A Republican congressman from the state President Trump is visiting for a rally Thursday evening said he’s hopeful Trump will do more to prevent any racist chants on his home turf.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) said he’s banking on the crowd behaving appropriately, but said Trump should “silence” any supporters who ignite the “send her back!” rhetoric that surfaced at Trump’s rally in North Carolina last month.
“I would discourage the crowd from doing anything inappropriate and I think saying something like that would be inappropriate,” Chabot told AP. “I would hope that the President would silence the crowd, tell them, ‘Hey, don’t do that, there’s no place for that. It’s not helpful, it’s not right.’”
Trump was denounced by Democrats and Republicans alike for stepping aside and allowing the “send her back!” chants at his last rally to gain momentum. The next day he claimed that he wasn’t happy with the war cry from his base, but later abandoned any sentiment of concern. The chants were directed at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a Somali-born, U.S. citizen who Trump’s been targeting for weeks alongside three other congresswomen of color.
Trump was roundly criticized for tweets last month in which he suggested that Omar and the three other lawmakers “go back” to where they came from. All four women are U.S. citizens and all but Omar were born in the U.S.
