Democrats Are Failing Ilhan Omar
Trump is determined to vilify Ilhan Omar and Muslim Americans in general. Democrats have failed to unequivocally defend them.
Ilhan Omar speaks at an election night results party on November 6, 2018 in Minneapolis, MN. Stephen Maturen / Getty
Last week, Donald Trump amplified a racist smear against a sitting Democratic lawmaker, potentially endangering her life.
With a few exceptions — including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who were both quick to release strongly worded statements, as did several House members — the initial responses offered by some Democrats, including several of those currently seeking the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, ranged from gutless to downright appalling.
On Thursday, the right-wing New York Post published a cover boasting an out-of-context quote from Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar in a nakedly cynical attempt to imply she was trivializing the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Taken from a March speech at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in which Omar discussed the prejudices experienced by Muslim Americans, here’s the quote in context:
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