Rep. Ilhan Omar was the subject of chants of "send her back" at President Donald Trump's recent rally in North Carolina. | Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images White House Trump claims to not care if his attacks on Ilhan Omar and the squad are good politics The president extended his attacks on the progressive congresswomen, saying Omar is 'lucky to be where she is.'

President Donald Trump on Friday claimed not to care whether his racist attacks on four progressive congresswomen are good politics, despite having spent the bulk of the week using the controversy to rile up his supporters.

“I don't know if it's good or bad politically — I don't care,” Trump said as he departed the White House for his New Jersey club. “When they call our country garbage, I don't care about politics. I don't care if it's good or bad about politics. Many people say it's good. I don't know if it's good or bad. I can tell you this: You can't talk that way about our country, not when I'm the president.”


The president’s insistence he is not attacking the congresswomen to score political points or use them as a wedge has been betrayed by his near-daily linking of the issue to the Democratic Party writ large.

On Sunday, for instance, Trump tweeted that "if the Democrat Party wants to continue to condone such disgraceful behavior, then we look even more forward to seeing you at the ballot box in 2020!"

Days later, he said the congresswomen “are forever wedded to the Democratic Party.” He added: “See you in 2020!”

And on Friday he brushed off the backlash to his attacks, portraying the broadsides as merely a principled stand. But minutes later, Trump said he “can’t imagine” defenders of the four lawmakers are “going to do very well at the polls.”

Trump declared at an event earlier Friday that one of the lawmakers, Rep. Ilhan Omar, is "lucky to be where she is," again accusing the Minnesota Democrat and Somali refugee of hating the United States.

"I'm unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman can hate our country. I'm unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman can say anti-Semitic things," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"I'm unhappy when a congresswoman goes and said, 'I'm going to be the president's nightmare.' She's going to be 'the president's nightmare.' She's lucky to be where she is, let me tell you," he continued. "And the things that she has said are a disgrace to our country.”

Trump's suggestion that Omar — who immigrated to the U.S. with her family in the early 1990s and became a citizen in 2000 when she was 17 years old — should be grateful to be in America marks his latest ambush on the lawmaker.

Beginning Sunday, the president has leveled incendiary broadsides against her and three other high-profile House Democrats — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — repeatedly declaring the women of color should “go back” to their countries of origin and questioning their patriotism. All three of those women were born in the U.S. and are American citizens.

But Trump has increasingly singled out Omar, launching into a vitriolic critique of her past controversial statements at a campaign rally Wednesday night that goaded the audience into chants of "send her back."

Earlier Friday, Trump accused the media of siding with Omar and the other lawmakers with whom he has feuded this week, slamming journalists’ coverage of his rally in Greenville, N.C..

“It is amazing how the Fake News Media became ‘crazed’ over the chant ‘send her back’ by a packed Arena (a record) crowd in the Great State of North Carolina, but is totally calm & accepting of the most vile and disgusting statements made by the three Radical Left Congresswomen,” the president tweeted .

“Mainstream Media, which has lost all credibility, has either officially or unofficially become a part of the Radical Left Democrat Party," he continued . "It is a sick partnership, so pathetic to watch!”

The president on Thursday said he “was not happy” with the chant and falsely claimed he “started speaking very quickly” in an attempt to silence the audience. In fact, Trump paused and turned away from the microphone as the crowd yelled, allowing the refrain to build up inside the arena.

Trump’s disavowal came after statements of disgust from several congressional Republicans over the rally display, as well as a meeting Thursday morning in which House GOP leadership conveyed their concerns to Vice President Mike Pence.

Upon her return to Minnesota on Thursday evening, Omar was met by a throng of supporters at a Twin Cities airport chanting , “Welcome home, Ilhan.”

“When I said I was the hope of the United States, it’s because I embody what that hope should look like. And when I said I was the president’s nightmare, well, you’re watching it now," Omar said through a megaphone, addressing the more-than-100 people gathered near the baggage claim area.

"Because his nightmare is seeing a Somali immigrant refugee rise to Congress," she continued. "His nightmare is seeing the beautiful mosaic fabric of our country welcome someone like me as their member of Congress home to Minnesota.”

Trump tweeted Friday about the homecoming, writing online of members of the media: “They even covered a tiny staged crowd as they greeted Foul Mouthed Omar in Minnesota."

Trump went on to argue that he will win the state in next year's presidential election “because they can’t stand her and her hatred of our Country, and they appreciate all that I have done for them (opening up mining and MUCH more) which has led to the best employment & economic year in Minnesota’s long and beautiful history!"

