that Trump “claimed” to be unhappy with the chant. As Greg Sargent writes for the Washington Post: “As the president of the United States leads a domestic hate movement, the world is watching.”