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Continuing a series of confrontational exchanges between herself and President Trump, “progressive” Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), shown in head scarf, vowed that she and other freshmen members of the far-left Congressional Progressive Caucus would continue to be a “nightmare” for the president.
“We are going to continue to be a nightmare to this president because his policies are a nightmare to us. We are not deterred. We are not frightened,” Omar told a crowd that greeted her at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as she returned from Washington.
“We are ready,” Omar told cheering supporters before heading to a town hall on “Medicare for All,” a frequent objective of “progressives” who favor socialized medicine.
The back-and-forth exchange between Trump and the four freshman “progressives” (informally known as “the Squad”) escalated when Trump tweeted on July 14 that Omar (along with other members of the Squad) could “go back” where they came from if they were so unhappy with the American system of government. Other members of the Squad include Democratic Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who are all members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
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While, Omar (the main target against whom Trump directed his tweet) was born in Mogadishu, Somalia (the chaotic city infamous for the Battle of Mogadishu depicted in the 2001 film Black Hawk Down), the other three were born in the United States, leading some to charge that Trump had falsely labeled all four as foreigners. However, if we read the words of Trump’s tweet, we find that he wrote: “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places [not countries] from which they came…,” which could as easily apply to Rashida Tlaib’s Detroit or Ocasio-Cortez’s Bronx as it could to a third world country.
Seizing on Trump’s words, a crowd of supporters began a chant of “send her back” (referring to Omar) during a North Carolina rally on July 17.
Trump paused in his speech during the chanting, and video shows him expressionless, as if not knowing what to make of it, showing neither approval nor disapproval. The next day he said he did not approve of the chant.
Afterward, he also tweeted that it was “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.” And Trump isn’t the only one to notice.
WAVE3 News in Louisville, Kentucky, reported n July 15 that when Senator Ran Paul (R-Ky.) was in Louisville that day, reporters asked him about Omar.
“I’m sort of dumbfounded how unappreciative she is of our country,” Paul said. “She says this is terrible, a place without justice and all this. She’s a congresswoman. She got here as a refugee 20 years ago. She’s elected to Congress. I can’t imagine a better country that elected her to Congress and she badmouths our country.”
Photo of Ilhan Omar: Facebook
Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. Warren writes from Texas and can be reached at [email protected].
