USA TODAY International Edition
Pence: Trump may speak out on chants
Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that President Donald Trump “might make an effort to speak out about it” if crowds at one of his rallies began to chant “Send her back” like they did last week in North Carolina.
The crowd began the chant as Trump criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar, DMinn. In a series of tweets days earlier, Trump suggested Omar and three other minority congresswomen from the Democrats’ far-left wing should “go back” to their countries of origin.
“The president wasn’t pleased about it. Neither was I. The president’s been very clear about that,” Pence said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
After Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill expressed outrage at the chants, Trump said Thursday that he “wasn’t happy with that message.” Yet Friday, he described the audience as and “incredible patriots.”
Host Major Garrett told Pence that Trump’s “relationship with his supporters is as close as anyone has ever had in American politics," and he could stop such chants “with one simple word or a phrase.”
The vice president said, “If it happened again, he might make an effort to speak out about it.”
Pence said, “Millions of Americans share the president’s frustration” with the “reckless rhetoric” he said has been used by Omar and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressleyand Rashida Tlaib. He cited comments by Omar that were condemned as anti-Semitic, and Ocasio-Cortez referring to detention centers as “concentration camps.”
“The president thought it was important to stand up to them,” Pence said. “And I’m glad he did it.”