Trump: Those chanting ‘send her back’ are ‘people that love our country’

President Trump on Thursday said guests at his Wednesday night rally in North Carolina “love our country” despite taunts shouted by the audience aimed at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

After crowds at the event shouted “send her back,” a reference to a tweet sent by the president on Sunday that targeted four minority Democratic congresswomen and that was widely viewed as racist, Trump told reporters that the guests at his rally were good Americans.

{mosads}”What would your message be to your supporters who are making that chant? And would you, again, stop them?” a reporter asked Trump during a press gaggle.

“Well, these are people that love our country. I want them to keep loving our country. And I think the congresswomen, by the way, should be more positive than they are. The congresswomen have a lot of problems,” he responded.

“I’m not happy about when I hear a chant like that. And I’ve said that, and I’ve said it very strongly,” Trump added.

“But I will tell you,” the president continued, “the congressmen and women also have a big obligation in this country and in every country, frankly. But they have a big obligation. And the obligation is to love your country. There is such hatred. They have such hatred. I’ve seen statements that they made with such hatred toward our country, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. They should embrace our country. They should love our country. And things would be a lot better.”

The remarks come after Trump said earlier in the day that he had attempted to stop the chants at his Wednesday rally by moving on to another topic quickly, though he did not admonish the crowd.

The taunts came days after the House condemned the president’s tweets as racist in a resolution that was largely opposed by Republican members. The White House and Trump’s defenders have argued that the tweets, which urged several congresswomen including Omar to “go back” to the “places” that they came from was not racist despite Omar being the only one targeted who was born abroad.