Trump Disavows ‘Send Her Back’ Chant as G.O.P. Frets Over Ugly Phrase

“Though it was brief, I struggled with the ‘send her back’ chant tonight referencing Rep. Omar,” Mr. Walker wrote. “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.”

Their comments came amid widespread repudiation of the chant, which Democrats and minority advocacy groups denounced as racist, xenophobic and part of a hateful message peddled by Mr. Trump.

Ms. Omar would not respond to a question about whether she feared for her safety, but at least one organization, Muslim Advocates, a civil rights group, said Wednesday that Mr. Trump’s tweets and language were endangering the lives of Ms. Omar and Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, the other Muslim woman elected to Congress in November.

“The president’s open, calculated, anti-Muslim bigotry is something we expect to see much more of throughout the 2020 campaign,” Madihha Ahussain, the group’s special counsel for anti-Muslim bigotry, said in a statement. “All Americans, including all Democrats and Republicans, should unequivocally and immediately disavow this hatred.”

Mr. Trump’s tweets targeted Ms. Omar and Ms. Tlaib, as well as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts. All of them are American citizens.

“This president is evolving, as predicted, deeper into the rhetoric of racism, which evolves into violence,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday. She said that she was worried for her safety and that House Democrats were discussing how to address security concerns that have stemmed from Mr. Trump’s targeting of their members.

Mr. Emmer tried to minimize the president’s remarks.

“What he was trying to say is that if you don’t appreciate this country, you don’t have to be here,” Mr. Emmer said. He quoted a constituent who told him that Ms. Omar’s statements led people to believe that she hated America, adding, “How about a little gratitude with that attitude?”



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