TRUMP CALLS chanting crowd ‘great patriots.’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on a Somali-born lawmaker Friday while reversing his previous criticisms of a North Carolina crowd who chanted “send her back,” defending them as “patriots.”
“You know what I’m unhappy with?” Trump answered when reporters at the White House asked if he was unhappy with the Wednesday night crowd. “Those people in North Carolina, that stadium was packed. It was a record crowd. And I could have filled it 10 times, as you know. Those are incredible people. They are incredible patriots. But I’m unhappy when a congresswoman goes and says, ‘I’m going to be the president’s nightmare.’”
Earlier this week, Trump tweeted that four female Democratic lawmakers could “go back” to their countries or origin. He was referring to Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who moved from Somalia as a child and is a U.S. citizen, and her U.S.born colleagues Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
At a campaign rally Wednesday night in Greenville, N.C., the crowd chanted “send her back” as Trump paused in his speech. On Thursday, he said he did not approve of the chant and tried to stop it.
But on Friday, he again criticized Omar, the target of the chant.
“You can’t talk that way about our country. Not when I’m president,” Trump said. “These women have said horrible things about our country and the people of our country.”
He also tweeted that it was “amazing how the Fake News Media became ‘crazed’ over the chant ‘send her back’ by a packed Arena (a record) crowd in the Great State of North Carolina, but is totally calm & accepting of the most vile and disgusting statements made by the three Radical Left Congresswomen.”
Omar was defiant Thursday, telling reporters at the Capitol that she believes the president is a “fascist” and casting the confrontation as a fight over “what this country truly should be.”
“We are going to continue to be a nightmare to this president because his policies are a nightmare to us. We are not deterred. We are not frightened,” she said.
The chants at the Trump rally brought criticism from GOP lawmakers as well as from Democrats, though the Republicans did not fault Trump himself.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California declared that the chant has “no place in our party and no place in this country.”
GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois tweeted that it was “ugly, wrong, & would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers. This ugliness must end, or we risk our great union.”
Citing Trump’s rhetoric, House Democrats said they were discussing arranging security for Omar and the three other lawmakers.