Republicans mostly silent after Trump rally racist chants aimed at Ilhan Omar

“The president’s latest racist rant, offensive even in the context of his intentionally offensive tenure, has set a new low bar … I’m stunned and disappointed by the nonchalance of my Republican colleagues,” congressman Raúl M Grijalva wrote in the Guardian.

A year and a half ago.

Grijalva’s expression of shock at Republican silence about Trump’s racism came after Trump described El Salvador, Haiti and certain African nations as “shithole countries”.

The insults in the president’s mouth may have changed, but the Republican reaction has not. With few exceptions, elected Republican officials replied with silence – or feigned ignorance – the morning after a crowd at a Trump rally in Greenville, North Carolina, goaded by the president, chanted “Send her back! Send her back!”

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The chant was directed at congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a US citizen who arrived in America nearly 30 years ago as a child refugee of war. It echoed an attack Trump began last weekend, in which he said Omar and three fellow congresswomen of color – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – should “go back” to other countries.

All of the women are progressives within the Democratic party, and advocate for left-leaning policies.

While he has stood behind his “go back” tweet, Trump attempted to distance himself from the “send her back” chant in remarks to reporters at the White House on Thursday.

Asked why he did not stop the chant, Trump said, “I think I did” – when in fact, as video of the moment shows, he did nothing to discourage the chant, instead pausing to give the chant room.

“I was not happy with it – I disagree with it,” Trump told reporters about the chant. The claim was hard to credit given Trump’s “go back” tweet, his past attacks on immigrants and the fact that the chant was set off by a minutes-long attack personal attack on Omar by Trump.

The Republican congressman Jim Jordan, a Trump loyalist from Ohio, told CNN he had missed the “send her back” chants. “I think Americans are frustrated by the fact that we haven’t dealt with the crisis at the border,” Jordan said.

Another GOP representative, Tom Emmer, took a similar line at a breakfast with reporters: “I didn’t watch the rally but there is no place for that,” he said.

Interviewed on Fox Business Network on Thursday morning, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, was not asked about the “send her back” chant and he did not volunteer comment, although he repeated a bland call for civility he made on Tuesday, which the president and his Republican fans and followers have so dramatically ignored since.

Two elected Republicans in the US Congress – out of 250 – had condemned the rally chant by Thursday morning.

“I deeply disagree with the extreme left & have been disgusted by their tone,” the Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger from Illinois tweeted. “I woke up today equally disgusted – chants like ‘send her back’ are ugly, wrong, & would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers. This ugliness must end, or we risk our great union.”

Representative Mark Walker of North Carolina, whose district is north of Greenville, tweeted:

“Though it was brief, I struggled with the ‘send her back’ chant tonight referencing Rep Omar. Her history, words & actions reveal her great disdain for both America & Israel. That should be our focus and not phrasing that’s painful to our friends in the minority communities.”

Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who attended the rally, said there was no controlling what a crowd might say – ignoring the fact that in this case the crowd was echoing the speaker. “A group of people chanted, he didn’t ask them to chant it,” Tillis told reporters. “You can’t control that any more than you can control the reaction at a rock concert.”

Senator Lindsey Graham said the chant was not racist and then said Omar would not have been targeted if she held different political views: “No, I don’t think it’s racist to say, was it racist to say love it or leave it? I don’t think a Somali refugee embracing Trump would have been asked to go back.”

Trump seems to regard divisive and nativist rhetoric as his best chance of clinging on to the White House next year. Analysts say he may be right. Even among non-elected Republicans who condemned the chant, Omar-bashing was a staple.

“Her views are awful,” tweeted Jeb Bush, the failed 2016 presidential candidate. “She is an American citizen. She has the right to express her awful views.”

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“‘Send her back’ conservatism is not a conservatism worth defending,” tweeted Bill Kristol, the conservative commentator.

The former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, who is running a token primary campaign against Trump, tweeted: “I challenge every Republican to watch @realDonaldTrump’s rally last night, complete with chants of “Send her back”, and ask if that is the Party of Lincoln and Reagan we signed up for. We are in a fight for the soul of the GOP, and silence is not an option. #AmericaDeservesBetter.”

The price of criticizing Trump as a Republican was meanwhile highlighted in Florida, where the county Republican party in Palm Beach – home to Mar-a-Lago – disinvited Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director, from speaking at an annual fundraiser after Scaramucci criticized Trump on CNN.

“The President calls himself a stable genius,” Scaramucci said. “That tweet is unstable, it’s racist, it’s obnoxious … and you should apologize.”

Michael A Barnett, the party chairman in the county, told Politico that Scaramucci’s remarks were over the line and “infuriated” Republicans.

At least one conservative commentator, David Frum, predicted – however wishfully – a time when the fear of crossing Trump would be replaced by fear of association with Trump and Trumpism.

Frum tweeted: “When this is all over, nobody will admit to ever having supported it.”