Trump Disavows ‘Send Her Back’ Chant, Claims He Tried to Stop It: ‘I Was Not Happy’

By Colby HallJul 18th, 2019, 1:12 pm
 

President Donald Trump addressed the most recent firestorm surrounding his administration in White House press spray. At issue was the “send her back” chant that broke out during his political rally held in Greenville, North Carolina Wednesday night, during Trump’s aggressive invective targeting Somali refugee turned Congresswoman Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Trump disavowed the “send her back” chant when asked by ABC’s White House reporter Jonathan Karl “why didn’t you ask them to stop saying it?”

Trump answered, “Number one, I think I did. I started speaking very quickly.” He then added, “I disagree with it, by the way. But it was quite a chant and I felt a little bit badly about it but I will say this, I did and I started speaking very quickly, I started rather fast as you probably noticed.”

Video of that moment in the speech, however, reveals that Trump paused during the speech as the “send her back” chant grew in volume.

When pressed about the chant echoing Tweets he had sent earlier in the week, Trump doubled down saying, “I would say I was not happy I disagree with it but again, I didn’t say that. They did. But I disagree with it.”

Trump has aimed to connect the Democratic party to what many called “the squad” of recently elected Congresswomen of color, which includes in addition to Rep. Omar, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

It is worth noting that President Trump started the xenophobic and racist attacks against these four women on Sunday morning, saying via Twitter that they should ostensibly go back to where they came from.

The chant has received mostly bi-partisan rebuke, though the majority of critics of the ugly chant have predictably come from the progressive side of the political spectrum.

Watch the clip above via FBN.

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Colby Hall - Founding Editor

Colby Hall is the Founding Editor of Mediaite.com. He is also a Peabody Award-winning television producer of non-fiction narrative programming as well as a terrific dancer and preparer of grilled meats.