Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh said that he’s “ticked off” at the outrage over the “send her back” chant that erupted during President Donald Trump’s July 17 “Keep America Great” rally in North Carolina.
Trump listed some of the controversial remarks made over the years by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as the crowd listened, ultimately starting to chant “send her back.”
Omar, 37, migrated to the United States as a child and is a naturalized American citizen.
Limbaugh wondered at what he said was the difference in coverage of the chant and the radical extremist group Antifa.
“This really irritates me. There’s two sets of rules. The Democrats never have to denounce Antifa. What’s Antifa? Antifa is blowing up cities. Antifa is attacking people—ditto Black Lives Matter. Ilhan Omar herself hates Israel. She’s been uttering anti-Semitic statements. The House comes up with a resolution, doesn’t even mention her name,” he said during an appearance on Fox & Friends on July 19.
“And yet some people at a Trump rally make some innocent little chant borne of fun, and Washington comes to a halt and everybody gets up, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God! did you hear what—?’ It’s nothing!”
Like Trump, Limbaugh suggested that he’s most concerned with people who seem to constantly criticize America, whoever they may be.
“We conservatives love people, Steve. We want the best for everybody. We want everybody to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that living in this country affords everybody. And we want everybody to be able to have the opportunity to be the best they want to be, using the ambition, desire, they have it,” he said.
“All we ask, all we ask is that you love your country, that you do your best to help other people love the country. There’s no reason to hate this country. There’s no better place on Earth to be. There’s no reason to despise this country,” he added.
The longtime political commentator, 68, then said that he hopes the Congresswomen who are embroiled in a feud with Trump keep talking. “I say let them continue, I hope they continue to illustrate how wacko, how morally bankrupt, and substantively bankrupt they are. That’s why I hope Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez keep talking,” he said.
Trump said on July 14: “So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run.”
“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough,” he added.
So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
….it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
Critics called Trump’s comments racist, but Limbaugh said earlier this week that he doesn’t agree.
‘Go back to where you came from.’ Why is that inherently racist? I mean, if you tell some scalawag white European, you know, ‘Go back to where you came from,’ some white liberal, ‘You don’t like it here, go back to where you came from.’ How is that racist?” Limbaugh said on his radio show.
“It isn’t racist. The allegation that it’s racist is meant to put people on the defensive. What it’s meant to do is to quell opposition. It’s meant to quell and stymie any kind of debate. It is a cheap throwaway insult that’s become all too easy, and it’s only thrown around when these four whack jobs get hold of the term, it’s only thrown around at Republicans or conservatives,” Limbaugh added.
Trump has updated his comments multiple times, including in remarks he made during a cabinet meeting on July 16.
“It’s up to them. Go wherever they want, or they can stay. But they should love our country. They shouldn’t hate our country. I have clips right here. The most vile, horrible statements about our country, about Israel, about others,” Trump said after a reporter asked him where the congresswomen should go.
“It’s up to them,” he added. “They can do what they want. They can leave, they can stay, but they should love our country and they should work for the good of our country.”
