Republican senators are hearing what they want to hear when it comes to President Donald Trump. The latest controversy over his fans’ “send her back” chant is no different.
Senate Republicans are literally avoiding what Trump does and says
Many said they “didn’t watch” and couldn’t comment on the ugly chants that took place at a rally this week.
Li Zhou is a former politics reporter at Vox, where she covers Congress and elections. Previously, she was a tech policy reporter at Politico and an editorial fellow at the Atlantic.
Initially, many Republican senators made an almost unbelievable claim: They told Vox they hadn’t seen coverage of a campaign rally in North Carolina during which the crowd, responding to Trump’s extended rant about US citizen and Somali refugee Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), began to chant “send her back” — a moment that went viral instantly. As part of his remarks, the president suggested Omar was sympathetic to al-Qaeda and that she “has a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic attacks.”
Republican senators tried to plead ignorance. “I told you, I didn’t watch the rally,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn told reporters when asked about the chants Thursday morning. Pressed on whether Trump had a responsibility to speak out upon hearing the chants, Cornyn was silent.
South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, too, said he couldn’t comment because he “was busy doing homework ... and didn’t have a chance to watch any of it last evening.”
Those who admitted to seeing the rally footage or coverage also offered little in the way of criticism. “It would be nice if both sides would tone down the rhetoric,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson told Vox.
Republican senators’ tune changed later in the day once Trump, despite ample video evidence to the contrary, claimed he didn’t encourage the chants — a reference to a racist tweet he sent Sunday about Omar and three other US-born Democratic congresswomen of color suggesting they “go back” to the “corrupt” countries they came from.
It’s clear that during the rally on Wednesday, Trump made no attempt to stop the chants. That didn’t stop him from telling reporters on Thursday: “I didn’t say that ... they did,” adding that he tried to talk “quickly” in an effort to push back on the crowd.
Republican senators seemed notably relieved.
This shift in rhetoric is emblematic of GOP lawmakers’ selective hearing when it comes to Trump’s racist comments. While they shy away from directly criticizing his remarks, and often plead ignorance, they’re quick to praise him if he makes even the smallest effort to acknowledge a misstep.
The overwhelming Republican response — or rather, lack thereof — to this whole saga typifies how the GOP has treated the racist and xenophobic rhetoric and policies that Trump has espoused since his 2016 campaign. (See the lack of pushback toward the Muslim ban, the border wall, and comments Trump previously made calling Haiti and a group of African nations “shithole” countries.)
When pressed to rebuke his racism, many Republicans time and again have returned to the same playbook. Their comments on the “send her back” chants are just the latest example.
Most Republicans claimed they hadn’t seen the chants. A few spoke out.
Over and over again, interviews with Republicans on Thursday revealed they didn’t want to talk about the rally.
“I don’t know what to tell you about chants at a political rally,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune told reporters. “I’ve seen nothing about it, don’t know what happened at the Trump rally,” Sen. Jerry Moran (KS) noted.
Sens. James Inhofe (OK) and Thom Tillis (NC) argued the president had little say over what members of the crowd were saying. “I’m not really convinced that the president himself knew what the shouting was,” said Inhofe.
It’s worth noting that a few Republican lawmakers spoke out. Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Marco Rubio (FL) were among those who took slightly stronger positions condemning the chants. Rubio called them “grotesque” while also criticizing “left wing politicians” as “self righteous hypocrites.”
Collins said the chant was “extraordinarily offensive,” and added, “the congresswoman is an American and to suggest she should be sent back — there’s just no place for that kind of rhetoric,” HuffPost’s Igor Bobic reports.
The Republican reactions show just how much they rely on Trump’s approval
There are some pretty straightforward explanations for lawmakers’ approach to this week’s firestorm. Trump’s popularity with the Republican base (he currently has a 90 percent approval rating among GOP voters, according to Gallup) makes retaining his support crucial for senators, especially those in battleground states in 2020.
What’s more, the racist tweets Trump posted this weekend haven’t hurt him with the GOP at all. In fact, as Catherine Kim reported for Vox, his favorability among Republicans actually improved in the wake of the statements he posted.
Republican lawmakers who disagree with Trump are at the risk of facing his wrath, according to a story by Politico’s Burgess Everett and James Arkin. For those in competitive 2020 Senate races, this wrath could come in the form of the endorsement of a primary challenger or other lack of support from the national party. As Everett and Arkin reported, at least two Republicans who condemned the tweets Trump put out this weekend received direct messages from the president lambasting them.
In the past, vocal Trump critics have seen a notable impact on their electoral success. Former South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford lost his primary in 2018 after repeatedly speaking out against Trump. Alabama Rep. Martha Roby was forced into a runoff election in 2018 after she declined to back the president’s bid in 2016. And former Sens. Jeff Flake (AZ) and Bob Corker (TN), both seen as the upper chamber’s more prominent Trump critics, opted to retire as tight reelection races loomed.
It appears most Republican senators don’t want to take their chances.
