[ audience chants send her back ] and obviously and importantly omar has a history of launching vicious anti-semitic screeds. [ audience chants send her back ] no attempts by the president to quiet the crowd. the president telling reporters he s enjoying the fight against ilhan omar and three other congre congresswomen of color which he started on sunday when he told all of them to go back to their own countries even though three of them are from america and that that phrase is a racist trope. those chants and his most vile comments were aimed at congresswoman ilhan omar. here is what she said just moments ago. we have said this president is racist. we have condemned his racist remarks. i believe he is a fascist.
personality. a racist trope if you think he s as racist, that s up to you. i don t. is it a racist trope for some time to say go back to your country, even if you re an american. i think he said go back and come back and tell us how to do it. they were saying, send her back. my point of view, i m not saying send her hback. i m saying for president trump, if you embrace his policies, doesn t matter where you come from, he probably likes you. as elected leaders of the country to tell the american people that these kind of i think they are. i ve said that a million times. aim higher. this is not helpful. this is not the kind of response that will lead to solutions. i think it s appropriate you ask them questions, too. most republicans believe this is a one-sided debate, that you
break bread at the dinner table. you look at that side of the aisle, it looks completely the same. you look at our side of the aisle it looks more like america. does it matter to you what the president believes in his heart when he s using a racist trope or if he s just saying something for purely political reasons. oh, no, we re right and he s wrong clearly. using the race card, scapegetting immigrants. look at history. every time time and time again has been used for real bad goals and objectives it worked for him in 2016. this will not work for him next year and hoping america will see it for what it is, to pin people against each other and having those women at the table brings a different opinion for some folks but i think yes, they can be controversial. you know, there s controversy in all pears yet we re able to come together and seek a common goal. david axelrod tweeted something out that it was really i thought interesting
administration. what does that have to do with that? he s making it about the very specific, pretty much individual member of congress. doesn t he need to be held accountable for his words? he said go back to these four women. i m not saying otherwise. do you acknowledge at least go back to your country is a racist trope. do you see why people are upset? no, i m not going to acknowledge that, hallie. kristen welker and our colleague, hallie jackson. kristen, is he saying because there is an asian-american woman in the cabinet that that means he s not using racist language and descriptions of these four congresswomen? it seemed as though that was his defense, andrea, to try to point out there are people of color who work within this administration. i pressed him on that and said
to the vice president and who has served in the west wing as well, he is well versed in all of the understanding of how the president operates both in campaign world and in government. and he was put to answer some of this today by you re in there as well as our colleague kristen welker when mark schwart was on the driveway today to talk about this. and he defends the president. here s what he had to say. i don t think the president s intent is in way is racist. i think he is trying to find something since being elected that omar found that backs the united states. he said go back. again, i m not suggesting otherwise, kristen. do you acknowledge at least that go back to their country, that is a racist trope. do you see how people are upset? no. i m not going to acknowledge that that is. reporter: of course the president is hoping that his base will look at some of these