GREENVILLE, N.C. (CN) - Amplifying his stance on racist tweets he made about four minority congresswomen, President Donald Trump celebrated Wednesday during a packed Greenville, North Carolina, rally over the House of Representatives’ move to nix an impeachment attempt.
A jumbotron erected on the lawn of East Carolina University’s stadium was the only inside glimpse for supporters who were not admitted into the arena during Trump’s Wednesday rally due to space limitations.
At around 8:30 p.m., a severe thunderstorm brewing in the state all afternoon cut the video-feed short for the outdoor viewers when it briefly struck Greenville, and they were told to leave. That was not before some of this week’s pertinent issues and other topics that concern many Republican residents of North Carolina arose.
Chants of “four more years” poured through speakers to be loudly echoed by the crowd that was left outside in the sticky southern heat at 7 p.m.
Inside, one man was escorted from the stadium after shouting during Trump’s monologue, slamming Rep. lhan Omar of Minnesota and three other congresswomen of color who he said “fuel the dangerous, violent rise of the hard left.”
"He goes home now to mommy and he gets reprimanded and that's the end," Trump mocked as the man left.
Trump’s mid-week comments on Omar came the day after the House passed a resolution condemning as racist his Twitter attacks on Democratic congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Omar, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
Trump on Wednesday rebuked the freshmen lawmakers and the resolution the House adopted on Tuesday evening.
“In America, if you hate our Country, you are free to leave,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning and reiterated during his North Carolina rally. “The simple fact of the matter is, the four Congresswomen think that America is wicked in its origins, they think that America is even more wicked now, that we are all racist and evil,” he added, quoting Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana.
Many rally-goers chanted “Send her back,” apparently referring to his racist tweets in which the president insisted the four lawmakers should “go back” to their home countries and fix the problems there.
Dozens of demonstrators shouted predominantly about issues on the southern U.S. border from behind a line of caution tape and about ten police officers. Some Trump supporters shouted back while some others flashed a casual peace sign in the protesters’ direction.
One counter protester, 20-year-old Bekah Shimer of Greenville, said immigration is the topic that inspires her to raise her voice.
“It’s tough to live here, because in the South, there are so many people who seem to be very insensitive to the issues at the border and to the people who are out there,” Shimer told Courthouse News on Wednesday.
John Laub, an army veteran from Fayetteville, told Courthouse News that while he has seen the barriers faced by some migrant children during his time teaching Junior ROTC, he said immigration needs to be reformed in the ways Trump has laid out to the public.
The majority of Wednesday’s rally was reminiscent of Trump’s well-known stump, featuring his criticism of Democrats, the news media and the phrase “witch hunt” to describe the Mueller investigation.
Trump did praise the Democrats, however, who Wednesday afternoon blocked the attempt of a Texas lawmaker to impeach the President in a 332-95 vote.
“Many of those people were Democrats and I want to thank them, because they did the right thing for our country,” Trump said.
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