After days spent hurling racist attacks at Rep. Ilhan Omar spilled into his supporters chanting “send her back” at a rally last night, President Trump on Thursday distanced himself the vitriol he helped stir up by ridiculously trying to pretend he disapproved of it and tried to stop it.
According to the White House pool, Trump said of the chant, which was a clear take on his earlier remark that Ilhan and three other Democrats should “go back” and leave the U.S., “I was not happy with it. I disagree with it.”
“I didn’t say that, they did,” he continued.
Asked why he didn’t shut the chants down, Trump said he tried to.
“I think I did—I started speaking very quickly,” he said, per the pool. “It was quite a chant. I felt a little bit badly about it.”
Let’s look at the tape, in which Trump waits for at least 14 seconds after the chant starts before speaking again, and does nothing to condemn the chant, to see what an obvious lie that is:
Oddly enough, Trump’s attempt to distance himself from chants indistinguable from his own message come after members of his own party, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have backed him up entirely.