GOP lawmaker decries ‘send her back’ chants: ‘This ugliness must end’

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) is denouncing the “ugliness” of chants of “send her back,” referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), at President Trump’s campaign rally Wednesday night.

Kinzinger, like many Republicans who have spoken out against the chant, included a denunciation of the “extreme left” in a tweet early Thursday.

“I deeply disagree with the extreme left & have been disgusted by their tone,” he tweeted. “I woke up today equally disgusted — chants like ‘send her back’ are ugly, wrong, & would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers.”

I deeply disagree with the extreme left & have been disgusted by their tone. I woke up today equally disgusted – chants like “send her back” are ugly, wrong, & would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers. This ugliness must end, or we risk our great union.

— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) July 18, 2019

{mosads}“This ugliness must end, or we risk our great union,” added Kinzinger, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee with Omar.

Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) tweeted a similar sentiment, condemning the chant as “painful to our friends in the minority communities” but saying Omar’s “history, words & actions reveal her great disdain for both America & Israel.”

Though it was brief, I struggled with the “send her back” chant tonight referencing Rep. Omar. Her history, words & actions reveal her great disdain for both America & Israel. That should be our focus and not phrasing that’s painful to our friends in the minority communities.

— Rep. Mark Walker (@RepMarkWalker) July 18, 2019

The chant erupted Wednesday night as Trump blasted Omar, a U.S. citizen who came to the country as a refugee from Somalia, from the podium. It followed four days of controversy over a series of Sunday tweets in which Trump suggested Omar and three other progressive minority congresswomen, all of whom were born in the U.S., to “go back” to other countries.