If I'm not mistaken, the 9/11 attackers were Saudis, following the leadership of a Saudi, financed by Saudis. Aren't these also the same folks whom Trump and his family have provided with a special position within the world's society so that they can, for instance, brutally murder journalists without consequence?
Frankly, from my perspective, we have far more to fear as a nation from Trump and his ilk than we do from a billion Muslims, and I say that even though I have no particular sympathy for any formal religion.
Evil, I have noticed, is welcome within all skin colors regardless of the masks we choose to wear.
4
I assume that if Trump wins again, which is looking more and more probable with the Democratic candidate clown car, I could see Trump setting up a registry for Muslims just like the Nazis did for the Jews. Democrats better nominate someone who has the capacity to win, or the following four years will look like a cakewalk compared to today. The progressive Democrats putative message cannot beat him.
1
Omar was insensitive, to put it mildly, when she referred to 9/11 as just "something that happened." If Muslims want non-Muslim people to care about them and their issues, they had better show some sympathy for the non-Muslim victims of terrorism. Get out in the streets and protest against the violence coming from the Muslim world. Don't just talk about how Islam is about brotherly love--demonstrate it.
5
Trump personifies the adage that the empty barrel makes the most noise. Unfortunately his noise comes at the expense of so many others; in their intention to promote good policies, in their reputations, in their mental stability, and worst of all, in their personal safety. I don't think he grasps the enormity of what he says, but neither do the criminally insane.
4
Islamophobia is contrary to the most fundamental values of the Christian religion.
3
Trump is the epitome of a school yard bully. He has brought shame upon this country and those who continue to support him are complicit in this degradation of our standing in the world.
4
Well, they bring it on themselves when they say such openly ignorant and hostile things as "somebody did something"
She deserves all of the negative publicity she's getting. She asked to be in the limelight, now she's got it. Enjoy......
11
Seems she can dish out the rhetoric and but she can't quite handle the recoil.......
Choose your words more carefully or at least educate yourself about the history of that event and our culture here.
11
He foghorns his hatred of Muslims, yet he cozies up to the Saudis who are killing civilians in Yemen, carving up a Washington Post journalist, having torture against Saudis that may criticize the crown prince, and most importantly 15 of 19 hijackers hitting the twin towers were Saudis receiving Saudi money.
His priorities are all within his wallet.
9
I never thought Americans were so ignorant. What made veterans agree with trump about Sen. McCain? Why are they so infatuated with such a shallow, basically bigoted person. Do so many see themselves in trump. Americans aren’t cowards. Why are they for one. Jews for trump don’t see the evangelical front as an invasive force in Israel? Jews for trump don’t see Kushner as a fraud. And now trump’s revved up rhetoric against Islam per se. Jews don’t see this bigotry as all encompassing against Jews too? It’s hatred against all Semites, and Jewish trump supporters don’t see that? Perhaps when swastikas deface both synagogues and mosques they’ll get the message. But then again, no they won’t, because it’s already happening. Fools.
2
Racism is, and always has been, alive and well in white Christian America.
2
What Donald Trump is doing is exactly what fascist demagogues in Europe used to do with the baiting of Jewish and other minorities. America is speeding down a very dark road with this hatemongering would be despot.
4
Trump is leading the Democrats by the nose on irrelevant issues. Every day he has a new game and the Democrats are dumb enough to respond to his daily crises. Democrats should ignore his once a day crisis and get on with their legislative agenda to benefit ALL Americans. Do these addled Trump supporters enjoy the daily circus? Do they think the US president is a circus barker?
4
First, there are no bounds on anybody attacking anybody else in the frenzy that the news media has instigated. Yes, you NYT are a large part of this. Second, Omar downplayed a heinous act of radical Islamic terrorism that murdered 3,000 innocent American citizens. She deserved to get her act straightened out. If she keeps dissing Americans and Jews she will and should get more. It is not about her being Muslim, it is about her being an anti-American bigot that also is a member of Congress and who is on the foreign relations committee. She should not have either of these positions.
11
We see the same scenario again and again. Trump vilifies someone and then one or more of his fanatical followers threatens death to the recipient of Trump's ire. And in some cases they carry out their threats. When have we had a President who acts in this way and his own party stands by idly?
1
A registry? That's an outstanding idea. But just to make them easier for us real Americans to identify, maybe we could also make them wear some kind of symbol of their religion pinned to their jackets at all times?
2
Later (though I hope not much later), when it comes to defining Trump's presidency, one word will stand out above all others: Ignorance. There has surely never been a more ignorant occupant of the Oval Office in the history of the United States of America.
3
One purpose of the 9-11 attack was to stir hatred for Muslims in America while rallying Muslim extremists in the Middle East and elsewhere. If many Americans acted on hate against Muslims this would radicalize mainstream Muslims who otherwise would not turn to violence.
Osama Bin Laden partially succeeded in his strategy as evidenced by Donald Trump's deplorable actions to stir hatred for his personal political objectives.
Trump has become a tool of Al Qaeda.
2
Unlike many liberals, most people do not generalize Trump’s comments about Ilhan to all Moslems. We find them specific to her. Most of us do not see her as a voice for anyone but herself. What we DO see is the Democrat attempt to cover up the several “inelegant phrasings” by a member of their party and turning it around as an attack on Trump. Rarely do leftists accept personal responsibility and this is just another example. This all too familiar tactic of defending the irresponsible behavior of an individual by suggesting that any comment about it is bigoted just doesn’t cut it any more.
11
The more he talks, the angrier most Americans get. Dems were purposefully divided last time, but we won't be fooled again. Roger Stone knows that manipulated hatred drives people to the polls-- wait until he sees what organic, visceral hatred does.
1
I’m sorry but anyone who supports Trump, regardless of what they get in return are immoral. They will rationalize using all sorts of arguments, but Trump and his advisers are targeting hatred of the Other, whether they be Muslim, Hispanic, the poor, powerful women, you name it. He is trying to reach 50% by targeting as many differences as he can.
4
If you are looking to expand your insight on this issue; viewing local reaction within the Twin Cities newspapers comment sections may be of interest. Active Humphrey/Mondale/Fraser/Sabo ‘DFL’er’ from the old days. Not your Grandparents political climate here in flyover land.
1
If you are looking to expand your insight on this issue; viewing local reaction within the Twin Cities newspapers comment sections may be of interest. Active Humphrey/Mondale/Fraser/Sabo ‘DFL’er’ from the old days. Not your Grandparents political climate here in flyover land.
It is really amazing how many comments try to confirm Trump's position that Omar is a bad person. It seems to me that they want their cake and eat it.
Just like Netanyahu Trump rules according to the principle of divide and conquer. He will always find the most vulnerable people to attack and then enjoy seeing the divisions among his adversaries playing out.
The only real answer to this tactic is the nuance. Acknowledge Omar's right to say it this way while stressing that you would have taken a slightly different approach. But stress how unimportant this issue is and put the focus back on Trump's horrible policies.
2
Trump is canny enough to recognize an opening when he sees it. He is no scholar and he may be worse at business than any other entrepreneur in America. But he is a successful marketer. Defending Omar by saying that Trump is worse( he is much worse) or that Christian politicians invoke their religious identity(they do) does not address the problem that her insensitive comments pose for democrats. And doubling down by saying it is off limits - Islamophobia- to criticize her choice of words just makes the problem worse. Rep. Omar has a tin ear when it comes to imagining how other audiences outside her religious community might hear her words. It shouldn't require a legion of explainers to tell the world what she really meant. Islamophobia is a serious problem- describing the 9/11 attackers as 'some people did something" is the worst possible way of addressing it.
8
I am emphatically not a fan of President Trump. But making the Ilhan Omar story about Trump is sleight of hand. Omar is hardly being targeted due to her being Muslim. Omar has repeatedly voiced opinions that are truly outrageous. There is a reason that many in her own party believe she is guilty of anti-Semitism. Not only that, but in a 2013 interview, she also seemed to compare the US and the UK to al-Qaeda.
Is Trump crass? Well, obviously. But superimposing his reaction over the true story of Ilhan Omar is obfuscation of the real issue here. Her own actions are the concern here, not her religious faith.
19
Trump’s rise to the top of the polls during the primaries came after mass killings in Paris, Frankfurt, Orlando and San Bernardino at the hands of radical Islam. He gave voice to the fear and anger people palpably felt. Rep Omar is either incredibly insensitive, stubborn or stupid to fan these flames, and Democratic leadership is all but handing POTUS a 2nd term by not responding in turn.
20
So, Omar speaks her mind, rightfully, about how she see the Muslim Community being mistreated by "some people". Mr. Trump, then pus out on social media repeating only the part of video mentioning "some people" following, disgustingly, by video of the 9/11 attacks.
Trump is attempting to get people believe that Muslim Community, right here in the United States, were the cause of the attacks.
That is fake news. That is demagoguery. That is racism.
It is naked hatred.
Trump is trying to tell those weak-minded to believe, "It's OK to think of Muslims as second-class citizens. In fact, in the name of 9/11 it's our duty as citizens to take this position."
This ugliness is naked hatred.
Vote in 2020. We, as a country, have the right, no, the duty, to redress this grievance who sits behind the resolute desk.
Mr. Trump will learn what resolute means when he is voted out of office.
7
Donald Trump and his re-election team know exactly what they are doing.
Trump's tax cuts for the ultra wealthy and corporations won't win him re-election. So...Trump will remind his voters that they get to vote for the guy who hates who they hate. Unfortunately his first election in 2016 taught American that white Americans who long for "the past" will vote for the illusion of white superiority every time.
And if Democrats don't make their message relevant and louder, Trump's campaign of racism will win again.
4
She may be wise to the ways of the world but she ignorant of the ways of this Country.
17
George W. Bush denigrated the victims of 9/11 more than anyone by starting a needless war in the bellicose atmosphere generated after 9/11. Killing thousands of Iraqis and causing millions to become refugees and causing the death of thousands of Americans serving there was a gross and perverted use of the powers at his disposal using the idiotic logic that it had anything to do with 9/11.
Does anyone have sympathy for the victims of Bush's needless war?
Sick of Americans acting like they can dish it out with impunity with no thought for the victims of our government's misadventures.
6
@Liberty Lover,
The scars that remained after the Towers fell will stay with New Yorkers for the rest of our lives. The loss of life affecting some more than others. From your comments I can only gather that you truly do not understand what that attack was. Perhaps you should stay in LA LA Land and avoid the East Coast!
7
@LibertyLover
Thank you for your comment. Well said.
1
@George
Your comment addresses nothing I said.
1
Both politicians' expression should be condemned with the same fervor.
Condemning only President Trump's anti-Muslim expressions and defending Rep. Omar who used anti-Semitic expressions, is using two measures.
9
Are there no longer standards of decency and fairness in the broadcast industry that controversial advertising and promotional material must meet before going on the air?
If there are, how can outright misleading propaganda like the President's attack on Muslim Congresswoman Ilan Omar be acceptable for general consumption without qualification.
What happened to "Truth in advertising"?
Or is that now only a quaint reference to pre-Murdoch America?
The perversion of our media has polarized public discourse and undermined our democracy. It oughta be criminally libel.
5
Amazing .. the argument here is "a small clip was taken out of context with the extended comments." The 'extended' comments only amplify what is being used in the clips chastising her. The 'extended' comments make her look worse. Argue that she has a right to speak freely. Argue that Trump incites (fill in the blank.) But don't argue something that isn't even there if you bother watching.
9
Trump's personal attack on the congresswoman is unbecoming of a president of the United States and his behavior reinforces the opinion of those of us who believe he is unfit for the office he holds. Having said that, Democrats need to find some backbone and denounce the virulent antisemitic remarks and behavior of Ilan Omar and Rashida Talib, otherwise they risk ceding this issue to those who would weaponize it on behalf of the political right.
5
I dislike Trump immensely but if it takes him to keep people like this woman out of mainstream politics, so be it.
Democrats should take note that they are well on the way to guarantee Trump a second term.
15
Trump did nothing wrong. Congresswoman Omar spoke dismissively of the attacks against the United States that occurred on September 11th. She stated that someone did something when mentioning the attack on the Pentagon and the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Pres. Trump reminded Omar and the world what that something was by providing video. His tweet expresses the opinion of many Americans.
Thank you, Mr. President for speaking up. We need more voices like yours.
17
One huge point almost all of Rep. Omar's defenders ignore: she got the whole timeline of the group she was speaking to completely wrong. She said CAIR started because of 9/11 even though it started several years earlier. That is a Trumpian mistake. If Trump did that you would rightfully mock him. Omar was there to speak to an organization and she assumed her prior knowledge of it, although uninformed, was correct without checking the facts. How is that what you want in a politician?
24
What Congresswoman Omar said about 9/11 was a passing reference to the treatment of Muslims in the US after 9/11. Since her comment was not meant to undermine the terrorist attacks of 9/11, it did not warrant deliberate demonization and incitement by Trump, and the death threats by his racist supporters.
Therefore, members of Congress and other leaders should strongly warn Trump about stoking the fire of hate. Also, the authorities should arrest and charge those who have made death threats against her.
11
Ms Omar made the comments. She is now on the receiving end of it. Perhaps next time she’ll think first and more carefully choose her words.
29
@George
Her words are already carefully chosen. She’s intentional.
14
@Michael, Were that the case, we would not be having this discussion. As to her being international, so are the majority of Americans.
The question is who is she speaking for?
1
She a Trojan horse.
3
If their lying hero, Trump, had used the exact same language, they'd have no problem with it.
Let's see how these lovers of very specific language describe what America did in Iraq, or Vietnam.
8
Trump aides insisted that the president meant no harm....
Trump aides and allies say they are pleased that some of the Democratic hopefuls for the 2020 presidential nomination are defending her against the president’s attacks, claiming they think it will be damaging for them in the general election.
These Trump aids, in defending Trump this way, will go down in history as equally petty opportunists. Take names.
4
Omar can dish it out but clearly can't take it....New York will never forget 9/11 nor should it.
26
We taught the terrorists how to fly a plane. Our ineptitude is mind boggling. 18 years in Afghanistan. What do we have to show for it?
Nothing.
Iraq?
Nothing.
Libya, Syria, Yemen? Chaos.
Vietnam, Korea? Lose lose !
Ineptitude.
War on drugs? Lose
War on poverty? No gain
Corporations rule.
The military industrial complex, the medical industrial complex, the private education complex , the prison industrial complex with voter suppression and continued plunder of African Americans. Those are our successes. . Plus caging Hispanic children. All that we do well
We're good at debt, national, credit card, and college. Corporate welfare. We do that well.
6
In an unabridged democracy the power of the people relies upon collectivism. But in a republic the true minority relies upon division and the chaos derived from it. Therefore, it must be understood that, although the president maybe seeking to inspire his based, the real goal is to maintain a focus on those distinctions that divide us. Of course these distinctions make no difference to him except as a useful tool for political diffusion.
8
Never a president so hateful,so divisive, so corrupt!
18
A reflection of the American people. They elected him and cheer him on.
2
I am an ex-Muslim and I stand with Ilhan. The freedom of religion, the freedom from religion, and all that I love about America is threatened. Freedom, is at stake.
Do we stand for the freedom?
15
She made it about her and how SHE suffered because of 9/11, that's the outrage
42
No she didn’t. I’m no fan of Omar and disagree with her on many issues but she was taking about how Muslims have been treated, not herself.
21
@Steve Cohen
Her take on 9/11 is that Muslims suffered as a result. That is a pretty ridiculous way to look at things.
3
The thing about power is you have to win elections to get it. At least so far. 2020 may be the most important ( and maybe the last) election in the 243 year history of our Republic. It will determine wether or not we can come back from the edge of ‘total’ totalitarianism or - not.
And what do we get from the only Party strong enough to challenge the monolithic strength of a Republican regime that knows every dirty trick in the book about how to manipulate fear and propagandize anger? A disunited disillusioning set of detriments like Ilan Omar. She deliberately provokes people to anger , disgust or loyalty - all strong feelings. She throws red meat to the wolves and they feed on it ravenously. But how does this help the Dems win the election in 2020? How does this prevent our country from falling into what will be far greater repressions of minorities and everyone else if we don’t win.
My hopes for 2020 are fading. The Democrats are a pretty leaky bucket to put much faith in.
Omar is not a team player. She is doing harm to the Democratic Party and to the people for whom Democracy stands. She is selfish and self serving and I consider it a misfortune that she was elected in my home state of Minnesota.
33
@Gwen Vilen I totally agree.
8
Did the Democratic Party cease being a political party or what? In politics you gain power by winning elections. To win elections you need to win over voters. Duh.
What is the ratio of voters repulsed by Omar to voters attracted to Omar? 10:1 100:1 1000:1 Possibly even worse?
The Party has two great reasons to ostracize her.
1) Repeated offensive comments
2) She's really really bad for business
Free speech is a right. But there are consequences.
The Trump Tweets are a side show.
41
You need to get educate yourself more about the injustice being inflicted by Israel.
Finally, someone is speaking up. Omar has not always been the most diplomatic, but she is right in her criticism. Open your mind and learn what you have been told and taught about this conflict is wrong and a form of brainwashing and gaslighting.
As a recovering Catholic, I have learned, and I’m ashamed to be an American citizen inadvertently supporting Netanyahu’s corrupt regime that is on the verge of enforcing apartheid. If Americans weren’t so ignorant of the facts, I believe their moral impulse would leave most to support the BDS movement.
Try to find a little empathy people. If you found yourself in the Palestinian’s shoes, what would you do? Read. Listen. Learn. And you too will be appalled at what you once believed.
3
@Beattlejuice
Anyone whose complaints about the Middle East focus on the only democracy in town is looking in the wrong direction. Israel does a minimum of what it needs to do in order to live peacefully, when surrounded by terrorists committed to her destruction. Viewing those whose elected representatives are committed to terrorism as the true victims? That is simply way off base. Arab Muslims are full Israeli citizens, and are represented in every area of life, including in the Knesset and on the Israeli Supreme Court. Israel has been trying to make peace with her neighbors for all 71 years of its existence. If the Palestinians want peace, there will be peace. Until then, Israel must do what is necessary to defend itself.
5
“Some People Did Something”
We all know what Mohamed Atta and his accomplices did. I’m sure Ilhan Omar knows too. I also suspect that the context of Ms. Omar’s characterization of this horrific act was to emphasize the fallout on the Muslim community in America.
Al Qaeda’s goal was to create a climate that would bring about religious wars. They’ve won because they have allies and accomplices.
Trump is their friend.
So are evangelicals. They want to bring about Armageddon and don’t trust their god to bring it off. Evangelicals know it’s only through their own efforts that their imaginary god’s plan can be realized. Just like the hijackers. They, too, knew their own imaginary allah wasn’t up to the task. They had to do it themselves.
Trump’s road to the most powerful office in the world is paved with the blood spilled by the 9-11 hijackers and the blood their allies in the evangelical community hope to spill in the future. It’s a road of hatred, fear, lies and deceit.
I’m not an atheist. There is a god. But god is not at all what these vile war mongers imagine.
I don’t know Ilhan Omar. Perhaps Trump is right in thinking that she’s evil. But so far, I’m not convinced. I see someone who is trying to speak truth, and bring recognition to injustice. I sympathize with her sentiments about Israel, and the appropriateness of calling out our Israeli friends that their embrace of apartheid is corrupting their humanity and disgracing their history.
17
My son greatly benefited from taking remedial English. He now understands what he reads.
3
How about standing up for New York? Omar described the worst terrorist attack in American history as some people did something but later in the same speech she correctly described the attack in New Zealand as a terrorist attack. This woman is a disgrace. To defend such a heinous dismissal when we see that it was not poor choice of words but deliberate is simply beyond the pail. I don't care if she is a Muslim or a Hindu or a Jew or a Rastafarian. To be so dismissive of the most horrifying event in the history of New York is heinous and there is no defense for it.
50
@Eric Hammer
You took one sentence out of context and forgot to mention that Benjamin Netanyahu on the day of 9/11 was recorded gleefully saying "This is great for Israel"
1
I am one of Rep. Omar's constituents, and I support her.
Trump had the audacity to come to Minnesota today to tout his fake "tax-cut" bill after having promulgated a distorted, lying, insulting hit-job internet piece attacking Rep. Omar. Kellyanne Conway tried to do the same on Meet The Press this Sunday (Thank goodness host Chuck Todd headed her off from this scurrilous and cheap attack). Clearly Trump wants to make her the poster child for the anti-Islamic check box for his 2020 campaign.
Rep; Omar said nothing like what Trump insinuated in his low-life piece on her. His attack ad was cheap, tawdry and frankly, dangerous. He set his MAGA-head brown shirts to get her. He put my elected Representative in danger, and I will not soon forget it, and neither will her constituents.
Rep. Omar is a strong, intelligent woman who happens to be expressing strong opinions. But I am ashamed to acknowledge that as a Muslim woman, she makes a cheap target for a politician like Trump who wants to gin up the racist, Islamophobic trolls in his "base." The trogdelite barflys are cheering as he attacks a woman of color for exercising her First Amendment rights, and doing her job.
Trump can't do much to her politically. She will be re-elected, if for no other reason to show Trump that he can't use such churlish stunts for political exploitation. But, of course, he only wants to make her the face of all that his supporters fear.
I was already ashamed of him, and now I am disgusted.
24
@william Trumps ‘piece’ was a recording of Omar saying what she said. How did she ‘say nothing like that”. I’m confused.
7
Trump’s behavior is execrable and dangerous. There is no excuse for anyone to threaten the life of Omar. At the same time, she is now in Congress and should be doing her homework regarding getting facts right, like the founding of CAIR. She also should choose her words more carefully when giving talks. This is not the first time she made controversial or insensitive remarks. She can do better.
13
Omar's crime is not to complain of Islamphopbia, which many people acknowledge does exist, but she criticizes Israel's behavior towards Palestinians. And that is totally unacceptable in our country: whatever Israel does cannot be criticized, period.
7
@paul mathieu
Do not be so sure. There are many of us that criticize the government of Israel and yes, that is perfectly acceptable in this country.
4
@paul mathieu...we, here in the good old USA, have legal rights to express our opinions and speak our minds. It's the American way by golly. It is totally acceptable for those of us who find the actions and policies of the government of Israel offensive to express our opinions. We Americans can criticize Israel's actions.
3
Isn’t there some way they can both lose?
14
Trump's supporters should spend as much energy and outrage that Trump is not releasing his finances and tax returns as they show in claiming that Ms. Omar is anti-Jewish.
10
@John.. Trump supporters have confidence the IRS/ tax collectors,especially in NY carefully audit successful businesses looking for every dollar. If he had evaded tax illegally it would be known already.
6
There goes our president, drumming up hatred against our fellow Americans again. What a surprise.
11
Trump behaving like Trump. He's been a racist his entire life, from redlining properties in Queens to the Central Park Five to the birth certificate garbage that launched his political career, to this attack on Rep Omar to his treats to punish cities that don't get with his racist, exclusionary agenda. He knows that 30-40% of americans share his repugnant views, and that they'll never change, and figures he's safe as long as they're stirred up. Utterly deplorable.
15
Ex Minnesotan and lifelong DFL’er here: I truly do not understand the fawning back home (on social media, anyway) over Rep Omar.
I’ve seen her give numerous interviews and sit downs, and a few speeches; She consistently comes across about as wise and interesting as your typical college freshman. -Not to be conflated with a typical Democratic congressional freshman.
She’s bright eyed and enthusiastic, but she trades in cliches, and I’ve yet to hear her say anything especially profound or engaging, on any topic (outside of a couple of her most reliable talking points.)
I’m back there often for work and family, and still try to follow the political flow in the place where I first eagerly embraced the democratic process 20 years ago (we’ve turned out some remarkable public servants over the years.)
Perhaps it was always there, but it does seem like there now exists in MN an odd mix of self righteousness coupled with an almost quaint naïveté. Ripe grounds for a candidate like Omar, I suppose.
22
This article illustrates the two main competing visions for America. One, represented by Trump, is a white Christian country in which others are second class citizens. The other vision, as represented by Omar, is a secular country with diverse types of people who are all first class citizens. I believe that the Founders of the country embraced the latter vision although they may not have lived it completely in their personal lives. Trump is really trying to turn the clock back to a time preceding the values that emerged in the enlightenment. Something similar happened in the 1930s in Europe. This seems to be a conflict in values that will continue for a long time. The fight can also be portrayed between those who do not want to follow the Constitution and the rule of law om the right and those who do on the left. Will America continue on the path set out by its founders or embark on a new path that is based on the dominance of one race and one religion?
8
@Bob
Ilhan Omar has compared the US and the UK to al-Qaeda, and has been vocalizing anti-Semitic comments for years. There is evidence of her committing immigration fraud, and tax fraud, too. Is she really your idea of what a US representative should be?
3
Because, for the first time, there is actually a prominent American politician who is a representative of the Muslim community. She does not waver or shy away from that aspect of her life. The fact that there is a Muslim American woman standing in the House of Representative has been a major disruption in American politics, real and perceived.
That is what she is advocating for. The need and right of Muslim Americans to stand up and advocate for their communal needs.
This has made her an easy target. Given that certain issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would draw a vastly different policy direction from the Muslim community, as opposed to others.
Instead of engaging in civic dialogue with Rep. Omar and other members of her community and constituency, certain members of the GOP/the right decided to cast her in the role of a villain.
At the end of the day, there is also the element that no matter what opinion she voices, she will be judged in an unfair light simply because she dares to be an American Muslim woman politician. Her existence defies the laws of political gravity in the minds of certain biased minds. Her religion becomes the default reason for everything they claim to hate her for.
Yet, she has chosen to participate in American politics in the most universal way possible, to win the majority of the electorate, and represent the interests of her constituents. She does not only speak on her behalf, but also on behalf of her district.
4
@Anymore
The opposition she has engendered has nothing to do with her Islamic faith, and everything to do with her anti-Semitic and anti-American comments.
3
Rep. Omar has a wonderful story to tell of her personal journey that brought her to politics. She spoke at my college in the suburbs of the Twin Cities when she was a State Senator. She used her gentle, melodic voice to great effect for a standing room only audience of college students. The kids loved her and she posed for a dozens of individual selfies after her speech.
"Minnesota nice" is real thing. People will here will do almost anything to not offend someone, especially those they fear will judge them. So, Ms. Omar was able to get by with simply being a success story of assimilation. Media coverage was gentle. She wasn't a particularly active senator, not known as a team player in DFL politics. She wasn't prepared for the spotlight Washington shines on every utterance, especially from a trailblazer. She's bright, clever, she'll get better.
9
@gopher1She was a state house rep, not a senator.
4
Rep Omar is a target by gop folks because of who she is & unmeasured / offensive words for which she apologized. Overall I do agree with considering boycotts because of what the Israeli government is & has been doing under netanyahu, a hard right leader with a trump bromance re: what they can do for each other. netanyahu also has an authoritarian bent and that is encouraged by trump & kushner. He also used the USA as an adjunct to his desperate campaign. This has nothing to do with antisemitism it has to do with the Israeli government & some of us are not fond of despot wannabes (including our own).
7
I disagree she is in the public eye because of her hateful and divisive statements. She is now a member of Congress and cannot be flippant with her comments. She needs to get her facts straight and i annoy generalize. She has proven by her comments that she is the bigoted and hateful one. You cannot lob incendiary remarks and then complain when you are held accountable for those remarks.
21
@J
She is no different per your description than Trump.
2
@JMM
Will you then criticize her as much as you criticize Trump?
3
Rep. Omar Ilham should hire a speechwriter and a communications liaison.
18
It's interesting to see all of you arguing and defending Ms Omar and others defending Trump. Both are public figures as the rest of the government officials that use social media to rant and express their opinions, and act very childish and immature when doing so. And now I see that most people here are doing the same thing. This is sad, especially when we resort to name calling, what example are we setting for our children and future generations?
3
An alternative title for this story might have been: "President of the United States, in unprecedented action once thought to be confined to the right-wing fringe, inflames anti-Muslim sentiment by conflating Representative's remarks with 9/11 in reprehensible video posted on the President's twitter account".
6
Ilhan, I love you! Please be strong!! Please take care of yourself.
5
It’s important to note that neither Trump nor Omar have clean hands here. Both are using innuendo or outright bigotry to further their personal agendas. Trump blames immigrants and Muslims while Omar blames Jews. Frankly they’re both abhorrent.
20
@No labels
Both are abhorrent, but Omar's comments are actually worse than Trump's. Her blatant anti-Semitism, along with comparing the US and the UK to al-Qaeda are probably worse than anything Trump has said.
And both of them are crooks as well. God help us.
2
It amazes and depresses me how so many supposed adults do not understand context and nuance. There was nothing wrong with Ms. Omar's comment when taken in context. Her remark didn't offend me one bit, and unlike most of the so-called "patriots" savaging her here with veiled racist and sexist language, I actually went to Afghanistan to do something about 9/11. I wore my country's flag on my shoulder to defeat the kind of hatred and division Mr. Trump is sowing right here on American soil. Ms. Omar isn't perfect, but neither is Donald Trump. In fact, Donald Trump is far, far worse by any objective measure. Talk about double standards and selective outrage! Talk about "snowflakes"!
18
Yank expat here.
How did Billy Joel say it so well? "We didn't start the fire?". Muslims did burn down that building; and have killed plenty of us Yanks in the Middle East since then. Dunno why Muslim imports (expats) into America would feel we wouldn't hold it against them, with the Twin Towers bombing still fresh in our minds -- even the wounds of WWII haven't been forgotten or forgiven against the Axis powers to this day.
19
@Red
Muslims did not burn down the building. 15 Saudis, one Egyptian, 2 Qataris did. Guess where trump's first visit was as Potus: SAUDI ARABIA.
6
@Red
Your words place you among the most dangerous and racist of Americans. You place blame on an entire religion for the actions of a handful of terrorists. Do you feel the same about American Christians? You should, since so many American deaths in recent years came at the hands of American Christian terrorists. Maybe we need to refuse to allow American Christian parents to give birth to more American Christians, as revenge and to ensure fewer future acts of terrorism by Christians. Sound good? Please stop speaking and writing and showing such ignorance and blatant racism. The same to those who support such nonsense.
7
@MDD
1. Your math is faulty. There were 19 hijackers.
2. The #1 name for male newborns in majority Islamic countries in 2002? Osama. That suggests that the problem is larger than just the hijackers on 9/11.
2
Two separate issues. Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric is ugly, and Omar’s anti-Jewish, anti-assimilation message is equally reprehensible. A plague on both their houses.
15
give me one anti Jewish comment she made? I will tell you who did, Donald Trump.
4
Americans down play events that didn’t happen to them as a bad thing that happened to someone else. There are a lot hurt feelings when we are on the receiving end of the same thing. In just the last months there were many dismissive comments in the NYTs about “ something”that happened to Native Americans, dismissive comments from Trump about “something” happening to Jamal Khashoggi and an indifference to the “something” that’s happened to 10K people killed in Yemen, enabled by the US. There’s no doubt 9/11 was a horrible attack, but let’s be clear there is a lot of dismissives happening with little uproar or upheaval. The hypocrisy of Americans is at an all time high.
6
It does not really matter what Rep. Omar said. The point here is, the President of the United States has singled out an individual in the most shameless and inflammatory approach possible while clearly pandering to some people's inherent stereotypes. It also evidently plays into the established scheme of scapegoating minorities. This is totally unacceptable and a disgrace, full stop. We have to stop becoming numb to this and over-analyze what is happening. Who cares whether his base likes it or whether or not it will play well politically, this deserves to be called out as stone-cold demagoguery of the worst sort that we should not get used to.
243
@Observer We have let Trump disregard our morals and that is our fault. I agree with you.
36
@Observer
'it doesn't matter what Omar said'...
under your intellectual rules, there is no point in offering a differing point of view. you shut down all reasonable disagreement but I will say 'what Omar said IS the point of the whole incident.
23
@derek No. The point is Mr. Trump's reply. No other president in my lifetime would have stooped so low as Mr. Trump does so often.
Here are her word taken from the 20 minute talk she gave at the Council on American-Islamic Relations:
A major theme was prejudice against Muslims. “Here’s the truth,” she said. “For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen. Frankly, I’m tired of it. And every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it. CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”
An accurate interpretation of words when not taken out of context:
Omar’s meaning was clear: Many Muslims felt collectively blamed for something that was indisputably perpetrated by a tiny fraction of their co-religionists and marshaled new resources to protect their civil rights in response. (CAIR was actually founded in the 1990s, but expanded significantly after 9/11.)
(The Atlantic 4/13/19)
32
What I find especially curious is that Trump skillfully dances around the Saudi-Arabian elephant in the "Muslim" room. Never a mention that the 09/11 attackers were mostly Saudis, trained and sent by a terrorist organization (Al Queda) that was, at minimum, tolerated by the Saudi government for most of its existence. What a difference some deals make! Right, Jared?
15
A lot of what Trump bothers me from a lack of manners point of view. However, Ilhan Omar's problems with Trump, her own party, and a fair segment of the American public is self inflicted.
12
Omar’s comments should be publicized as much as possible and all Democrat politicians should support her. She did, after all, speak the truth, didn’t she?
3
So poor Ilhan Omar is concerned for her safety after her cavalier characterization of 9/11 has raised the ire of those with a different opinion. Apparently her summary of the event has resulted in an “increase in direct threats on my life”. Poor thing, if she and Nancy Pelosi are to be believed, the perceived threat to her well being is a direct result of president Trump chastising her for diminishing the savagery and human cost heaped upon the survivors of the 3,000 lives lost at the hands of Muslim terrorists.
If Ms. Omar or her numerous Democrat defenders could point to just one similar expression of outrage against the relentless attacks on Republican policy proposals by Democrats and their media toadies, characterizations which inspired ACTUAL savage attacks on congressman Steve Scalise and Senator Rand Paul by leftists who apparently took their words to heart one might at least consider their demand that president Trump to abrogate his First Amendment rights in order to facilitate comity in Washington and across the country. Unfortunately they can’t. Even more tellingly, they have elevated their accusations of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, blah, blah blah. In doing so, recent history tells us that they have put those on the receiving end of their accusations at far more risk than Ms. Omar.
14
Even more tellingly, your comment avoids mentioning that right-wing terror and violence has by far the worst body count of innocent victims in America over other forms of political violence, according to our own law enforcement agencies.
9
@tim k: The NRA and its Republican lapdogs diminish the more than ten times the 9/11 deaths due to gun violence every year with their hypocritical “thoughts and prayers”. Republican policy proposals, such as closing the southern border, having Mexico pay for the wall, and that better and cheaper health care for every American? I have a bridge to sell you...
4
@tim k
Preach! How many threats does the Secret Service receive on Trump's life? Are the Democrats at fault for that? Criticism does not equal support for violence. Cynical move by Ilhan Omar trying to blame Trump for threats she has received, and shame on the NYT for buying that nonsense wholesale.
1
To those criticising the congresswoman, are you so easily manipulated? Trump improperly claimed money meant for small businesses affected by the attach, in the aftermath of 9/11. He has also lied repeatedly about his actions on the day and after it.
I fear for the collective sanity of America if there is any trouble figuring out who is the miscreant here.
10
I am a twenty year (1992-2012) retired career Naval Officer and I support Congresswoman Omar. -Daniel Kinske, LCDR, USN, (Ret.)
18
Trump's behavior is disgusting.
I don't agree with Rep. Omar but she came to this country as a teenager after spending 4 years in a refugee camp. She has seen more of the world and life than Trump ever will. I admire her for her struggle and for working hard and being elected to Congress.
Trump's father handed Donald Trump everything he's ever had. His father's financial gifts made Donald Trump a millionaire by the time he was 8 years old.
Ilhan Omar has struggled hard and endured much for the success she has in life. She deserves our respect even if we don't agree with her politics.
I didn't think I could possibly have less respect for Trump. Then he did this.
I wish Rep. Omar much success. I'm happy she is in Congress.
16
Strong leaders have the ability to bring out the best or the worst in people.
Which set of characteristics will triumph in our country?
A, Hate, disrespect for differences, and invective against those with whom one disagrees; or
B. Love, respect for differences, decency and civility toward those with whom one disagrees?
We will find out in the 2020 election. It is your choice, and your choice matters for the future of this nation and the planet.
4
Let’s rally behind Omar to rid our land of this scourge. There must be enough good people, like Ilan to move this hateful, criminal out of the White House and regain our democracy
8
Daily I think Trump has hit a new low. His inflammatory and inflaming Twitter remark was just another new low. Every single person I know can’t wait to change the channel from Trump.
Trump thinks he can escape indictment if he’s re-elected and will do ANYTHING to get re-elected, including stoking anti-Muslim fear mongering.
9
While Republicans believe Omar is a gift to the mud slinger, Donald Trump, she should be viewed as an opportunity to Democrats to prove once and for all that Democrats speak to diversity and against the hatred spewed by the Republican party through their mouthpiece, Donald Trump.
A weak defense of one of their own is a sign of weakness in the Democratic Party and the Republicans know this. Better to lead the attack in a forceful defense of the rights of all Americans rather than quake when a Republican with tepid morality calls you an enemy of the people or a socialist or an immigrant or gay. That's the time to say, I am gay, I am an immigrant or I am a socialist. Better yet, to say I am Omar.
4
I'm from the 5th district of Minnesota and I personally voted for Omar. I regret that decision. She has spent all her time embarrassing herself and the state of Minnesota instead of doing anything remotely relevant to improve our country and working for her constituents. I hope someone can primary her in the next election. Regardless, I will never be voting for her again.
34
Here’s a novel idea: Maybe Trump should stop trying to re-live the glory days - and ratings - of The Apprentice and try focusing on something that really matters, like health care reform.
9
It is so wrong to keep retelling the history of 9/11 without acknowledging the terrible aftermath. Not only did we enter into never ending war but also rounded up innocent American Muslims and rendered them to dark sites. We never held the Saudi religious extremists and royal family financiers accountable. We must acknowledge that we did not honor the lives lost on 9/11 through these acts instead we just destroyed many more lives and made many more enemies. Ms Omar is a victim of this same right wing demagogy and if any harm comes to her it will be on Mr. Trump. He has to be warned that he will be held accountable this time for inciting violence. We must learn the real lessons of 9/11 and stop this Islam blaming.
10
Young people are remarkably bold and honest with their opinions and statements. That trait makes college classrooms and college academic and social organizations intuitive incubators for unvarnished discussion and respectful debate. It's a sharing experience everyone usually benefits from, sans the parents and family back home. I have seen it personally. Students from Africa, Norway. Egypt, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India and Palestinians all in the same room at the same big table talking about whatever they want to talk about. Such openness and honesty is a big part of the American educational experience.
And then we look to adults, more fully formed. Representative Omar is young. She is full of energy for her job. That's a good thing. She is not low energy! She is unique. There are more Arabs in the Knesset than the US Congress, correct? Am I wrong? So let her speak. Do not slice and dice by taking snippets of some of many words out of context and attach photos of 9-11 to them. That's cheap, low form and disrespectful to values we all have as US citizens.
But as adults we already know all of this, don't we?
6
@Greg I believe Ms Omar is 37. Sure, that's young(ish), but she isn't a college kid anymore. (And even they are adults-legally at least.) I don't call what she has as "energy", as you do. I call it speaking without any "brakes". And that is not a good thing, IMHO. Frankly, she's starting to annoy me. I would much rather hear about some of the other Freshman Congresswomen-women just doing their jobs for the people they are supposed to represent-for instance, Repr. Spanberger and Slotkin. We can do without all the uproar, I'm sure.
9
Donald will praise Tiger Woods, but he has consistently gone out of his way to attack black people. He's racist to his core. How can anyone not see that?
10
@ogn How is Islam a race? Omar is simply being held accountable for her words and her actions. She's a sitting member of Congress and hardly above criticism.
2
Why does this country tolerate a president stoking the flames of cultivating terrorists? That guy caught with all the weapons to inflict a multitudes of death in the name of Trump wasn't enough? I'm certain many variables are at play in creating a terrorist, but I'd wager inciting violence, hate and pitting demographics against one another are likely right up there some where as primary attributes. This country is simply stuck in the 19th century and appears to be trending backwards.
8
So many of these comments are the schoolyard equivalent of "Well he said it too!!" As if that justifies ignorance on both ends.
It's obviously well established that Donald Trump is a bomb-throwing narcissist who says (and tweets) whatever nonsense comes through his head. But do Democrats really have to reciprocate and defend equally stupid statements on this side of the aisle?
What Ilhan Omar said about 9/11 is completely tone-deaf and insensitive. Period. And yet look at all the Democrats falling all over themselves to make excuses.
Please just stop. It's imperative that we call out ignorance in ALL forms, even in our own troops. With so much at stake in 2020, we cannot afford to keep providing cover for anyone and everyone with a D behind their name. And hiding behind this "woman of color" baloney is even worse.
Omar said something deeply offensive to many Americans, liberals included. Are you really willing to give Trump a second term to defend her clearly radical views?
22
@shstl..."What Ilhan Omar said about 9/11 is completely tone-deaf and insensitive."....It was taken out of context and she is not President.
5
Trump's fragile ego is so easily bruised. Ilhan Omar offends his sense of decency and public intercourse. Not. He is deliberately targeting Ms. Omar (who was legitimately elected by her constituents... sorry Trump) and doing his bullying-lying-insulting-minority dog whistle routine on steroids. He cares not that his rabid base take his ridiculous statements as gospel truth and that he is ginning up violence that may well yet harm someone he insults. This man is so grotesquely irresponsible he should be given a big time out to cool down his endless chaos machine.
2
@Sally Peabody How is she being bullied? She's an elected official being called on her words. That's it. She makes outrageous statements and gets fallout from it. Rather like Trump.
2
Imagine a political party so bereft of ideas and so out of touch with the problems of the American people that their only hope is changing the subject to some anonymous member of Congress.
Healthcare? The environment? Wealth inequality? Billionaire tax loopholes? Education? Infrastructure? A workable immigration system? No answers on anything substantive.
Nothing but hate, vitriol, negativity and division. It's difficult to understand why decent people would continue to give Republicans the time of day.
13
It’s ok for right wing nationalists to say hateful things against all people of color, religion, race, and be minimally criticized even by this forum. But because this brave and outspoken but considerably naive young woman says anything that is not typical she’s put into the terrorist category merely because of her persona. She was elected fairly and successfully in her state. This is so completely unfair to her. She could god forbid be targeted by crazy racists because this hateful and unapologetic rhetoric by the irresponsible “president” in office who cares nothing and probably didn’t even read what she had to say, using it as a weapon for his own selfish goals, and by those of you who are supporting the unfair criticism of her. I’m sick. This is so wrong.
7
@Jobi -- one thing she is not, and that is naive!
4
She’s doing everything she can to help Trump get re-elected.
28
I guess that is what appears like from inside a trump bubble.
2
@AdamStoler
People can disagree on Trump (I hate him). But if you don't think that Omar is winning votes for Trump every time she opens her mouth or tweets, you are completely out of touch. You need to get out of your MSNBC bubble my friend.
10
What is apparent is a smoke and mirrors campaign couched in manipulative rhetoric. Cleverly hiding in plain sight, Ilhan Omar knowingly engenders fear. The press fear her. Nancy Pelosi fears her and so do her Democratic colleagues. That is obvious.
The politically correct police have turned up the heat and determine the reportage as the public marches in lockstep. The comments verify the new systemic cowardice. Were this charade genuinely about differing opinions and exercising free speech it would be supported, but Ms. Omar is insidious.
Her speech is designed to divide and inflame without fear or intimidation of reprimand or discipline. As she instills the fear, she also determines victim-hood and is the director and producer of this macabre play still unfolding.
33
If you want to talk about domestic terrorism, Muslims are more often the victim and angry white supremacists more often the perpetrators. The FBJ and local law enforcement should find those who issue death threats and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
There must be a sizeable portion of the American electorate that fall into the category of complete denialists. Donald Trump calls Latin American immigrants and asylum seekers "murderers and rapists" and they think that is explainable, but when a Muslim lawmaker speaks about the power and influence of AIPAC she is immediately tarred and feathered for being racist.
Ilhan represents the future of this country. Immigrants from all over the world who proudly identify as American and are willing to question our stand on a variety of issues. Trump and the denialists represent the past. Mostly white, mostly male, people who forget their parents and grandparents were themselves immigrants, and people who are deeply threatened by the change occurring around them.
Embrace the change. Embrace the future.
14
I think the photo tells the biggest part of the story.
I see a bunch of grey haired people on the Trump side. And then on the other, I see everyone else.
We never needed to make America "great again". It is always great, it's just the current senate and President that are human garbage fires.
14
I trust, being ageist as you seem to be, the hair dye industry will greatly benefit from the likes of you. Shame on you!
11
I am so disgusted by the way that Republicans and milquetoast corporate Democrats have treated Rep. Omar. She has been unfairly labelled a political heretic by opportunistic racists (like our embarrassment of a President) and cowardly career politicians (I'm looking at you, Schumer, Pelosi, Gildebrand, et al), while they simultaneously turn a blind eye to real, tangible, and immediate threats to the ideological fabric of our political system and national safety. This is a farce. Shame on everyone who allows this disgrace to go unchallenged.
9
@DKChap There is nothing disgraceful about calling out an elected official for her words downplaying the murder of thousands of Americans by religious extremists.
1
She did minimize 911 and it was inappropriate. But the President’s response was blatantly racist. He could have just criticized her as an individual but he had to bring Muslims into it. To deny his response was racist is itself racist.
12
@DSD What race is Islam? Since Muslims were responsible for 9-11, how is it unfair to bring them into this event? She's the one arguing that Muslims are being unfairly targeted despite the fact that they were behind it and continue to argue it was the fault of the Jews.
1
It is both an unfortunate reflection of the times, as well as of the nature of being a minority (regardless of which) that you need to be nearly perfect. Trump and the GOP can get away with anything, including the false equivalencies of ‘both sides...’.
Alas, Democrats, by reason of their anti-discrimination stand, and Ms. Omar in partticular, have an almost zero margin for error. It is extremely unfair, but at the same time, as a Democrat I would like my representatives to walk the talk as much as possible. Otherwise we would just be as bad as the GOP.
6
I voted for Reagan, he united the country. Trump divides the country and brings out the worst in America.
14
@Joseph B
And Omar doesn't? We're better off without either of those two. I miss President Reagan.
1
@Joseph B
"If you have to win a campaign by dividing people you are not going to be able to govern them."
Barack Hussein Obama
That's exactly what he handed over to president Trump.
CNN commentator Jack Cafferty wrote in his 2007 book, "It's Getting Ugly Out There," about president Bush;
"‘he was the worst president I can remember –ever. He's a disgrace and an embarrassment. He's arrogant and ignorant... he has single-handedly ruined the reputation of the greatest nation on earth."
After eight years Barack Hussein Obama, a Shiite Muslim, now exceeds the disparagement Cafferty said about Bush.
Millions of Americans think so according to the polls and the trouncing the Democratic party received.
He has set the poor against the rich.
He has set blacks against whites.
He has set the young against the aged.
He has set workers against employers.
He has set states against government.
He has set Democrats against Repubicans.
Even worse.
He failed in his promise to bring us together with his "rainbow coalition."
Obama has divided our nation more than any other American president.
The President is gambling that Americans will prefer fear to reason, and identity over civility.
America will reveal its character soon.
12
Sadly, it didn’t work out so great last time for millions of American who voted for Hilary.
Hope and pray that it’s different in 2020.
The Left Needs all the help it can get and this ‘liberal cannibalism’ of eating our own needs to stop pronto.
Otherwise, instead of America what would be left standing is a Russian colony of ‘self-professed’ patriots paying homage to the only ‘gods’ that matter: self-aggrandizement and non-democratric Capitalism.
5
I dislike Rep. Omar as much as I dislike Trump. They are both are self-serving agitators and DO NOT represent most Americans. Neither embodies the American ethics and spirit that have made our country so great in past.
43
@Misplaced Modifier....I have no problem with disliking both of them, but when you try to make them co-equal you are way out of line.
3
I liked JFK and Jimmy Carter, AOC is already over the top but this congresswoman is a deal breaker for me. Clearly the Democratic Party is not interested in my vote.
36
@Wolf Bein
. Btw, it doesn't matter. She doesn't represent you.
but voting Democratic doesn't appear to be in your playbook. You are a Republican anyway
3
Ilhan Omar’s incendiary behavior is indefensible, and yet the Democratic leadership cannot bring themselves to even rebuke her, much less demand her resignation.
In fact, lately, almost everything emanating from the so-called ‘progressive’ faction is infuriating....such nauseating arrogance and sanctimony. Yet while they drive the Democratic Party over a cliff, their disciples cheer them on. Good job, Dems!
57
So Trump gets a pass (as usual) for bragging about how he now had the tallest building in NYC after 9/11 but Rep Omar is crucified for saying “something happened “ in reference to 9/11.
Got it.
12
Right. ‘And what’s race got to do with it?’ Or so media pundits and most commenters here would have you believe.
Ah, the irony is unreal!
1
Twenty five years ago I was traveling in Palestine in the old part of Jerusalem and standing in a Palestenian store that had been in the same family for several hundred years. Several of the young people spoke excellent english and how I told them how I had worked as a stock boy but the spices they had were in large burlap bags and not tiny jars and wow did they smell good. One of the young guys was dispatched with a tray and returned with a load of tea on the tray. Now they tea took some getting used to but I told them how I loved the rose hop sold in their markets and off the young one and got some. I then told them I wanted to eat in some genuine Palestenian restaurants and they told me where to go.
Later they was an incident involving gun fire and all the store owners came running out with their Galil assault rifles. Once the others saw them and not AK 47's, they knew they were friends.
The Muslim religion has been hijacked by religious zealots but we must take care because they are very dangerous - prime example if OBL.
4
My problem with Ilhan Omar is quite simple; when it comes to all things Jewish, she doesn't know what she's talking about.
It's bad enough that from Trump in down, we have Republicans in Washington and elsewhere, who gain notoriety for "being stupid." In this day and age, we don't need a Democrat, whose ignorance-based remarks become fodder for sound-bites.
25
@Ponsobny Britt She doesn’t talk about anything Jewish. She talks about Israeli policy and US policy vis-a-vis Israel. The fact you conflate these things is revealing, and says far more about your political agenda than Ilhan Omar’s.
4
@citybumpkin Oh yes she did. She went after the Jews. Her agenda is the defense of radical Islam, a belief that hates Jews as much as the alte right.
Muslims, immigrants, LGBT+,non-christians etc. ...Failure Trump picks on any group at any moment to feed his cult followers. He has created many chasms in this country by lies & conspiracies. We need to support each other and throw Failure Trump out of the WH.
12
There is a larger issue here which s the ability to debate issues like Muslim immigration without being shouted down as racist. Muslims in America can stand up to conservative religious such as Salafis to show America that they are willing to be flexible as demands a pluralistic society and that Islam can be moderate, like Sufism. First, they could allow female Imams and open all of the mosques to female Muslims and not just side rooms. Second, embrace LGBT persons and denounce laws against homosexuality in Muslim countries, like the one I live in. And third, agree that it is OK to mock, belittle, and criticize Islam without suffering violence.
21
@Walker Rowe Somebody called you out for your views, eh?
1
@citybumpkin You mean the belief system that Islamic beliefs should not be immune from criticism?
I had to look up the tweet. After viewing the tweet and her full speech I don't understand what the issue is. She dismissed and minimized the 9/11 attacks and the tweet merely reposts her words, in context, and imagery of the actual event that occurred. Trump is not the problem here.
32
@Rich No, she did not. Yes, Trump is the problem here.
8
@Rich She's getting more death threats as a result of the tweet, for one thing. Trump is choosing to fan the flames of hatred and violence with his words.
She is my congresswoman and I don't want to see her killed.
They could both choose their words better. At least Omar is trying to learn and grow from her experiences.
1
@Rich...You are kidding, right?
1
I am imagining things, or did Ilhan call Trump "not really human" just last month? It sounds a lot worse over a voice recording than a Tweet
She's no different than our President in her love for vitriol and hyperbole.
26
@Austin.....If she continues in the same vein for 20 years she still wouldn't begin to touch what Trump has already done.
2
The bottom line is that these controversies are hurting Democrats more than they are hurting Republicans. Ms. Omar is the worst thing that has happened to Democrats since Trump. AOC is the second worst thing to happen to Democrats since Trump. I am sorry to say this, but the left wing of the party is totally tone-deaf in terms of national politics Examples are as follows: talk about reparations to African Americans at this point in time, propose free college and Medicare for everyone, ardently defend sanctuary cities. ignore exorbitant costs and advocate for a Green New deal, make your highest priority minorities and illegal immigrants to the perceived detriment of the white working class, alienate the Jewish constituency, and in general dismiss the concerns of moderate Democrat sand independent voters. Oh yes, and don't forget to denigrate the character of anyone who doesn't agree with you on any particular issue.
53
Many of these issues are vital to the survival of our society, our country, and the world. If Democrats *didn't* advocate for them - what would be the point of the party? what alternative would it offer to Republican destruction?
6
@ron l
Very strange. You seem to forget that Ms Omar and AOC were elected in response to Trump hatred by Americans.
You seem to forget that Democrats elected them in Congress. Maybe the Democrat party should pay attention to the new Democrats, not to the old, tired, fearful, restrained, whitish, oft-repeated way of being a Democrat.
7
@MDD - Elected yes, IN VERY LIBERAL DISTRICTS. What is so hard to understand about this? These reps and their views do NOT represent a broad coalition of Democrats across the county, no matter how how many retweets they get.
11
I don’t think Trump and his supporters care one whit about 9/11, safety or anything else of substance — they’re not interested in solutions or doing the hard work or making the sacrifices required to make America truly “great.” Just as Trump has belittled American veterans who dared to criticize him and exploited the military when it suits his ends, now he’s now politicizing one of our nation’s greatest tragedies and his supporters apparently love him for it because it provides them with yet another opportunity to gleefully pile onto someone they perceive to be weak or vulnerable or just different. MAGA is nothing more than a way to be racist, sexist, xenophobic and as awful as you want to be out in the open, and, as long as Trump provides it, his base will enthusiastically support him. Ms. Omar is young and isn’t perfect, but her few missteps pale in comparison to Trump’s, which are too many to count or keep track of. Ms. Omar is patriotically serving the country that has taken her in and made her one of its own; Trump has never served anything or anyone but himself, and by attacking Ms. Omar — a legal immigrant and an elected member of Congress — he is yet again being un-American.
15
@Aaron She is an elected official. Criticism of her is the very essence of American behavior.
1
Representative Omar is an inexperienced, and minor political actor whose constituency is a powerless and unfairly discriminated against minority. I believe she makes statements intended to stir controversy and thrust her into the limelight. Her approach has given her outsized notoriety ; however, her success will be determined by her ability to become an effective legislator. The damage she may inflict will be upon herself.
Trump,on the oher hand, holds he most powerful political office in the world, and occupies the proverbial bully pulpit. His hate-filled rants are not intended to make himself relevant; they are intended to inflame his faithful “base” by appealing to fear, anger and prejudice. He damages the fabric of our society and threatens the well being of the individuals he ridicules.
11
@Asher Fried She's a foreigner who was allowed to move and then elected to Congress. Hardly discrimination. Muslims are over a billion people. Hardly a minority either.
2
You simply cannot make an argument that Muslims are being profiled and denied rights without invoking 9/11...
You cannot have one without the other... impossible...
So by denying her the right to reference 9/11 through criticism, you deny her overall argument... which I think is undeniable. There is no doubt that in western society, the Islamic religion has been made synonymous with 9/11 and that HAS to factor into the day-to-day interactions of American Muslims.
6
Shame on these Minnesotans for not standing up for their representative in Washington.
6
If Trump wants to paint Democrats as "extreme" what does he call himself? Or his followers that are willing to be racist online, yet run away from the concept of their real name and internet behaviors being linked?
4
Ilhan Omar must be recalled from Congress by the Constituents of her District. Minnesota, Congress and the United States of America does not need loud-mouthed and inexperienced representatives in any elected offices or positions of power.
Many of the freshmen Representatives elected in the 2016 Election do not know their place in Congress and have come nowhere near paying their dues. These upstarts must be sent packing.
27
Ha. Best advice for you: Don't hold your breath.
2
@Reggie "America does not need loud-mouthed and inexperienced representatives in any elected offices or positions of power."
That includes Mr. Trump.
8
A list of foul mouthed and inexperienced elected officials includes the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
5
Men and women "of color" are highly respected in America, and millions do extremely well.
The heads of Microsoft and Google are people of "color" and they are doing extremely well, thank you.
In California, where racial preferences were voted unConstitutional, at least 40% of the student body of the best universities in the world, of Cal Tech
and the University of California at San Diego, etc. are people "of color".
Many of the people in the top 1% are people "of color" contrary to some political narratives to the contrary.
12
You're part of the problem. Despite progress, racism and hatred is still very much alive. Having a black president didn't mean it has disappeared
Linking Omar to 9/11 was yet another unconscionable deceptive smear that is beneath contempt. The irony is of course, that we know now that 9/11 was planned, financed, trained for and executed by Saudis; the very people that Trump embraces as our allies beyond reproach.
13
For me and for the tens of thousands of my American Airlines co-workers on the job on 9/11, “some people did something” is a shocking and astonishing affront, totally callous. It was not “some people,” it was a group of crazed zealots who invoked Rep. Omar’s faith to justify the killing of nearly 3,000 people. Shame on her.
37
@ Robert Britton There were Saudis, our best bone saw buds. Yet we continue to cater to them thanks to our president and his “family.”
3
It is never beneficial to paint all groups with the same brush, and it’s always wrong.
Were all Southern (white) Christians complicit in lynching and the abuses of Jim Crow? Were all non Jewish Germans in favor of the final solution?
Are all Catholics opposed to birth control?
Stating her embrace of Islam equals guilt or consent for 9/11 is a gross stereotype.
1
Trump loves to drag out hate whenever he finds it useful. His audience reacts violently and his opponents react back. Trump considers this big fast reaction real power. He loves to get reactions. He uses hate rhetoric as a useful tool and a weapon. We all have reacted so many times that we are getting super reactive. Trump is training us like Pavlov trained his dogs. Jump! Yes sir, how high? How do you like being trained by Trump to suit his purposes? Welcome to the Trump circus.
2
I am so tired of Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the Liar in Chief pretending that his words have no meaning or mean something other than the obvious meaning....Isn't this type of incitement to violence a crime? It certainly is not a protected First Amendment right. Do we have to wait for Rep Omar to be attacked or killed before Trump and his minions are held accountable?
10
She will be to democrats what Nader did to them in 2000
16
Both parties, especially Trump, need to put their heads down and get to work.
2
Rep Omar might not have total distain for Amercia however she certainly leaves one with that impression. She should meditate on what her life would have been in Mogadishu and give thanks that she is here instead of there.
42
@Bayricker. They all hate us until they need a better place to live. Then they come here and still hate us.
12
THEY?
Hmmm
This Friday and Saturday are "anniversaries" of WACO... OKLAHOMA CITY... and COLUMBINE.
So do you refer to all white folks as "they" and dangerous like those white boys?
And in case you missed it, They all chose Hitler's birthday for their crimes...
Hmmm.
2
So her putting her foot in her mouth about 9/11 is worse than all the horrible things Trump has said and done put together?
And the right claims the left nitpicks speech...
5
I’m still not sure what is the “refrain” vs Muslims
1
Hard to understand Trump’s antipathy towards Muslims.
After all, he is okaying the sale of nuclear technology to the Muslim country that spawned most of the 9/11 terrorists.
Hard to figure.
19
Trump’s repeated remarks about Congresswoman Omar reflect a very old cultural sentiment in our society: Anglos criticizing any other racial group that tries to ascend and participate in what was once a near-monopoly of Anglos in American politics. For generations Native Americans struggled to defend their millennia-old heritage in the face of Anglo violence and perfidy.
Omar is not the first elected representative to criticize certain aspects of Israeli politics and policies. She just happens to be Muslim. This has raised the president’s ire – he being a close buddy of Netanyahu (and Putin). As a freshman Congresswoman Omar has much to learn about the ways of Congress, but she does not have to give up her right to freedom of expression and fear physical reprisals because of the president’s racist tweets against her.
Omar may be aware of the long history of vigilante terrorism and violence against African Americans in our country, including lynchings that took place over generations in Anglos’ efforts to assert their dominance over black and other races. She must know about the near-century of Jim Crow oppression and persecution that only recently (and temporarily?) ended during the Civil Rights actions of the Sixties, Seventies, and later decades.
Not every Muslim in our society is Somali or Arab; many are native born Americans. All of them have as much right to profess their religious beliefs as Evangelicals, Jews, Catholics, Buddhists, and non-believers.
9
I was in New York studying International Affairs over 9/11. In the ensuing period of uncertainty where the major newspapers, including the New York Times, were uncertain as to voice what had happened, people of the Muslim faith started to disappear and to be held without due process. To my knowledge, there were not crowds cheering the day the towers fell. Everyone was running for their lives, including Muslims. This type of disingenuous mythical "storytelling" by a president immersed in "false news" needs to have a spotlight held up to it.
15
@Jennifer
If the Mafia is the problem we racially targeted Italian-Americans.
When Puerto Ricans tried to assassinate President Harry S Truman we singled out Puerto Ricans.
When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor we even sequestered Japanese-American citizens and removed them from their homes (wrongly) on the West Coast barracks of the Heart Mountain internment camp north of Cody, Wyoming, during World War II where it was suspected the Japanese would attack us on U.S, soil which would reach Chicago before they could be stopped (according to army assessments at the time).
Why should we not carefully track radical Muslims in the U.S. who are at war with us all over the world attacking U.S. embassies, citizens and property?
Ilhan did not say anything untoward if taken in the context it was said. I really feel America needs to hear every voice as long as it does not stoke violent hatred. In this regard, Trump often crosses the line which he does not need to make his points.
9
I watched Rep Ohmar's speech at CAIR, her interview on the Colbert Night show. One cannot help but be impressed with her message, ethics and her expressive, wonderful language. But I think she has cherry picked the Islam faith to suit her upbringing, a confirmation bias that could use at the very least review of Sam Harris book, "End of Faith", in particular, the Chapter, The Problem with Islam. In it, he cites the Koran, the Hadith, its many examples of violence and rebuts just about any possible moderate argument anyone of Islam faith could lay claim. I do hope that she continues to speak for truth, justice, equality, principles for focus without the doctrine of Islam and its primeval message of conquest and violence. And her dress may speak toward Islamic modesty,, its clear her budget for clothes isn't modest.
8
@tennvol30736
Interesting.
Would she be a more devout Muslim if she wore a burlap sack?
I don't think we should question her devotion based on her clothing purchases.
4
The US needs more people with he courage to expose truths. Ms. Omar and Mr. Assange are to be applauded for some (not all) of the actions they've taken.
When immoral and illegal activity hides behind "patriotism" the whole country suffers.
8
Regardless of what Rep. Omar said, whether it was artless, obtuse or even antagonistic (and TRULY, do we think she was endorsing the tragedy of 9/11 ?), she is an freshman elected official, a novice for sure, and only one of 435 in a larger group of 535.
One would hope that our HIGHEST elected official was above any type of antagonistic, obtuse or artless comments, that he rises above fray, and is a role model, a leader.
Sadly, I have been disappointed.
I expect more.
10
Now that the word police are out on full force for every word the democrats utter it’s nice to listen to the unfiltered stream of stupidity from the old GOP. These are the same old white men different generations who have hated minorities for decades especially the native Americans and blacks. Slaughter and made money off of minorities labor
The old white men forget the democrats are in charge and here in NYC we don’t ever need to read the hate rag NYPost.
The best financial friends the Trumps are the Saudi’s and they destroyed the World Trade Center and the Pentagon . They just murdered a journalist but Trump is there supporter. How sick is that.
18
Can anybody say whether she is now under Secret Service protection? 24/7?
Trump is clearly asking his supporters to do her harm and I think her constituents and colleagues have reason to be concerned about her life going forward.
16
More Bully Pulp from our Hater-in-Chief. His idea of Leadership was and remains Divide and Conquer.
Insults and cruel jokes for Different Folks,
and so on and so on ...
We got to live together.
There are 8 billion people. That means Trump has way less than one dollar per person. How rich he, really?
10
I was born in NYC, and worked in Manhattan my entire professional life. I was in midtown on 9/11, and had to wonder for hours that day whether my brother and sister in law, who both worked in the Trade Center, made it out alive.
When i here that day described as "some people did something", it makes my blood boil. Whats worse, is Democrat politicians making excuses for her. I heard all of them Sunday morning with, yeah, but Trump says bad stuff too.
Trump calls her out and somehow he's antiMuslim?
If Democrats cant condemn such a reprehensible remark, over the greatest attack on the US since 9/11, then Democrats dont deserve a mere footprint in US government.
What happened to the Democrat Party? When did they become the party of open borders, socialists, and Muslim Extremist apologists?
Would John F Kennedy done such a thing?
Or Jimmy Carter? Or Bill Clinton?
Perhaps its time for moderate Dems to consider the fact that their party left them.
54
@Sports Medicine
No words for Trump who reserved his first visit as Potus to Saudi Arabia, the country where 15 out of 19 terrorists were from?
Omar made a big gaffe. Trump is worse.
6
@Sports Medicine: the Democratic party is none of those things. Congresswoman Omar was not speaking to the horror of 9/11, but how the aftermath affected the muslim community. As a member of that community she has that right. I don't believe she was minimizing the criminality of the act, it was just not the subject of her speech. Trump is doing what he always does, which is casting negative light on others and using the politics of fear and loathing to divide people. He is trying to scare people into keeping him in office. It is a tactic Republicans have been using for decades, and Trump is a master. It is said the devil quotes scripture in his own defense. Which I take to mean that words without context lose their true meaning. You would do yourself a favor to look more deeply into the meaning behind topics that Trump cites rather than accepting his tweets as truth.
3
Try Democratic Party. That’s the name
3
Thank you Donald Trump, for killing conservatism around the world. It turns out you are useful.
4
Rep. Omar has specific points of view informed by her life experiences, and she certainly is free to express these as a congressional representative. It's important to hear and understand the plight of minority groups and work to develop solutions to improve the condition in which they find themselves.
However, when I listen to her speak, I have heard an angry strident voice that on occasion uses expressions which are offensive to some in her own party, and end up detracting from her message. I for one prefer that she (and all Democratic office holders as well as those running for office) make it a habit to consider how to effectively contribute to our imperative Democratic goal for 2020. If we're able to win the presidency and have a representative majority, we can pursue and reinstate our shared values. If we fail, we'll continue down this ugly path.
trump is a despicable liar and insulter in chief and is beloved for this by his supporters. We should defend our Democratic representatives and call him out on his ugliness, and most importantly, we must create the best possible opportunity to elect him out.
9
The fact of the matter is that her statement just sounds to me as being inarticulate. But with Trump it's any port in a storm, even if it's a storm of his own creation.
11
Soemthing not bwing discussed -at least not seriously - is that many, many Americans, old and oung and inbetween - have grown very suspicious of Israel, and their relationship with the US, in both directions. A suspicion exacerbated by the presence of The Kush as presidential special advisor and "peace broker" in the ME. Further worsened by the reality that The Kush is as inexperienced in diplomacy, and brokering such deals, as this Admin could have found. Even when considering that The Kush and Netanyahu have a long "personal" relationship, paid for by Charles Kushner.
Many Americans are suspicious of Israels true ally status, and how much we lose year after year, by supporting their behaviors with very few questions.
Many Americans do think similarly to what Rep Omar has said. Many of them Liberals and Conservatives.
So this outrage...its specious at best, and being driven by the media feeding frenzy and the WH, and its remaining Congressional allies. Its all political shtick.
13
@Boregard
Dear Boregard,
I don't agree with you. I have lived and worked many years in the Middle East and North Africa, what Ms. Omar said is like a dog whistle to anti-Semites.
14
@Boregard What Ms Omar said "Some people did something" has zero, zilch to do with Israel. Frankly, I'm getting as weary of many people on the left dragging Israel into the conversation every time Ms Omar puts her foot in her mouth,, which seems to be an occupational hazard for her, as I am of the right dragging Israel into the conversation when it should be clear by now that some of them may like Israel, but they are jut as anti-Semitic as many folks on the far left. Congresswoman Omar, as much as I deplore people who attack her for her faith of even threaten her, seems like a woman who is perpetually on the war path, sounds unnecessary strident, and is, at the very least, singularly tone-deaf and lacking in understanding other Americans' sensitivities, that is those of other faiths and convictions.
8
Ms. Omar would have us believe that on 9/11, a couple of baddies removed a hubcap or two from somebody's car--nothing more than that.
40
9/11 was a horrible tragedy, and i feel for the people who lost loved ones and had to experience the terror of the day. But the way it has been milked over the years to promote hatred against Muslims and justify military attacks on various countries (like Iraq, and their fictitious weapons of mass destruction) is insulting to the memory of those people. People seem to forget that the terrorists for the most part came from Saudi Arabia, a country which Mr. Trump and most wealthy Republicans continue to support and let off the hook for all manner of human rights violations and even the murder of a journalist. While Trump banned immigrants from mostly Muslim countries, Saudi Arabia remains exempt. The Bush family had ties to the Bin Ladins through the oil industry and Trump has ties through any number of questionable business ventures. People who experienced 9/11 should be enraged that Saudi Arabia was never held to account and sanctioned for their part in that occurrence. I read what Ms. Omar said, and who knows if that was even her original comment, the press being what it is today; but the fact that she is a Muslim and a Democrat makes her an easy target for Trump his supporters no matter what comes out of her mouth. And let's face it - no matter what any one in the public eye says these days, there will be someone ready to twist it to their advantage or start a witch hunt....
16
@Honora I was born and raised in the U.S. and have friends who lost loved ones in those attacks on the WTC. Unlike many people in the U.S, I am interested in what goes on in countries other than my own. I find the current divisiveness in the U.S. sad and destructive. And I blame not only Trump, but some of those on the other side as well. And unfortunately, what affects you can have an effect on us. Thanks to the example set by Trump, we are now experiencing a rise in populist and extreme right views and jingoism. Things I left the U.S. to get away from. So yes, I will comment....
8
It is amazing that those that jump on the Trump Train about Omar, have no problem with Trump's association with the Saudis and MBS. Who actually attacked the towers again? Trump loves bashing minorities, bashing women, and creating wedge issues. And the same group gets worked up into a froth over and over. The next thing you know, they'll want us to invade Iraq, or some other bystander in the 9/11 event
19
@Kristine
Trump hasn't yet apologized to the McCain family for his horrific statements about not liking POWs: "I like people who don't get captured".
He is an abominable human being.
6
Ilhan is not the problem. She is just another version of birther movement and Obama-being-a-Muslim narrative. She may have made a few big gaffes, but she is attacked because of her religion and background. She represents everything that Republicans hate ( women, black, immigrant, Muslim, Democrat, and young ). She is the epitome of what people like her experience every single day. The more we have people like her in the spotlight the better. I stand with Ilhan.
395
@MD
Her religion and background have been the same since she was elected.
The only thing that changes is her comments.
13
@MD Omar is actually the problem. She speaks in very precise words to convey her thoughts. She refuses to consider the actions of her words because she expects immunity from criticism because of her gender and her religion. Speech works in both directions and commentary used to defend her fails to consider that the rebukes she has received are equally important as her own acts. To label those who oppose her positions as bigots or racists only proves, once again, that liberals are illiberal.
31
@Sports Medicine to which there is little to no fault.
3
Wait. I don’t understand. So now Muslims are the actual victims of 9/11? That’s what Ms. Omar claims in her speech.
Oh, and BTW, CAIR was not founded after ‘some people did something’. It was founded in 1994.
55
@Maria C.
You're right about CAIR, you're wrong (by oversimplification and false claims) about what she's saying.
3
@JP,
Omar claims that after ‘some people did something’ Muslims in America lost their civil liberties. In other words, Muslims are the ‘real’ victims of 9/11.
11
@Ed Klein
In your words, not hers. You used a truncated quote that does not give the complete meaning of what she said, and you added words she did not say.
Ilhan Omar is not a victim. The almost 3,000 Americans brutally murdered in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 were victims. Someone who was plucked from a refugee camp and given a whole new life of freedom and opportunity in America is not a victim.
57
WATCH!! the democratic party sets its own house of fire.
34
Trump loves the Muslim Saudis and their Muslim money
The Saudis are the most extreme known Muslims
Trump loves the Muslim Saudi Crown Prince and Government.
The Saudi Muslim Government has Murdered tens of thousand of civilians in Yemen.
Trump loves supporting the Muslim Saudis murdering Yemenis over Congress's objection.
The 9/11 Muslim Saudi Terrorists killed almost 3000 NY civilians using US hi-tech equipment.
Most believe they were backed by many Wealthy Extreme Muslim Saudi's money.
But Trump still loves the Muslim Saudis and their Muslim money
So Trump wants to sell the Saudi Muslim Govt. more hi-Tech weapons.
Even Jared's 666 Broadway White Elephant Building is soon to be refinanced by Saudi neighbor Muslim Quatar Money.
Trump Really, REALLY, loves Saudi Muslims.
But what would Christian Jesus do?
9
I plead to any supporter of Donald Trump to pay attention and read and hear most of his statements and allegations in detail and in very analytical way. You will find out that he is really a very flawed individual and that he should be further investigated by The People, Senate, Congress, psychiatrists and others. I theorize that the conclusion would be that he is no longer (never was) capable of governing our great country. He should not be allowed to continue his attempts to destroy our democracy weather invouluntarily-as he would claim-or willingly-as it is obvious.
7
@SamBI plead to any supporter of Ilhan Omar to pay attention and read and hear most of her statements and allegations in detail and in very analytical way. You will find out that she is really a very flawed individual and that she should be further investigated by The People, Senate, Congress, psychiatrists and others. I theorize that the conclusion would be that she is no longer (never was) capable sitting on the foreign affairs committee. She should not be allowed to continue her attempts to destroy our democracy wether invouluntarily-as she would claim-or willingly-as it is obvious.
14
I don't like that Omar wears religious garb in office, or anywhere other than religious services. I have the same opinion about all religious uniforms. ...wear them to service, then put them away.
Government service in America is, ideally, a non-sectarian job. If one is compelled to wear religious garb at all times then they shouldn't serve, or be allowed to serve in representative office.
Religion is nice, if you're a believer. I'm not and I want my representatives to put their uniform away for work and check their religious views at the door of political office.
42
@EJ McCarthy
Is this a recently developed opinion or have you been reeling for the past few decades where it's been commonplace for American politicians to wear crosses on their necks and wax on about Jesus and the Bible every other speech?
10
@EJ McCarthy
You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. But by the same token, should we throw out the constitution just because you don’t like certain aspects of it? Maybe you think ‘affirmative action’ is useless and so is MLK Day? Where does it stop?
Is it OK to wear a crucifix? But not a yarmulke or a hijab? Or is ‘hijab’ the only issue here?
Perhaps, we should take out ‘in God we trust’ and any references to God too in all govt dealings pertaining to all three branches of the US govt too because it doesn’t ‘jive’ with your personal choices.
Freedom to practice your religion and peaceful assembly are the crux of the First Amendment. This was what drew Catholic immigrants and Quakers to America and what made America a true beacon of hope for millions who have arrived on its shores since before Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence.
Taking away America’s most prized ideal diminishes its significance and its only lasting appeal on the global stage, in this era of bigotry and fake news aka Trumpism.
The 45th has done for America what no sworn enemy (least of all Russia or China combined) could have ever dreamt of achieving: destroying it from within, one brick and one Democratic institution at a time.
Thank you ‘patriots’ and Republicans!
3
@EJ McCarthy
What you say reminds me of what folks say in France and Quebec!
Ever heard something of religious freedom... that means right to practice religion within confines of rule of law.
So wearing Jewish Yarmulke, Sikh turban, Muslim veil/hijab etc, is allowed under the United States constitution.
2
All networks should limit talking about trump and give him any more exposure.
I mean all not only FOX.
That is another reason trump won 2016 without spending much.
All we see and hear is loud voice and hateful rhetoric to everyone who stands up to the liar in chief.
I still hoping for a one time presidency for trump.
8
Did the GOP pay Ilhan Omar to run for Congress? Sure looks that way - perfect for a GOP win in 2020.
28
How did she get elected?? I am politically open and liberal and I know many Muslims since I live in NYC where neighbors, storekeepers, physicians and people from all walks of life live in harmony. The ones I know are lovely people and solid citizens. But Omar is doing herself and those she represents enormous harm. How could she be elected?
45
@MaryO
Im a conservative in NYC, living in the conservative bastion of Staten Island.
Theres plenty of decent, hard working Muslims that live in my neighborhood, who fled the extremism of their countries. I applaud them 100%
This woman isnt one of them.
18
Because she represents a predominantly Somali district....
8
I dunno.
Who’s President?
1
What is it about women that frighten republicans?
Loss of control?
Diminished male authority?
Embarrassment if women can do a better job than men?
Lack of male relevance?
Trump especially finds it easy to attack women, verbally or grabbing them by the ........
The pitiable display of republicans supporting Trump is a stain on America and the values.
15
@Mac
I agree but I think you forgot to add ‘insecure’ to your list of shameful Republican,
male attributes.
3
@Mac
It's not about the women.
It's about the anti-Semites.
1
When a person is elected to Congress they are elected to represent ALL their constituents with out bias towards any group including their opposing voters. It seems as though Omar has an agenda that is very narrow in scope and has nothing to do with working on the problems facing the people of her district. Hating Donald Trump and making remarks about the Jewish Community is not why she is in Congress. The people in her district would do well to closely evaluate her performance come her next election cycle.
43
In addition, Representative Omar represents badly any of the following category of American Citizen: black women and muslim.
I personally knows a lot of black women and men, muslims or not, who are vocal and outspoken on many issues yet do not diminish any 9/11 and do not condone antisemitism. Representative Omar represents only teeny tiny portion of black/muslim community in the US, and does it badly so far.
Representative Omar represents very badly these category of American citizen in addition to her constituents.
18
@Fred
Making Islamophobic comments and putting the interests of White America ahead of other groups isn't why many politicians are in office, but that doesn't stop them. Why's Omar the problem? She's a product of a vitriolic political milieu where Muslims have been victimized, outcasted, derided and undermined.
Three thousand Americans dead at the hand of a religious fanatic and an American congress person cannot denounce it without revolting wiggle words. She's not a child. She's a grownup and an elected official. The left needs to stop treating her like a child and tell her to either cut it out or resign.
55
Yes. She is a Congresswoman now. If she has no agency of her own or ability to communicate effectively, what is she doing there?
17
But the same could be said about trump.
3
Waitine, we are, for Trump and Louis Gohmert and Steve King and you to call right-wing Christian terrorism right -wing Christian terrorism.
2
Ms. Omar brought these problems on herself. She served up a gift to the Republicans. Her far left positions put her outside the mainstream of American politics.
42
And Trump’s within the mainstream? His lies, racism, corruption, criminality, misogyny and childish behaviors are acceptable?
4
The Israel Lobby has been in control of the Congress & WH for decades. Omar is bravely pointing this out. eg
It is not the American people who support the injustice in Palestine ; it is the AIPAC-controlled Congress & WH. eg
1/ In 2009 when Israel invaded Gaza & killed 1400 people of which 2/3 were women & children , 334 members of Congress signed a letter to Obama to "Go Easy On Israel" while the 192 members of the UN Gen. Assembly voted 93% to condemn & sanction Israel for this same atrocity.
2/ It was NOT the American people that voted to donate $4 billion/yr to Israel ($133 billion inflation adjusted) or to create a special US tax loophole for gifts to Israeli "charities" that build illegal settlements. it was Congress.
3/ On July 18 2014 the US Senate voted to support Israeli actions in Gaza in which 2200 Gazans were killed & it released a cache of US munitions to the IDF to continue "Mowing The Grass in Gaza".
4/ A 2014 NYT`s article quoted B.Baird a Dem. congressman: “The difficult reality is this: in order to get elected to Congress, if you’re not independently wealthy, you have to raise a lot of money & you learn pretty quickly that, if AIPAC is on your side, you can do that.” It also quoted J. Yarmuth, a congressman from Kentucky, on upholding the interests of the United States: “We all took an oath of office & AIPAC is asking us to ignore it.”
5/ AIPAC was twice rated as the most feared lobby in DC by staffs of members of Congress.
16
@Duncan Lennox
Would you care to review where Ilhan Omar’s CAIR gets its funding? We’d love to know....
18
are you aware of the power of the Saudis and their oil and what they have wrought in Yemen? How do non Muslims fare there? Are you aware of what China is doing to the Uighurs? Who did not blow up buses on the street of Beijing or to the Tibetans? Netanyahu is a bad man leading a people who are afraid for their very existence. Trump doesn't kowtow to him for the sake of AIPAC, least of all for the sake of American Jews who vote in overwhelming numbers against him. Check out Evangelicals, the strongest component of Trump's base. Without them he can't win. Duncan, why are you so fixated on and angry about AIPAC? How about the Kochs? the Saudi Royals? and for that matter the human rights trashing Chinese? and by the way, regrettably Rep. Omar made yet another factual error-- CARE was formen in the early 1990s,, not after 9/11/2001.
4
@ak Because this man is fixated on Israel, and its real or alleged flaws. There are a few people like him on the comments pages of the Washington Post, too. Personally, I feel sorry for them. Most of us care about many other topics, be it the Mueller report, health care reform or the 2020 elections-but people like him and others like him seem to have no interest in anything beyond their fixation on Israel. I just leave them to their personal hate fest. Anything else is a waste of time.
1
The Title should read "In Attacking Congresswoman Ihan Omar for being Muslim, #45 is Showing His Proud Racism, Again, and Again.....
17
Omar is a sitting member of Congress who made revolting remarks minimizing the murder of thousands of Americans in the name of religious extremism. She's neither powerless nor a victim of any sort. It's incumbent on Dems to stop pretending she's one and call her out on her behavior.
To portray her as merely an innocent victim is insulting and dehumanizing.
50
One thing Trump can accomplish by attacking Omar is keeping people's attention away from some of the policies the Democratic candidates are proposing. Elizabeth Warren announced a new policy today to protect public lands. Getting the controversial Omar in the news is a distraction from voters reading and thinking about Warren's proposal. Let's face it, the emotion of hate can be easily evoked and it has been reported voters tend to vote largely based on emotion. Trump has a knack for winning the news cycle. He continually emits outrageous statements that stir people up. It isn't the way to run a country but Trump is always campaigning and doing his job as president appears to be strictly secondary. For Trump and the Republican Party in general it is all about gaining power and not what is best for the over 300 million people who live in the United States.
8
Certainly, AIPAC could do a little more to ameliorate this situation. They could show who the adult in the room is by taking the higher ground and inviting Rep. Omar for a sit down and "clear their air" session.
Instead they acting like a bunch of thin skinned, spoiled brats- Running to Uncle Trump for sympathy.
14
Thank you for your sensible comments!
2
How about a U.S. Congresswoman being the adult in the room? Why is it on AIPAC? People who assume she is correct about that issue need to look up how much Aipac actually spends in lobbying money and where that falls in relation to other groups. Real estate developers spend more. You don't hear people talking about them controlling Congress, though.
8
There isn't the slightest chance that AIPAC would forego an opportunity to stir reactionary passion by accusing a public figure seen as opposing Israeli policy of anti-Semitism.
2
Omar said one or two things which were perhaps insensitive and worse, expressed some level of denial concerning very hot and divisive topics. Trump says one or two ,... A DAY !
She seems to have learned something, while he has embraced Stephen Miller, the perfect duplicate in terms of phony machismo and cowardice. Did I say duplicate? The correct word is dupe.
His 35/40 % will lap it up.
15
@CD
"She seems to have learned something,;"
This Muslim woman has learned nothin about America and uses Congress as a sounding board for her stirring up her anti-American and anti-Semitic trope.
Sadly, she is a product of the barrage of anti-America and anti-Semitic propaganda in the Middle East.
2
Shouldn't this be classified as an Op-Ed? Don't worry about Trump. It is just one person saying something
12
Ilhan Omar (IO) has in the short span that she has becoming the first Muslim congresswoman has done more harm to the hard earned reputation of innocent law abiding Muslim Americans as being true to their faith and to USA.
I just returned from a consultation with a Muslim Pakistani Kidney specialist and don't think a person like IO represents the ethical gentleman I know and millions of others like him serving Americans of all religions, races and people of national origin and living the American dream.
IO should be recalled from congress. Pelosi is too afraid to reprimand her for antagonizing the sensitivities of non Muslims. She has become a constant troublemaker who has used her status as a historic congressperson to be hostile. It is one thing to be a devout Muslim and follow the faith religiously and it is repugnant to show the love for one's own religion by disturbing the religious harmony that exists in USA for most of the time.
After become President, Trump has not been unfair to US Muslims and all Americans including Muslim residents of USA have been benefited from the higher employment and thriving economy. Trump has been tough on those Muslims who claimed to be representing Islam but were doing barbaric acts to both Muslims and Non Muslims.
Trump systematically separated the Muslims that were harming the world and those that were true followers of Islam who want peace and prosperity for all. Addressing the heads of 60 Muslim countries was Trump's high point.
26
On December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, “some people did something!” It would be ludicrous to think that bringing up Pearl Harbor would incite violence against the Japanese. It’s equally ludicrous that calling out the Congresswoman for her hair-brained remarks about 9/11 by bringing up 9/11 incites violence against Muslims. This is nothing but a political red herring spin by Dems to cast dispersions against the President after they failed to censure her for her anti-Semitic remarks.
23
You think there were no attacks on Japanese-American citizens after Pearl Harbor?
Good grief.
6
@Bill Weber
How about "I like people who don't get captured"?? That was the inane Donald Trump as a candidate talking about an American POW.
Yes, if you have a simple-minded man in charge not doing his job, but "tweeting" insults you have a failure. And that is exactly what this man is- a failed leader.
He made up lies after 9-11 and he made $$$ off 9-11.
"Islam hates us, " says Trump. That is as anti-Semitic as anything she has said - remember most "Arabs" are also Semites from the same basic bloodlines as native Jews. And we need to remember that Osama bin-Laden was from a Saudi Arabian family who, inadvertently or not, helped finance his attack on our country. Yet, Trump continues to kiss up to a Saudi Arabian prince who has demonstrated vicious practices harming and killing many persons who would defy his terrorism. Trump is a study in contradictions, picking one side of a coin to support while condemning the other side in almost every one of his policies. Additionally, by the way, Islam, as a whole does not "hate" us. Just like all other peoples, most are peaceful souls while there are few who hate - very much like "Americans," no matter what faiths to which they subscribe.
7
@Angelsea
Playing with the words "Arabs are also semitic people." is usually done by anti-Semites to water down the standard meaning of "anti-Semitic" as referring exclusively to Jews.
Let's look at a few dictionaries or encyclopedias:
Encyclopedia Brittanica:
"Anti-Semitism, hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group. The term anti-Semitism was coined in 1879 by the German agitator Wilhelm Marr to designate the anti-Jewish campaigns under way in central Europe at that time."
Dictionary.com:
"a person who discriminates against or is prejudiced or hostile toward Jews."
Oxford Dictionary"
"Hostile to or prejudiced against Jews."
Merriam-Webster:
"feeling or showing hostility toward or discrimination against Jews"
Funny, no mention of Arabs.
For heaven's sake, she just happened to mention that were was anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11. Trump himself expressed it.
11
@Ambrose That is not what she said. She minimized what Islamic terrorism did that day. Muslims were not the biggest victims that day.
23
Nor have they been the biggest victims of hate speech....
5
Minnesota by and large is a well-run place, and so is Minneapolis, especially by the standards of many cities its size.
That being said, we have many local problems -- from a large homeless and opiate-dependent Native American community, our own race and poverty problems and a major, burgeoning transit issue that's difficult to solve with only local tax revenue.
Why can't Omar work on this issues? She has likely set back progress on them by years with really amounts to grandstanding on issues which really aren't at the top of anyone's list. Our last long-serving representative, Martin Sabo, rose to the chairman of the House budget committee which was likely extremely beneficial to Minneapolis and Minnesota.
27
All the new relatively inexperienced young people who have been elected to the house had better be very careful what they say, and exactly how they say it. Unlike Trump, who can get away with any crazy sounding stuff that pops into his head, with his own base, their language will be critically judged and held to a much higher standard. In this digital age the glare of the spotlight is intense.
9
While Trump tweeted video footage of September 11 and accused Ilhan Omar of downplaying the terror attacks, prompting her critics to question her sense of patriotism, her words: “some people did something” also sparked controversy among many Americans.
Yet on the day the Twin Towers collapsed, Trump was speaking to radio station WWOR. He seemed indifferent to the tragic incident and veered off to brag about his nearby 71-storey skyscraper inheriting the title of the tallest building in Lower Manhattan.
Shortly after the attack, he claimed $150,000 from the government to cover “rent loss” and “repairs”. The money had originally been set aside for small businesses in the area.
15
Yes, this should be remembered and publicized far more than it has been so far.
4
Some of these comments that criticize Rep. Omar's choice of works as dismissive of 9/11 or anti-semitic are, I think, at best misguided or not fully informed, and seem to be based on incomplete readings of what she actually said. But they show why targeting Omar by Trump and his supporters work as a political tactic.
7
Hillary Clinton called her fellow Americans a 'basket of deplorables'. It may well have cost her the election. On Sept 11 3,000 people simply going to work were incinerated, firefighters and paramedics rushing to the scene were left with lifelong illness (or death) from the air pollution and a newly elected congresswoman with a specific worldview refers to the event as 'some people did something'. Then many Democratic leaders affirm support for her. Trump has already amassed over $50 million for his 2020 election campaign. Interpret as you will. And Democrats, get smart.
24
Trump, however, rapidly filed iffly SBA claims to take advantage.
2
I am a Muslim and I agree that Rep. Omar could be wiser with her words. Sept 11 was an attack on our whole country and I condemn those who did it in the harshest way, it should never be downplayed or minimized in any way.
But at the same time let us not forget that this article was not really about Ms. Omar but about the President. How he has caused my community to be feared and hated by many of our fellow Americans. Is it because he really believes Islam is a threat? Or is he is playing on the xenophobic fear of people to get votes? Probably the latter, and that is sad because it encourages what we saw recently in New Zealand.
I have a genuine fear when I step out the door these days for myself and my family. But at the same time I also trust in God to protect me and trust in my neighbors and fellow citizens to rise above the fear, hate and mistrust and see the good in others even if they dress differently or have a different skin color or pray to the same God in a slightly different way.
Let us pray that love will conquer hate and we can all coexist in peace.
388
@Abd Raheem
This is a very elegant post and I appreciate the content. I agree and hope that Muslims in our country should not feel threatened and are entitled to the rights we all enjoy, including free speech.
I don't know if I believe Omar when she says she is receiving more death threats. Of course I hope she is not receiving any.
But I wonder if she knows -- or cares --that her ill chosen and often tactless comments also hurt and frighten Jews. I am 72 and for the first time in my life I feel threatened and in harms way. To support Israel or even engage Israeli haters in a dialogue is to be insulted, ignored, possibly physically harm. For the first time I feel the only place I may be safe is in Israel.
As the child of Holocaust survivors who came to this country after losing almost everyone and everything, we kissed the ground upon arriving. Now with the waves of anti-Semitism encouraged by Omar's rants about Israel, I am afraid and feel threatened in my own country. If what she says is true, we have that in common.
22
@Abd Raheem
Sorry mate, but mentioning New Zealand makes sense. But not mentioning Paris, Nice, London, San Bernardino, Paris again, Brussels, Milan, suicide bombs in NYC or dozens of other places, is selfish.
You want to blame Trump for the perceptions of Muslims, while ignoring the hundreds of other incidents and tens of thousands of innocents killed.
I applaud your call for harmony.
But if you can draw conclusions with respect to Christchurch, I’m guessing you can also understand why the perception of Islam is not all Trump’s doing.
Trump has a reputation he probably deserves. I’d say the thousands of families that grieve each day owing to Muslim terrorist attacks should be acknowledged as well.
29
@Abd Raheem
Let's be clear. Most Muslims in this world are good, honorable people. BUT, the people most responsible for any "fear and hatred" of Muslims is not Trump or Republicans. It's those men who flew those planes into the towers and every over Islamic extremist who kills innocent people. Put the blame where it belongs, please.
21
Regardless of your feelings regarding Omar, the mail point is that we have a sitting president who is purposely trying to incite hate ( and probably violence) against a fellow American.
19
@Touran9 To many, the main point is that we have a sitting Congresswoman who is at best sweeping away the deaths of 3000 Americans and possibly giving dog whistles to our enemies that she believes 911 was a conspiracy perpetrated by "some people" in
the US Government on its own citizens.
6
You can't tell a Trump supporter anything but Donald Trump can tell them anything and I do mean anything.
15
Trump has given a freshman congresswoman free press and a bully pulpit comparable in power to his own. She may well learn from her missteps and the ability of a hostile press to exaggerate them. He certainly won't.
3
Islamophobia and anti Semitism are two sides of the same coin, and Trump is wagering that playing this coin will work with his white Christian base.
Nothing Rep Omar said in context was all that different from what's been said before by others, including Trump. Those who advise her to be cautious because she is Muslim should explain why. Would identical comments be fine is said by someone else?
Shouldn't we expect her to act equal, in order to assert equality? There was a time when women were expected to act feminine to avoid ruffling feathers. Are we back there again?
6
Ilhan Omar is likely to be the featured speaker at the Republican Convention in 2020. If she can't deliver a Republican victory, nothing can.
34
i actually listened to the video of rep Omar
I am pretty liberal, but I think she shd apologize
altho I am sure she didn't mean it, the best you say is that she misspoke (biden blooper)
and this is not the 1st time she has said things that were very poorly phrased
she wants to lead ,she should lean to speak with authority and accuracy
21
Rep. Omar needs to hire a speechwriter. She doesn’t seem to understand that everything she says is going to be fodder for trump. A speechwriter can minimize the chances she’ll say something inarticulate.
12
@ezra abrams
When do we stop finding excuses for those who continuously mouth anti-Semitic remarks?
1
Trump will not be running against ‘the Democrats’. Elections are two person contests and Hillary will not be his opponent.
2
But all Democrat politicians should themselves support what Omar says. Otherwise how can they expect to win against Republicans if they do not have unity?
@Richard Winchester
The fact that Rep. Omar is a Democrat does not mean that all Democrats should defend her when she says things that they don't agree with. No one, D or R, should put party ahead of country, or morality. And unity is a hallmark of fascism (from the Latin fasces, meaning a bound sheaf of wheat or other grain, cut to uniform length and bound together as one).
1
America has stumbled and fallen. We were once a nation of values. We were once a nation that celebrated the middle class. Long ago in America, there was an idea, an idea that was playing out across our country, The American Dream. The American Dream today lies in shambles. The American Dream is only realized by the one percenters. We need more than hope now. We need action. We need voters to help change the political landscape. We also need the bureaucracy to alter course from self-servitude to serving the needs of the people. Action equals voting Trump and the Republican senate out of office.
5
@Skidaway Not unless Dems denounce people like Omar for their incitement of hatred.
1
Omar is clearly anti-semitic. Rebuking her rhetoric should be the Democrats main thrust. Her comments are not taken out of context. She is very dismissive of 911 and her remarks towards Israel are unsettling at best. I don't care about her religion, her race her gender. If you hate Donald Trumps' remarks do you think hers are valuable ideas ?
55
@John in Garden City if you do not see the difference between the President of the United States statements and a freshman congressman then well I don't know what to say
4
@ John
People complaining about Rep. Omar’s words (that are clearly taken out of context), while ignoring the egregious failures of the WH incumbent and the Rep. Party would be akin to an business owner complaining about his ‘employees’ who show up late for work while his business was being ‘robbed clean’ by a group of thugs and lowlives. Where’s the moral outrage for the WH incumbent?!
Are we so ‘dense’ and ‘lazy’ that we can’t even bother to read more than just the headlines or the ‘buzz words’ that some media pundit or social media junkie puts out as ‘clickbait’?
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2019/4/11/18306436/ilhan-omar-911-islamophobia-republicans
The point she was trying to make was this:
Say, you are white and your neighbour, who is also white, goes on a killing spree or commits a terrorist act, should your family be harassed and tortured just because you happen to be white? And should your loyalty to the country be questioned because of your ‘shared’ ethnicity to this white terrorist?
And If you still fail to understand the gravity of the the situation from her point of view, then you’re no more a bigot than say, Alex Jones or the WH occupant or the members of the Republican Party, for that matter.
3
I have a notebook that I stopped writing names in when it had 25 names. Some i worked with over the years, some I was acquainted with through friends, a few I coached as kids & 1 was a coworker's husband. My brother & brother-in-law were there as FDNY, my sister-in-law worked in south tower but was late to work because of a dentist appt. If you have any personal connection to 9/11 you know it was not some people doing some things. It was anattack on US soul far greater than Pearl Harbor. It & subsequent attacks are meant to exterminate the "non-believers". It was on a par with Hitler and nazi Germany. I am allowed to be offended by Omar's trivialization. Shes allowed to be offended by her percieved discrimination vs. muslims, and I can be offended by her comments that reek of condoning the act. She certain didnt condemned the actions of her Muslim brothers.
41
@bored critic
Then you can go ahead and keep being offended because it doesn't mean much. America's killed tens of thousands of innocent Muslims while pursuing the war on terror.
2
I have no issue with Omar as an elected member of Congress. But I do have an issue when the Congresswoman continues to foment anti-Semitism with her public statements. And she doubles down by giving an address to CAIR, an organization that has a long history of affiliation with Hamas and Hezbollah, designated by our State Department as terrorist organizations (https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm).
And to add insult to injury by her comments about 9/11? The majority of her democratic colleagues have given her a pass. Some of her colleagues have excused her for being ignorant. Some of her colleagues called her young and inexperienced. Some of her colleagues said that they will try to “educate” her. The Speaker of the House even rewarded her with a coveted seat as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. Instead of a resolution condemning her vitriol as anti-Semitic, there was instead, a debate about condemning hatred towards every ethnic and religious group, with the result of watering down what should have been a strong resolution condemning the Congresswoman’s words and condemning anti-Semitism. Don’t read me wrong. A second resolution could have been drafted to be all-inclusive. But a singular resolution against anti-Semitism would have been a strong statement by Congress that it will not allow Jew hatred to be part of the public discourse.
The silence of her democratic colleagues is deafening.
40
@Reuven Taff
Martin Luther King Jr. said during a 1968 appearance at Harvard University:
"My friend, I do not accuse you of deliberate anti-Semitism. I know you feel, as I do, a deep love of truth and justice and revulsion for racism, prejudice, and discrimination. But I know you have been misled–as others have been–into thinking you can be 'anti-Zionist' and yet remain true to those heartfelt principles that you and I share. Let my words echo in the depths of your soul:
“When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews–make no mistake about it–you are talking anti-Semitism."
“In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends…The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
—Martin Luther King
7
@Reuven Taff
There's no real evidence that CAIR has links to terrorist groups. That's a tired old conspiracy theory.
1
She is very disrespectful and incendiary. This invites criticism. That said, President Trump should be above engaging her. Her words speak for themselves. Let them stand.
19
Doesn't this guy have more important things to do...such as addressing a deteriorating infrastructure in our country, working to assure Americans have decent medical care, taking on environmental problems and more? Last time I checked, he is the President of the United States...not just of his base...and he works for all of us.
12
You're wrong about this, Peter. Trump does not work for us; he works for himself and his henchmen.
6
Two children squabbling over a toy. Both have loose lips. I'd be happy if I never heard another word from either of them. If either has a clue how to govern that part of the nation they were elected to govern, we would be better off. Maybe.
9
That's how I feel. I can't stand Trump or Omar for the most part, although even a broken clock is right twice a day. What about those of us who don't like either side of this debate? Could we even be the real majority?
7
@Benjo What's the debate? It is all to vague and without form.
I'm not fond of Omar. She's done nothing but create controversy since elected. Her grandstanding has really turned me off.
45
Omar is a public official, public officials can be criticized by the public. Trumps past statements are one thing but his recent tweet regarding Omar's poor attempt at portraying Muslims as the victims of 9/11 are not attacks on her or Muslims; it is simply criticism of the poor statement that she made, the same type he faces when he tweets. It's not regarded at attacks on him when the left criticizes those statements, it shouldn't be considered attacks when he does the exact same thing. He is allowed to criticize those statements just as much as anyone else. False statements like this are the exact reason he got elected and will be the reason he will get reelected in 2020.
23
In repeatedly attacking Ms. Omar, Trump has shown that he must be removed from office. Attacking a sitting office holder is against the law. Trump took an oath of office. He has repeatedly broken it.
Nancy Pelosi is standing in the way of remove Trump from office. She should be removed from office now. Then Trump can be removed as the Constitution so requires.
4
The Democrats need to watch Trump, and learn. Hate and fear help fire up a political base and win elections; defending an unpopular minority, even if it may be the “right” thing to do, gets one nowhere politically.
Most of the 9/11 highjackers were Saudis. It would not be difficult to create convincing messaging that Saudis at the highest levels conspired in or knew about the attacks. Trump seems awfully friendly with the the Saudis. It’s not hard to find photos of him holding hands with Saudis, bowing to receive a medal, even dancing with them. And apparently he was fine with sharing US nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia. Hmm—a country awash with oil needing nuclear power plants to make electricity. A lot of people might see that is a bit fishy.
So, the video starts with visuals of Trump kissing up to Saudis, followed by headlines ‘Trump supported US nuclear tech for Saudis,’ a shot of the New York skyline, and finally a mushroom cloud.
Will we see this video anytime soon? Of course not; the Democrats apparently feel more comfortable when they’re on the defensive, and so won’t be able to take the focus off the clueless Rep. Omar.
7
I think it's time that the media and people in responsible positions start asking the people running Twitter, why they refuse to block Donald Trump's many incendiary hateful, race baiting and bigoted tweets that are bullying and lend themselves to inciting violence against woman and various ethnic groups; I think the time has come that either Twitter calls Trump out by suspending his account or banishing him from tweeting for a couple of years.
When Does Donald Trump's Bullying on Twitter become a crime?
11
Funny you should say that. If President Trump was French his rage and bigotry calling on twitter would already earned him a legal condamnation for hate speech and incitation to violence.
2
Elucidating Rep. Omar's wretched disregard for not only the responsibilities of her elected office, but her ignorance of facts of American culture and history was not in the slightest an attack by our President.
If Rep. Omar had had the professional courtesy and political savvy to avoid a childish temptation for pointed disrespect and blatantly strategic insults, she might have shone far brighter than the fleeting glimpse her single term in Congress will have illuminated the world.
19
This is now the 2nd time that Ilhan Omar has made insensitive and inflammatory remarks. She has never apologized and was never criticized by her party.
Trump is being Trump. You cannot blame Donald Trump for the fact that the democrats have an agent provocateur is their ranks, dedicated to stirring up trouble.
23
"Some people . . . did something" sounds awfully similar to "There were very fine people . . . on both sides"
25
At the heart of all this is how far will the Left allow identity politics to shape their worldview, and who gets to claim the ever important mantle of victimhood. Who are the real victims of 911? The people that have and continue to die? Or intersectional non straight white men who's "freedoms were taken away"
25
Trump is despicable but Omar is a liability for the democratic party.
54
@bruno. Agreed.
11
@bruno Omar is dispicable but Trump is a liability for the Republican party; I guess life is a matter of perspective.
3
Rep. Omar is one of those people who endure hardship in another part of the world and come to this country as a child but keep a bitter view of the world. 25 years here does not give her a wide angle of world events. Becoming a citizen does not soften their worldview. It is sad that at such a young age she feels bitterness is the only lens through which she views life. She does not help the Democrat cause. She is as reprehensible as Trump.
50
The difference, I think, is that Omar is not a lost cause. She is intelligent and likely willing enough to be educated about her problematic views. Trump is neither. She is nowhere near the toxic threat to America that Donald Trump is.
3
“She is as reprehensible as Trump.”
This statement is emblematic of so many people’s inability to see or account for nuance and why Trump will probably win re-election.
5
@Noah
I see nuance easily in political discourse. Your reference to nuance is a result of your liking the speaker as a person, whereas you find Trump less likable. Trump is an unappealing person. Omar is bitter and has a distinct bias. She seems to lack the capacity to view an issue from outside her personal perspective. Narrow minded.
7
The current state of our national security is dire. We have no leadership, just chaos and incompetence with this current administration at the helm.
We are now more vulnerable to another attack than ever before. But perhaps that is exactly want our current leadership is inviting so that he can stay in power for the foreseeable future.
Trump’s attack on Rep. Omar is disgusting if not criminal—there is no first amendment right to incite violence and death threats against this young leader.
16
Rep. Omar's comments and the lack of party response are another good example of the reason why I am a registered independent. I couldn't be a member of a party in such disarray that it won't condemn in the strongest terms the anti-American comments that continue to pour from Ms. Omar.
46
This government is the fruit of democracy. Can we honestly and consistently criticize its fruit, yet support the tree of democracy that produces this fruit?
If we did that, would that make us complicit?
Visiting Fox News was educational for me -- to see their deployment of Dan Crenshaw to attack Rep. Ilhan Omar, together with World Trade Center destruction imagery by Trump.
The anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant bigotry that led to this type of government in America, in Austria and other countries, has been growing worldwide for decades. It was used by Trump to gain power, by the Chinese government to oppress Muslims. With a growing extremist Zionism in Israel, it is being effectively used to oppress the Palestinians.
In countries in which this bigotry and racism permeates society, democracy produces racist, bigoted government. When we see this fruit of democracy, we must question its legitimacy -- squarely, honestly and consistently.
12
Thank you for the thoughtful insight, rather than the emotional responses otherwise posted.
3
If you think it's a problem for the religious, at least they have their various tribes to fall back on. What about the poor atheists, they only have ethical humanists to defend them.
3
Many, many centrist Democrats would prefer to see her move along as well. It's got nothing to do with anti-Muslim sentiment. She is just toxic to the party.
49
@Clint
Sure, the woman who went against the grain on Israel & made a comment that isn't up to par for Americans just looking for a reason to castigate a Muslim in political office is in the wrong here. The lady receiving death threats for her comments is the toxic one. Lol.
1
To have been there , was to have witnessed the violent death of thousands of people. No one knew how many that day. To those that witnessed the Towers coming down through the miracle of modern media, increased the pain exponentially, with each replay, with each articulation by hundreds of people "reporting", by hundreds of public figures releasing their "statements". Anger remains, like a faint ember, forever. But for millions of other people, who were not there, who were not Americans, there was no anger. For some there was some sympathetic shock. But for millions around the world there was, and will always be, some sense of tolerance for the people who committed these murders. Tolerance for those that believed there was nothing wrong in those murders, because the victims were American. And anyone who believes that is not true, you do not have friends who are from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon. They were not angry, or shocked; they had been victims of the violence that led to the buildings coming down. And many were under the belief that most Americans would forget, quickly, as Americans are Godless and shallow. Who's to say? But don't take the opinion of someone who is American and knows you. Find someone from the cradle of civilization, who respects you enough to tell you the truth. That's who she speaks for. Problem is she has been elected to represent Americans. She is elected the same way the current president was elected. Stop computer voting.
9
@ joered
What makes America great is its diversity.
If we continue to play race politics by ignoring the plethora of crimes by the 45th and focus on outspoken first-time Congresswomen like Omar and AOC and subjecting them to ridicule and death threats, there’s no hope for the millions of non-white millennials, who may now be energized enough to serve their country after being apathetic for decades.
Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of American democracy. These two elected leaders have earned that right regardless of their race or gender. Hate speech, on the other hand, is not acceptable, which is what the 45th and his cronies in Congress or in the cabinet have engaged in since taking office and by extension, the Republican Party as well.
Certainly, no one should trivialize 9/11. That was not Rep. Omar’s intention.
It was to make a simple point: Just like the actions of some ‘white neo-Nazis’ should not be attributed to ‘all’ white Americans. Similarly, Holocaust, thus the actions of ‘some White Christians’ in Germany, should not be attributed to ‘all’ white Christians as a whole.
Americans of all stripes, colors and religions perished in 9/11, American Muslims among them, not to mention foreign Muslims from other countries were among the dead.
When we demonize one group consistently over a long period of time, it can lead to disastrous consequences aka Holocaust. All this ‘other-ization’ & mischaracterization needs to stop. The Enemy is already in the WH
1
She spoke without thinking. Very poorly chosen words. She will learn from this one or she wont but this is not the way to gain support from the liberal community.
19
She didn’t “speak without thinking.” She chose her words carefully knowing her audience.
2
Donald Trump may be many things: a liar, scoundrel, thug, womanizer, despicable, juvenile. . .
But one thing that stands at the top of the list is his mastery at being able - incredibly - to set the narrative, to determine the playbook, to dominate the news cycle.
So far, I can think of only one candidate in the Democratic pack that can counter The Donald: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigeig. If there was ever a stark comparison between two men who are seeking to become president in 2020, it is this one.
This article points out the politics of fear, of hate, of divisiveness, all things that Trump has learned to play off of for his benefit. He should never have been elected.
14
Well aware of the American media vis a vie their political bias, Ilhan Omar memorizes the script and plays the victim as a true thespian. Like her similarly schooled colleague AOC, this freshman pair of ideologues do their damage of divide and recoil behind a screen of manipulation.
Victim status is not granted when throwing Molotov cocktails. As the expression goes; if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.
22
@Grant
She didn't throw any bombs. She is, however, receiving more death threats due to Trumpistanian hatred and victim blaming.
11
This is just a way for Trump and his hysterical followers to silence the minority voice. All the egregious hits against the "Caravan," and "Muslims," and immigrants from "$hI0" (you know what I want to write there?) countries are directly at minorities. Can't minorities speak up, even a first term Congresswoman from Minnesota?
If readers of the Times do not read the whole story but react to reactions or even worse tweets and re-tweets, they are doing the rest of no service with all the noise.
5
The theme of a lot of the comments is 'We don't like what this woman said, so let's just vote for Trump and his much greater hate and division.' Really, people, is that the best you can do?
9
Agreed. I don't like Omar's remarks about 9/11 and I feel her anti-Israel remarks are more informed by an anti-Semitic worldview inculcated in her upbringing than by any sort of progressive ideology. But that doesn't mean I'm running to Trump, who defended people marching with torches chanting "Jews will not replace us." More and more, the middle ground is proving incredibly elusive. I wanted serious leftist candidates but the recent crop of inexperienced progressives has been embraced as the loudest minority. Give me a quiet professional any day.
5
When you are incapable of governing, as Trump and Republican Party have become, demonizing, fearmongering, and these kind of sideshows are how you stay in power. They are not even bothering to address the actual pressing problems facing the country, and what efforts they made are absurdly inept. How are the trade wars going? Is it time to re-up the $12 billion taxpayer bail-out for farmers hurt by the trade war? Is it finally infrastructure week? Why is Trump's magic "way better than Obamacare" package punted to his "second term?"
Instead of talking about all these inconvenient policy failures, Ilhan Omar is the new "soft target" for the Republicans to attack. But she, at least, is co-sponsor on the bill renewing the 9/11 victim's compensation fund, which would otherwise run out in 2020. A lot of her vocal Republican critics are quietly opposing it.
But that's America in 2019 for you: we hate those who are actually doing something to help the country, but love those who tell us pleasing lies.
9
Sure her choice of words was clumsy. However, the only way they can be interpreted as offensive is if we do not consider her or the people in her audience as Americans. And that's the real problem here. Well intentioned people have othered American Muslims so much so that we relate them more easily to the foreign national terrorists who committed 9/11 than to ourselves as Americans. And that's what Trump and Fox News are counting on.
6
So...heard the one about the Democrats who are actually running for President? Me neither, all I hear about are Omar and Ocasio-Cortez every move and comment.
14
The media should be publicizing Omar’s comments every hour and disparaging Democrat politicians who refuse to support her.
@Richard Winchester
That is exactly what every Republican is hoping for.
Ms Omar would do herself and the entire anti-trump world a favor by removing her head scarf, thereby looking more like an American and less like the demon from overseas that trump wants to portray her as.
16
Bonnie. People who dress differently are not demons. I am fairly certain you know that. Your response is an emotional reaction to a photo. Come hang out in San Jose or Santa Clara (not too far from where you live) and you will see ALL kinds of people, humans of all kinds trying to build lives of connection, love, intent. Some more successful than others, but let’s not make it harder with emotional, divisive comments like this.
4
What exactly does an American look like?
5
Trump isn't going to test if his supporters will stay with him if he shoots somebody in the middle of the street. Instead he's pointing at a target and testing if a crazy fanatic will do it for him. Trump's actions are inexcusable. Decent Americans, whether Republican or Democratic, must speak out against his killing words.
4
@DJY
Stochastic terrorism. The right's quite fond of it.
Trump is not attacking all Muslims-Omar hardly represents all Muslims and Trump's remarks were limited to her. She deserved it. Her language was incendiary- and she should have been rebuked by the President and by you. Omar's remarks are provocative and insensitive to the feeling of our nation which was attacked by murderous terrorists (not "some people") and hurtful to the families who lost relatives and friends. She is clearly prejudiced, and hateful and her remarks show it.
21
It’s amazing how you and other commenters with your sentiment can be SO convinced you know the internal thoughts and motivation of someone you’ve never met - and actually believe you have the unique and remarkable ability to interpret the meaning of someone else’s words. And, no less, someone who is an immigrant, non-native English speaker. Wow! I can just imagine the judgment you also bestow upon colleagues, relatives and acquaintances- and am very thankful I’m not one of them.
1
@Rico: There sure seem to be a lot of people bending over backwards to claim that her motives are benevolent.
5
How is it possible that in the very same speech, Ilhan Omar refers to “a tragic, tragic nightmare that has happened to Muslims in New Zealand,” but refers to 9/11 as “some people did something?”
It’s possible because, except for Saudi Arabia and recently Brunei, she and many activist Muslims do not speak out against Islamic terrorism or human rights abuses perpetrated by Muslims on Muslims.
Does Ilhan Omar speak about the oppression of Muslim woman? Forced hijab, forced child marriage, FGM. Or the lack of freedom of expression when Palestinian dissenters are tortured and jailed by Hamas? Does she protest blasphemy punishments ...it’s a very long list. And yet Ilhan Omar is silent as if speaking out would be religious/racial/ethnic treachery.
And now that Trump has elevated Ilhan Omar to victim status, some believe her race, religion, gender should give her a pass for antisemitism and the trivializing of 9/11.
We can condemn both - Omar and Trump.
28
In my district next to Omar’s, a Jewish gentleman (Dean Phillips)was elected. As my Congress person, if he had right out of the box made Israel and Palestine the focus of his attention and, in the process insulted Palestinians and Muslims, I would have said, enough already, you were not elected to focus on this. I would have been particularly peeved because one would logically think that he probably was doing this for religious reasons. This is what Omar probably appears to be doing. Jumping into a fray for religious reasons on an issue that is of minimal importantance to her constituents. As to Trump, he should cut it out, but, he won’t. By the way, the contrast between Omar and Phillips is quite striking. Only one of them seems to constantly shoot off their mouth.
15
I see that NYC Democratic Congressman Nadler has said when questioned by cable news that he didn't have any objection to any of Rep. Omar's remarks. I am curious to know what Rep. Omar might say about the policies of the Sultan of Brunei vis-a-vis homosexuals, given the stance of her own party on this issue.
10
If anyone else, and I mean ANYONE else said or did things that resulted in death threats being lodged against someone, there would be a knock on their door by law enforcement quicker than white on rice.
That the President of the United States can get away with this is stunning in its audacity.
5
I have steadfastly supported the Palestinians and opposed the Israelis since the Suez Crisis of 1956. I do believe that many American Jews are, in their blind and steadfast support of Israel, acting against the interests of their country (America). Therefore, they are traitors.
For the same reason I believe that any and all American Muslims who similarly support Muslim terrorist acts against America are traitors as well. Omar's flippant remarks about "sombody did something", no matter how you parse them, sound close to support for Muslim terrorism. I applaud President Trump for speaking out against her remarks.
President Trump needs also to speak out (and act against) Rachel Rollins, the Boston D.A. who, in writing, has instructed her department to not prosecute brown people because they may be here illegally, and as such, prosecution might result in their deportation. This action on her part is clearly traitorous, and far more significant than Omar's vile words. Trump's Dept of Justice needs to uphold the federal laws about treason, and indict DA Rollins for treason.
We have a pattern here -- American citizens representing three different religions that in fact are irrelevant to the issue at hand -- conspiring and possibly acting in the interests of foreign countries or forces. It is high time that American officials, as well as citizens in general, speak and act in the interests of America. We are not citizens of the world. We are citizens of America.
7
Th Congresswoman is too politically immature to realize how her words can be interpreted.
Also, Democrat and Republicans have a similar problem. Republicans need to have the guts to call out the President on some of his imprudent remarks, rather than defend him. Similarly, Democrats should not blindly defend every remark that is made by inexperienced member of Congress.
9
There is nothing Trump enjoys more than fighting with a woman. Perhaps because it works. When he spars with a female politician, it is always more divisive because many people think he is right to put women in their place.
5
America is NOT a Christian nation. America is a nation free to worship any religion or no religion at all. We have a separation between church and state. There is no "muslim agenda" any more than there is a Christian one and probably less. The Christians in America are often obnoxious. They want to wave their religion in your face whenever possible. It must stop. I see Ms. Omar as being religiously harassed. Nothing she has said is inflammatory and compared to how Trump talks, she's fine. Leave her alone.
4
Why does everything have to be about Trump? Listen, just ignore the guy and let's work together to improve the lives of all Americans.
4
Representative Omar said she wants to speak with moral clarity and courage...If that were true she would have used a more honest description of some terrible "people' and their terrible 'something'..but from within her she could not. I am a
lifelong liberal and have fought hard for the right of freedom of thought and speech, but with that comes the responsibility for what the individual says. So..she has the responsibility for what she says, not her fellow Democratic members of the House or the Party, who, rather than gathering around her, should be correcting her. 9/11 was a horrendous act of evil.If Omar could not describe it honestly, her colleagues should have straightened her out. Meanwhile, by not doing so they have given Trump a great weapon for 2020.
16
By now I don't think anyone should be giving Rep Omar the benefit of any doubt - Omar knows what she is saying & what effect it will have. May be Omar could have been excused for the first or second big blunder but we are far past that now. As Omar told Stephen Colbert: Omar wants to be heard & she is being heard. In fact, it is difficult to even denote what Trump is doing as an attack against Omar - all Trump needs to do is repeat Omar's own words - so I really fail to understand how Ms Haberman is titling her column as Trump attacking Omar - Trump is elevating Omar to be front & center - the face of the Democratic Party - and apparently nothing said to Omar will cause her to reconsider & change her ways
So is Trump 2020 getting this assistance for free or what?
18
“This contrast gives the president a chance to expand his support closer to 50 percent,” Mr. Nunberg [a Trump campaign aide] insisted.
Evidently the truth of matters is of no matter to Trump, his spokespeople, or his campaign. It’s part of “winning” to spread disinformation and incite violence.
The main street media should make Trump an unrelenting front page target of fact finding and of laying bare Trump’s tactics.
4
Trump's an inciter, perhaps criminally:
"Advocacy of force or criminal activity does not receive First Amendment protections if (1) the advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action, and (2) is likely to incite or produce such action."
--Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 447 (1969)
Also:
Trump's Omar Twitter video:
The logos of Nat'l Geographic, ABC and CBS are on the 911 clips, did they give consent? If yes, why? If not, file a take-down order and sue for infringement.
3
It is reasonable for Muslim Americans to point out that that the actions of a few should not be held against the many. A fair reading of Rep Omar's remarks is that she is simply making this point, not supporting, rationalizing or excusing terrorism.
6
Ilhan Omar is my representative in Congress. I have met her and I voted for her more than once. She is personable and, in my experience, not at all tribal in her practise of politics in our district. (I would not say that about all of those from our large , and welcome, Somali community who have run for public office.) What I have read about Ilhan's recent, and obviously controversial, remarks did not alarm or outrage me. Many people, including Jewish supporters of Ilhan in our district, agree that support for the state of Israel needs to be discussed and that such discussion should not be 'unacceptable' as one Democratic congressman recently said. It is also true that very serious human rights violations were perpetrated by the US after the 9/11 attacks and that Muslims were the main victims. There were 'black sites', warrantless arrests, torture and disappearances. To condemn those violations is not to condone or make light of the 9/11 attacks. But the test of our commitment to human rights is in our behavior under such trying circumstances and the US did not come out very well in that test after 9/11.
It may not have been politically prudent, but it does not bother me that Ilhan has brought these matters up. Though her support in the district is very multicultural and diverse, she does represent, among others, our large Muslim community and they have a right as citizens to a voice.
8
I can only assume that Omar accurately represents the attitudes and desires of Minnesota's 5th congressional district.
Good to know.
7
It's a shame that Omar is not more thoughtful before she speaks. She could have made the same, valid, point by saying "some people committed a vile atrocity, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties." She needed to more clearly articulate what those "some people" did.
3
There once was a time when you could look forward to the comments section of a NYTimes article to have a nuanced expansion of the ideas presented in the main article, sometimes even putting forward a better evaluation within the 1500 character limit. No longer. I'm starting to suspect that both the comments themselves and the upvoting process are being gamed by agencies with political agendas.
5
I completely agree!
Trump has used the old tactics of divide and rule and it has worked. I hope people are smart enough and will reject this in future.
4
Being dismissive of 9/11 is something that Omar should be criticized for and I don't totally blame those who were angry over her comments, especially those who may have lost someone special in that horrific attack.
Trump comes from NYC too so he may have felt Omar's statements a bit more than others. Criticizing Omar on this front is not anti-muslim.
12
@Luke Ramundo
Reality Check: Trump tried to cash in on 9-11.
There was and is no excuse large enough for him to hide under.
1
The unbelievable naivety of Rep. Omar & the choice of words that she uses & doesn't use is surprising. I'm beginning to wonder whether it's a strategy that's more likely to backfire. Imagine if Nancy Pelosi said "Some People did something" with regards to the burning of Churches in the South, or "Some People" barred African American students from attending school? The vitriol this President has shown to make political points is legendary at this point so why fuel it?
American's want leadership at all levels of government. Ms. Omar would be better served bringing people together instead of picking and choosing where she's trying to make political points. Whether she likes it or not the consequences of her words, like the President's, have consequences whether you are White, Black, Jewish, Muslim, or Christian.
7
I agree that the vast majority of American muslims were horrified by 9/11, and should in no way be held accountable for what happened. Just as the vast majority of "white" Americans (many of whom are descended from families that did not come to this country until the 20th century, and are members of ethnic groups that were not considered white until the second half of that century) are horrified by the legacy of slavery, yet should not be held accountable for it.
6
With memories of people covered in soot running from the site, the funerals (I was at one), the looks on people’s faces on that day, I’m trying to figure out how I can insert the words “some people did something” into ANY description of 9/11 as if it’s just an aside to another more important subject. I can’t.
And whether you were there or not, I don’t think it matters, if in your heart you care about what happened on that god awful day.
Think about that, while you are trying to interpret Rep Ilhan Omar’s choice of words.
10
People so quickly forget, probably as a result of consuming marijuana, that the people of Palestine really were dancing and cheering in the streets on the day of the 9/11 attacks. Maybe they didn't know because it has been censored by the press, but there is video, which has been confirmed to be authentic. Look for it on Youtube, or google.
41
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus
Assuming those videos are real (confirmed by whom?), so what?
Censored by the press? Even Fox News? Not showing a video is not the same as censorship. That you can still find the video means it was decidedly NOT censored. Your argument (calling it that is being extremely generous) is so full of logical inconsistencies as to be rendered moot.
2
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus
The USA has been interfering in the Middle East since at least the 1950’s. The interference has taken the form of coup against democratically elected leaders, indiscriminate bombing and killing, and probing up corrupt oil regimes. So yes, I am absolutely certain that millions of middle easterners were happy with the twin tower bombings, and danced in the streets. What of it?
3
that information has not been censored and was reported at the time of the attacks. what specifically does that have to do with Rep. Omar other than her religion being the same as that of the majority of Palestinians?
3
There is no need for Mueller's "redacted" (aka censored) report, this man, "our" president should be removed for inciting violence, hatred, and racism and knowing nothing about how to behave as representing the entire nation not just his "base."
20
Imagine if an American referred to the massacre at Wounded Knee as "some people did something."
42
Out of context! Listen to all of what she said! You extracted one sentence and isolated it to make her sound bad.
5
Wounded knee was carried out by officials of our government. By definition terrorists are no such thing
1
@ Yo
I understand words matter when you’re a politician, but I certainly hope you’re not implying that because Rep. Omar is black not White, and is thus less American than a white person or because she isn’t say, atheist or Christian.
The only true ‘Americans’ are the Indigenous, those massacred at Wounded Knee.
Everyone else is an immigrant, whether one generation back or ten.
Rep. Omar was only trying to make a point that actions of ‘some people’ should not be attributed to ‘all people’. Just like every white Christian or just every white American should not be held responsible for the actions of some white, Christian Nazis in Germany esp. their role in horrible tragedy of Holocaust or the crimes of their current counterparts, KKK and offshoots in the US.
Would this be a fair comparison for a non-white American to make? Or are reasoning and logic also the prized domain of the privileged white?
3
The only thing that seems to be consistent at this point in Donald Trump's political life is that he shows himself to be a nasty, repulsive racist and bigot, without shame.
This latest attack on Congresswomen Omar by Donald Trump is nothing more than racist, and promotes a violent attack on her, in this day and age where you have seen crazy people go out an kill innocent people using Donald Trump's words to provoke them; it's beyond me how this cannot be viewed as incendiary hate by a President.
It is irresponsible and should be considered criminal, for this recent volatile tweet by Donald Trump and this should ban him from Twitter for at least a few years, if not for life.
20
This only proves how naive Omar is. She should have been prepared before jumping in front of a microphone with her ill-conceived words. Know your enemy.
Ill-prepared just like AOC. She and AOC like to jump in front of every microphone they see. They should have tried to build bridges in Washington before lighting them on fire. Nothing like learning the hard way. Unfortunately, their constituents are going to suffer.
41
Build bridges with who? Republicans? Why should democrats always be bipartisan when republicans ever are!
2
Didn't the Dems constituent suffer before them, when Dems didn't stand up for the interest of their constituent? Isn't why Midwest went to Trump? And we will be able to measure the happiness of their constituent next year.
Sure, blame those with courage and a voice to speak out against injustices instead of the injustices (& those doing the dirty deeds) themselves. Naive, indeed.
1
Trump’s response is ugly, like everything he does, but the Democrats should make up their minds. If they want to follow the trend launched in Europe, where the far left allies itself to radical Islam, they are heading for electoral disaster, and we will be stuck with Trump for another four years. In Europe Muslim immigrants have higher numbers that may make a difference at the pols, and white critics can be easily marginalized with accusations of racism. But the genie is out of the bottle, both in the US and in Europe, and ordinary people are starting to speak their mind. It’s not nice, because when ordinary people push back they don’t do it with long articles in fancy magazines.
35
Trump is nothing but a cheap bigot. I have stopped considering him to be a valid president. He lost the popular vote but won the electoral college, and he lost the popular vote in that context by the widest margin in recorded U.S. history.
If any of his GOP court jesters had read the evidence files in the pending Trump "University" class action lawsuits, they would have recognized him as a fraud. The evidence spoke for itself. Obviously many of them did read the files and endorsed him anyway - which is indefensible.
Now let's talk about Trump's great friends, the Saudis. 15 Saudis were involved in 9/11 - Trump certainly doesn't mind giving any of them a reprieve even for slaughtering one our country's newspaper reporters.
Nor does he mind letting slide certain mass shootings. He's never expressed any outrage over Dylan Roof or the fanatical Trump supporter who sent out pipe bombs.
You want to talk about lurking? That is what Trump is doing. He's lurking in the White House. How best to describe Individual No. 1 but as a lurking troll.
21
@Jbugko
What mass killings has he let slide?
1
Sometimes it feels like the democrats are controlled by a cabal of their own enemies. Robert Conquests third law strikes again.
23
All Democrat politicians must loudly support Omar and her comments.
19
@Richard Winchester
Even if they don't agree with them?
6
I would rather support anyone else. A lot of democrats oppose Omar and AOC. They are dividing us and making us weaker as a party. They are no better than Trump.
5
The issue that many in this country have, as represented by Ms. Omar, is the utter complete lack of outrage over 911. Many in this country saw the Muslim community as more or less silent afterwards in stead of joining in on the very understandable anger over the attack. The outrage united many in this country with the exception of the Muslim community and that was due in large part because of its religious leaders overtly subdued response to the crisis. Ms. Omar downplaying this event brings back memories of this and that angers not just the right but the middle and even many on the left. She is not the face of progressive liberalism; she is the face of ignorance of what is still very much an open wound in this country.
48
@Cato
It may come as a surprise to you, but the USA is not universally loved around the world. Speaking of silence, it was deafening in the US following the completely unjustifiable invasion of Iraq.
1
@Mike Well from Montreal you couldn't possibly have a very good view of the USA. There were plenty of protest around the country against the Bush administration's push for war.
2
Lot of Trump haters here, but folks have to realize the anti-American talk that Omar and others are spouting is not what most hard working Americans believe. The believe every has rights, but those right begin when you join this country, assimilate and quite saying Anti-American things. I would not want Omar or AOC to received sensitive secret information....I'm not sure either has America interests at heart.
39
The problem is that was not anti-american talk.
This is just a low attempt at framing her as radical by the terrified right.
1
What is anti-American, it is to tell other American what they should do, what should they say and what they should think. Omar won election fair and square, and it is up to her constituency to decide if she represents them well
2
@Tony J Mann
What anti American statements has either made, please quote or link. Being critical of USA policies does not count.
It is telling how much Donald Trump relies on hate, prejudice and ignorance for his political brand.
Telling and sad...
12
Omar is free riding the Democratic Party and doing a disservice to both, Democrats and the country. She is where she is to defend the poor, the believers in democracy, the liberal, and the free. She is not there to become a proxy of alien wars. If that is the case she should quit…Republicans are taken advantage of this misguided representative to strengthen their xenophobic, chauvinistic, and resentful basis.
20
As a person who survived so many hardships, Omar should have been more sensitive to the 9/11 issue. Instead she responded in an insensitive way. I do not see her as a leader, but rather as an immature and clumsy new congressperson. Unless she develops some insight into the feelings of all Americans regarding 9/11, she will not go far in her career. We will hear the loud “kerpkunk” as her soaring career crashes into the ocean.
24
It’s hard to see how Democrats and Ilan Omar come out on top in this battle. Omar is a liability. Period. Democrats defending her remarks, which were extremely insensitive and tone deaf at best, need to rethink their strategy. By minimizing the pain seared into the national consciousness from the 9/11 attacks in order to make a point about civil rights for Muslims and the CAIR organization, most Americans, myself included, are wondering whether she is using that tragic day to paint herself and other Muslims as the real victims. That’s a view of recent history virtually no American shares, and they’ll be thinking of her words at the ballot box as they blare across Fox News over and over and over.
44
some say some people did something -
i say never forget.
32
So many comments here want to remind us who the "some people" were and what the "something" was. So here are some facts.
The "some people" were mostly Saudi terrorists and the "something" was a horrible atrocious attack that took place in the heart of New York.
Ilhan Omar is a co-sponsor of the 9/11 Victim's Compensation Fund that compensates the actual victims of 9/11 - those New Yorkers that lost their lives that horrible day. Ilhan Omar is also a strident critic of Saudi Arabia and its repressive regime and its foreign interventions and her words, actions, and voting record proves it.
Donald Trump failed to make a pledged $10,000 donation to the Twin Towers Fund and boasted that his building was now the tallest in S Manhattan ON 9/11 itself. Donald Trump loves the Saudis, wants to clamp down on any criticism of them, forgives the murder of Khashoggi and wants to sell Saudi Arabia even more weapons.
And commenters here have the audacity to rebuke Omar while making Trump their 9/11's champion? Or just as bad, play the old "both sides" game by equating Omar and Trump as somehow equally to blame? Truly sad.
29
@grusilag The most reasoned comment I have read on this thread. So many people defending a President who is trying his best to incite violence against her. And I hate to think how many negative commenters would conclude Rep. Omar got what she deserved if anything happened to her.
Thank you for restoring my hope in humanity.
1
Not only was she belittling 9/11, but she was re-interpreting it as an event in which American Muslims were deprived of their rights, and expressing righteous indignation over it. The American Muslim community was by and large deafeningly silent after 9/11, and their failure to denounce it fully raised understandable suspicion that they approved of their co-religionists' "something". Instead of stepping up and recognizing this - which would show empathy for a traumatized American public - she continues to cast herself and her community as the true victims of 9/11.
40
This has nothing to do with Ilhan Omar. It has everything to do with a president who has shown that he has no compunctions about tearing this country apart to advance his political career. The infighting among commenters in response to this article suggests that he will continue to succeed.
Donald Trump practices the lowest form of politics. We have the choice of participating, and helping him to tear this country apart, or we can refuse to respond to his bullying, and deal with the very real and pressing issues that face us, which of course, he does not want us to talk about. It's our choice.
12
Just because words don't matter to Trump doesn't mean his critics and opponents have to use the same style to counter or fight him back. A much more effective way is to do just the opposite- speak passionately and with candor but choose factual, intelligently reasoned, appropriate and measured words. This is where Representative Omar failed.
Trump has an uncanny reprehensible ability of driving a wedge and bringing out the worst in people. His critics shouldn't give him any reason/chance to use that.
10
When Sanders says that Trump wishes no ill will or violence toward anyone ... in connection here with Omar, but generally ... that would be correct considering the harmful person he seems to be by his basic dark nature.
1
Congresswoman Omar is not helping anyone with her continued negative comments, which Trump will definitely and effectively use to his party's advantage. Personally, she's really getting on my nerves, and it has nothing to do with her gender, race or religion. It's because she's missing the thing that good politicians have that makes you feel hopeful and proud of your country, even though you know there are so many problems to solve.
37
I have highest regards for Representative Omar. Perhaps what she meant was that we cannot have Muslims treated as second class citizens for the heinous acts of a few. But she did not say it and that is sad. As people's representative, Omar needs to represent her entire constituency including friends and family of those who perished in 9/11. Please, Omar, please. Could you be just a wee bit more considerate about those grieving relatives of 9/11 victims who stand behind you, respect Muslims and respect you for raising the voice of minorities?
But we must move beyond this issue, since we have bigger issues to deal with including pulling curtains on the One Man Show of Trump.
4
When politicians leave office they write books and interview against certain Lobbyist and certain groups.
After they leave office
Representative Omar is saying things while she is in office.
It’s common knowledge here in America we are not getting the entire picture .
5
Geoff Garin's closing comments supply important clues as to why Mr. Trump is going to win by a landslide in 2020. Mr. Garin thinks that Mr. Trump's tweet was about 9/11. That is not, in my opinion what the tweet was about.
Rather, Mr. Trump was underlining a sad reality: that the democratic party is no longer a home for many millions of conservative Americans like me, who simply cannot identify with a craven, yellow-bellied democratic party leadership that is terrified of confronting what amounts to a political cancer within it.
19
Why do we always have to make everything about Trump?
Omar said what she said. Let's have her own it, regardless of what Trump said about it.
23
"Some People did Something"? Didn't the sitting member of the Foreign Affairs Committee know who did it and why they did it? Or is she doubting the motives and who was responsible for the Terrorist attacks of 9/11 like those conspiracy theorists or Islamists around the world? And all those candidates rushing to defend Omar after each revelation, I hope they know what they are defending. Forget about all people, Omar doesn't even represent majority of Muslim Americans who condemn the terrorist attacks of 9/11 wholeheartedly. By supporting Omar's positions Democrats are taking minorities and immigrants for granted and stereotyping them. This way, neither will they get majority votes nor the minority which they stereotype.
13
No she doesn't represent majority of Muslim American, she represents much more diverse ethnical group. She represent progressives who voted for her, she represents people who worry about the country direction, and worry about all Americans, including Muslims.
1
It's a US President's constitutional job to REDUCE violence against minorities, rather than using the fact that those minorities are speaking up about this kind of violence to make their lives in the US even more dangerous.
Trump's tweet was - once again - totally anti-constitutional and as a consequence anti-American.
It's tweets like this that inexorably reduce America's greatness, certainly not minorities who have the courage to speak up and remember the Constitution.
GO OMAR!
4
Ilhan Omar’s incendiary language is very intentional, as is her public persona. If this is the ‘new face’ of the Democratic Party, they’ve lost my vote.
30
@Shenoa
This is the new face of the future and exactly what we've needed for decades. This is the righting of wrongs. It's always wrenching to those who cannot adapt in the present and push off what needs to be done into the future.
They'd like to believe their easy temporizing has permanently swept it under the rug and act surprised that it would have the temerity to trouble them again.
And so they again try to sweep it back under by blaming others - but never themselves for ignoring an inconvenient truth.
Is this not what the entire world is doing with income inequality, the corporate capture of our government, climate change, forever wars, Big Pharma, and everything else?
“Voters are turned off by the use of 9/11 for political purposes, and my guess is that moderate voters are going to see Trump’s use of that as both ugly and extreme,” Mr. Garin said
He hasn’t met any of Trump’s base.
6
Freedom of religion in the United States is under attack by the President of our country. He took an oath to protect our laws. Instaead he has broken his oath by attack a woman who is of the faith that is not Christian. Any of you who vote for him in the next elections are traitors to our country just like him.
11
The only thing that seems to be consistent at this point in Donald Trump's political life is that he shows himself to be nasty, repulsive racist and bigot, without shame.
This latest attack on Congresswomen Omar by Donald Trump is nothing more than racist, and promotes a violent attack on her, in this day and age where you have seen crazy people go out an kill innocent people using Donald Trump's words to provoke them; it's beyond me how this can viewed as incendiary hate by a President.
It is irresponsible and should be considered criminal for this recent volatile tweet by Donald Trump and should ban him from Twitter for at least a few years, if not for life.
16
While Omar's comments struck many as tone deaf, I think it's worth parsing them from, what I broadly imagine to be, her point of view. The 9/11 attacks were a material (and devastatingly symbolic) attack on America; however, they were and are used to justify much more extended violence with greater material destruction and death toll, as well as the reductive demonizing of an entire religion and its adherents. Holding her - and everyone else - to a standard of absolute reverence about the attacks cuts off any discussion of America's responsibilities and failings w/r/t Muslims and Islam.
24
The notion that Ilhan Omar’s remarks were taken out of context is absurd - anyone who’s watched the extended version of her speech sees that this changes nothing.
She meant what she said.
568
@Jon
I watched the extended version of her speech and disagree with you.
Point is that even if she had meant to trivialize 9/11 - what would that say about anything, beyond confirming her as a disingenuous, insensitive person? She doesn't speak for all American Muslims, any more than Trump speaks for all non-Muslims.
42
@Jon
Of course she meant what she said. That is not the problem as the problem in my mind is trying to change the meaning of what she said.
25
@James
Trump speaks for most in Alabama.
10
Our President is the ultimate bottomlessness font itof hatred and vile rhetoric—if only he had the capacity for self-reflection or just one scintilla of shame. But he needs his lies and demonization not just to appease his base but also to just get through the day apparently. Almost everyone subject to his attacks is an American hero in my book—and the list is long.
7
I fail to see how calling out bad behavior rises magically to hatred.
9
well, hatred is a bad behavior, right?
If Omar's remark shows a failure to acknowledge the gravity of the 9/11 attack, how about this comment by a NY real estate developer:
“40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan. And it was actually before the World Trade Center the tallest. And then when they built the World Trade Center, it actually became known as the second tallest, and now it’s the tallest.”
One can easily imagine the ka-ching of the imaginary cash register ringing in his ears as he reflected not on several thousand lost lives, but on being the proud owner of what had just become the tallest building in Manhattan (a falsehood in any case).
6
Why is it that attacking Christianity is perfectly okay, but attacking Islam (especially after all of the horrific acts of recent terrorism that have been carried out in its name) is off limits?
21
@Greg
1. Who is "attacking Christianity" today, more precisely?
2. Do you mean violent attacks, or simple rational disagreements about ideology?
3. Who claims that those attacks are "perfectly okay", more precisely?
4. The Constitution itself shows that either you respect it, OR you start rejecting entire religions. That's called "freedom of religion", remember?
5. The Constitution itself tells us that violently attacking minorities is "off limits" (no matter what some of the criminals who happen to belong to that minority have done), remember ... ?
6
This is attacking a person, and using latent racism to accomplish political goals. Destroying our country for personal benefit is never ok.
2
@Ana Luisa
Every time I turn in the TV, I see Christians portrayed as evil, violent, backwards troglodytes.
6
“40 Wall Street,” he [Trump] said, referring to his 71-story building blocks away from the now-collapsed twin towers, “actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest—and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.” -
Trump has zero standing to criticize Ilhan Omar. Or anyone else.
9
@Frank I fully reserve the right to criticize Omar in her role as a sitting congresswoman. The notion that an elected official's words, especially words that minimize the murder of thousands of our citizens, are off limits from criticism is a revolting insult to all this country stands for.
3
“Some people did something”. Just like everything she’s said in the past, we somehow misinterpreted, or took her words out of context. Or she didn’t realize what she was saying.
I’m sorry, but with all the revisionism going around from conspiracy theorists, saying that somehow the US staged the attacks or a controlled demolition for some purpose or another, Omar’s statement sounds all too similar. Yes “some people did something”, so that the US could blame Muslims — if that’s not a dog whistle for the 9/11 conspiracies, I don’t know what is.
As someone who was personally affected by the horrors of that day, I find her statements disgusting.
27
>>> ". . . if that’s not a dog whistle for the 9/11 conspiracies, I don’t know what is."
With respect, that's every bit as irrational as the nonsense we hear from the truthers. There is absolutely no evidence that Omar either shares their fantasies or seeks their support.
>>> "As someone who was personally affected by the horrors of that day, I find her statements disgusting."
Nothing Rep. Omar said, heard or read without prejudgment or emotional coloring, minimizes the tragedy of 9/11 or the suffering of those affected by it. Sadly, far too many Americans *want* to read disrespect or ulterior motive into her remarks.
It's sad and silly. I wish my fellow Americans would grow up.
3
@Dave
Completely agree with you. Why is it that apologists follow Rep Omar around like kids around an ice cream truck. She's not anti-Semitic, just taken out of context. She's not minimizing 9/11, just taken out of context.
She knows EXACTLY what she is saying. Nothing out of context about it. Love Trump or hate him, he is absolutely right in calling her out. Her hate and intolerance is an embarrassment not only to the Democratic Party, but to all Americans.
16
@Douglas
With memories of people covered in soot running from the site, the funerals (I was at one), the looks on people’s faces on that day, I’m trying to figure out how I can insert the words “some people did something” into ANY description of 9/11 as if it’s just an aside to another more important subject. I can’t.
And whether you were there or not, I don’t think it matters, if in your heart you care about what happened on that god awful day.
Think about that, while you are trying to interpret Rep Omar’s choice of words.
5
I'm so far not impressed with omar.but shes a fresh face and I need to see more. that being said trump crossed a dangerous line yet again. that tweet and any rational adult would agree is beyond inappropriate and frankly disgusting as an American im ashamed of this president I could go into a rant about his behavior but I dont want to upset myself any more than I am now.
7
It is irresponsible for the Times -- and every other press outlet -- to take Rep. Omar's quote out of context and blast it all over the place. Especially when Trump already had her in his crosshairs. I've literally been looking all over the internet for the rest of her speech. But regardless, it is at best a tone-deaf statement to make about such a sensitive issue. Still, Trump's racist dog whistling is horrifying. He is the one who is inciting violence. He knows exactly what he's doing, unfortunately. There's no excuse for him.
14
In contrast to Ms. Omar, Mr. Trump did not receive a majority of the votes in his electorate. His constant yelping is an attempt to legitimize himself. The substance of the yelps really doesn't matter any more than knowing exactly which bit of trash produces the smoke that blinds us. So Trump will always find something to yelp about, and the fire will continue to burn, until we put them both out.
6
Would you feel better if I told you a quick perusal of history would tell you
the great Abraham Lincoln was elected by the electoral college and he was also despised and ridiculed by the press ?
6
Sorry, but Ms. Omar is dead wrong in her comments. 99% of terrorist acts in the world today - and in the last decade - are perpetrated by Muslims. Yet, whenever there is such an attack, the reaction from the Muslim community is - 1) to say that Islam is a religion of peace, and 2) to decry any prejudice of Muslims.
There is almost NEVER a recognition of responsibility of religious leaders or political leaders.
For Omar to refer to the Muslims who attacked the World Trade Center as - Some people who did something - is downright horrible.
In my work, I represent people from around the world - including Muslims. What I am struck by is the lack of concern Muslims have for the atrocities committed in the name of Islam. Like Ms. Omar, their main concern is that we cannot hold Islam responsible for the terrorist activities - and cannot hold Islams to account for it.
I condemn the words spoken by Ms. Omar - they are completely out of place - and are extremely hurtful. Shame on her. She must understand the hurtful legacy of Islamic extremists have on the world - and the USA.
28
I believe Ms Omar a US Democrat who represents her constituency has a full right to speak up against injustices and prejudice directed unjustly against Muslims. I doubt she ever meant to support 9/11 atrocity. Many Muslims citizens are respectful and some honorably served the US army while sacrificing their lives for this country. She is being discriminated by a racist President that doesn't deserve to be one, who repeatedly expresses blind hatred towards Muslims and other groups who oppose him, but will not speak up against a Saudi Prince who murders its citizens yet with whom he is more than eager to collaborate financially. Attacking her is reprehensible as well as those who threaten her life. All of them deserve condemnation.
11
What about the Congresswoman's own words of hate. This is definitely two sided. President Trump is wrong but Congresswoman Omar is also wrong.
15
So basically, our vote in 2020 is a choice between Putin and Hamas?
15
Doesn't matter if Omar is anti-semitic or not. That will be figured out in due course. The one thing we know now is that Trump is Always Wrong. Let's kick Trump out of office and then discuss Omar.
7
I lost several hundred colleagues in 9/11, but I don't blame each and every Muslim I meet for it. Since almost every single Muslim involved in the attacks was a Saudi Arabian, I do blame the government of Saudi Arabia and cannot figure out why your leadership embraces them, sells arms to them, and sits back while they murder children in Yemen by starving them to death.
And please play the video of the Trump interview when he called in to a TV show while the towers were on fire in the background to boast that his building is now the tallest in New York. Which was a lie, but unbelievable behaviour on his part.
8
I'm not a huge fan of the Muslim religion or any others for that matter but I totally support Rep. Ilhan Omar, her politics, her right to safety and the right to not be attacked by bigots. Stay strong girl. I hope you have friends who support you. You're not alone and while I don't agree with some of your religious beliefs I feel your a beautiful human being and you deserve my love and compassion too.
5
@Aries It is not bigotry to call out Omar for her beliefs.
3
Cyberbullying behavior of the sort that would get a middle schooler suspended or expelled, but just another day at the oval office.
7
The sordid , juvenile persona of our so-called President is so widely known that it needs no comment, but why does anyone in the Democratic Party give him more cannon fodder against it?
The more seasoned DP leaders should counsel restraint and wisdom to the extreme voices amidst them. In any case, the unfortunate words that Ilhan Omar reportedly used about 9/11 can be easily neutralized if we can find any public condemnation she ever made of the Islamist bigotry that caused that day of infamy and have led to other acts of terrorism in the U.S. and around the world. Where are those words from her, if any?
2
Isn't there a single public official who can issue a reasonable solution? A solution that tempers rather than inflames. A solution that takes guts rather than sides.
Something like: "How about the President and the Congresswoman visit the 9/11 museum together? And after that, how about they meet with a panel of Muslim-Americans from Congresswoman Omar's district to hear their views? How about they learn and listen?"
I tire of outrage and criticism. I long for constructive solutions. This country desperately needs an Arbitration Czar.
3
This entire mess is based on people believing Omar doesn't think 9/11 was bad, and it is absolutely mind boggling.
2
@Magicwalnuts: If Omar truly thinks 9/11 was an American tragedy then she failed to communicate that with any sincerity whatsoever. That's on her and her only. People in her position don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. They should be able to communicate clearly, and I'd wager that most of the time when they resort to "I was misinterpreted" it really means they were caught in a truth telling moment and need to retreat for political purposes.
12
@Joe Schmoe
As someone who lived through it, it was tragedy for sure, and she should have made that clearer, but it has been revisited on the Iraqis, Afghanis and American Muslims a hundred fold in the nearly 20 years since then.
I think I can give her the benefit of the doubt for being frustrated.
1
@Magicwalnuts It's pretty clear exactly what Omar thinks about that act. She hardly belongs in congress with such beliefs. The biggest victims of that time were not Muslims. She's not fit for public office because that is exactly how she perceives things.
5
Her words were taken out of context for sure.
The context is that she is an anti-Semitic and even her own party’s leadership has had to rebuke her repeatedly in a span of mere months for anti-Semitic statements.
11
words do mean something. Like the 10000 lies IT has spoken since the saddest day in the history of America. that would be the day we lost our souls as true PEOPLE OF GOD
Rep Omar didn’t learn that words have consequences, for all politicians. All she needed to do was get out in front of this unfortunate mess and explain her inartful remarks. But she chose to tweet speak and go on the offensive. We can’t get Trump to stop tweeting and progressives do themselves no good and a lot of harm by sending out their thoughts nonstop without thinking them through. Try a little restraint folks. Act like adults and don’t stoop to Trump’s level. Or you’ll see his face for another four years.
7
I love my country because we are free. That means that anyone, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew, White Black Brown, gay or straight has the right to pursue their own personal fulfilment in their own way, as long as they aren't hurting anyone else. President Ttrump, never a savory character in the first place, is increasing his attack on our freedom and we, as patriotic Americans must oppose him. If he were successful in singling out a human minority for attack solely for political gain, it will destroy a piece of our souls.
5
Just watch--Ilhan Omar will become the most sought-after college commencement speaker ever!
Those who habitually mine fool's gold will flock to her.
And the Republicans will marvel at their party's good fortune.
17
I’ve listened to Rep. Omar’s speeches and watched her body language and found her clearly to be disrespectful of not only the 9/11 attacks but her overall demeanor is entirely devoid of dignity, and that applies equally to men as well as to women, white or black or brown or whatever color they might be. NONE of this has anything to do with justifying the conduct of Trump - we all know his conduct has never been anything but vile - but that doesn't mean that Omar's is excusable because I find her choice of words cringe worthy. As to AOC, she's quickly getting to the point of working my last nerve herself, what with her "who dis" and other undignified manner. I sincerely doubt that neither the constituency in Minnesota that Omar represents nor those in the Bronx that elected AOC can be happy with these persons, as they strive to make a NATIONAL name for themselves, have done NOTHING to rally support for policies that would bring better goods and services to the areas they represent. Finally, NOTHING is more important to me than giving Trump and as many Republicans as possible their walking papers, and in this vein I see the actions of AOC but especially Omar doing nothing but hindering that critical goal that EVERY DECENT AMERICAN should be working towards.
16
Trump is going to bang this drum, along with all his other pet reactionary responses all the way to a re-election if this country cannot discern that divise rhetoric is not a path to responsible governing.
If all we are getting is a society that reflects prejudice, resentment and fear how can we ever create a better world?
2
"something happened" which caused loss of rights for "some people" and now "some people" are inveighing against Rep. Ilhan Omar. How sad we can't walk in one another's shoes and talk and listen and try to repair the wounds all around.
Maybe this Passover and Holy Week we can stop and think and pray and be the change.
1
@Beth Bastasch Walk in the shoes of a religious fundamentalist? No thanks.
1
Trump's bigotry and racism is totally wrong, as he has been for decades. He will never change, as his support includes those who concur with his statements.
And, Omar's anti-semitic statement, as well as her failure to denounce Farrakhan's support of her statement which started this whole episode is also wrong, as well.
Further, Omar's insufficient lack of denouncing of 9/11 is also wrong. Thousands died here, and are continuing to die here because of it, and the illnesses that it cause of it.
Omar and her family didn't have to move to the US. They could have emigrated to other countries, as well.
Conversely, the above should not condone Israel's mistreatments of Palestinians, nor the Palestinians mistreatment of Israeli's for generations, as well.
In summation, bigotry should not exist either here, Israel, or in any other country. However it does.
So, it is our freedom and responsibility to call it out, wherever it arises.
6
Just want to state that in my home state 2 largest newspapers with this article printed as a news item have chosen not to allow comments to be posted as one just closed the comment section and the other says the issue is too sensitive for some.
All are saying the exact same thing....
Cannot and do not believe in the twisted rhetoric being thrown out on this topic and on the AIPAC comments. So many Americans in political office have stated similar if not more provocative statements on either topic.
Her being a Muslim is the target;
Her being an American citizen and a US Congresswoman from Minnesota never even enters the picture.
Hope she continues speaking the way she does, another perspective is what is need in this country,or we can all read the NY Post and Trumps tweets and accept them as truth on most issues of today.
He needs to be defeated soundly in 2020. America does not need Mr. Trump any longer. Enough has again become enough. Four and Out!
1
It was totally inevitable that Trump, the Republicans, and all Muslim haters would find a way to tar Ilhan Omar with 9-11. It's a smear-by-association that was coming from day one. I've read the context of her remarks and it's very clear that she simply meant to say that all Muslims are being tarred for the actions of a few individuals. She needed only to incidentally refer to it in bland language for them to find a way to twist the language against her. My only surprise is that so many people have fallen for this and joined in.
4
There is method to Trump's madness. By an unjustified attack against a Muslim who is a member of the Democratic left wing (a group consisting, as per Nancy Pelosi's comment on 60 Minutes last night, of about five people) Trump leaves the Democrats with a choice of defending her and being identified with her left wing views (which are in fact way out of the Democratic mainstream) or not defending her and leaving her to be abused. Trump is completely unscrupulous but not stupid.
6
@PETER EBENSTEIN MD: It's a completely justified attack on Trump's part. He's a New Yorker and has a right to be offended as much as anyone.
10
No matter what one thinks of Olhan Omar's remarks, there is
no excuse for Trump's retweeting of the video. Yet another example of why Trump is unfit to hold the office of President
of the United States.
3
i can only imagine, & look forward to the oppo research the dems have to counter the remarks of the Congresswoman who, no doubt has got herself mired; tho not to the extent Trump has over & over & again.
she is wrong to say things several times vs Trump's record of bias hate etc...
1
I abhor Trump’s attack’s on Rep. Omar. However, the more I listen to Rep. Omar’s devisive and self righteous rhetoric, the more I find myself thinking that she is a double agent for the Republican Party. Her actions are surely dragging the Democratic Party toward defeat in 2020.
16
Omar’s remarks, completely tone deaf, “were dismissive of the terrorist attacks.” She owes, at a minimum, the families of the fallen an apology, as well as all Americans.
Trump’s remarks and tweet were equally tone deaf. But stop a moment and think if someone had so minimized Pearl Harbor. “Somebody did something.” Please.
An embarrassment all the way around. Ms. Omar should consider retiring. This “representative” does not represent anything or anyone, and she does a disservice to other Muslims.
10
Never thought I would see this in my lifetime. A sitting President who is so petty and insecure that he feels the compulsion to attack a first term House Representative. Truly deplorable behavior.
5
Omar was simply pointing out a logical fallacy, hasty generalization: If "some" people do "something," it does not follow that "all" be held responsible, in her reference, suffering the consequences.
The president* turns her sound thinking into proof of her alignment with terrorism.
Why am I not surprised....
8
It is interesting that nobody talks about the hardships Omar must have felt when growing up: That is the death of her mother, and 4 years in a refugee camp in Kenya. Its amazing rather than succumbing to unfavorable conditions, her family was eventually able to come to the United States and at least she became a citizen. Its amazing she overcame adversity and we are lucky to have her.
8
@Michael Cohen
I grew up with hardships too, as did many Americans of the baby boomer generation. That does not give me or my associates license to denigrate people of other religions.
17
@Frank J Haydn Glad I saw this. Omar is no Ph.D in political science and far from politically correct. AIPAC for years has had disproportionate influence on U.S. politics well Documented by Mearscheimer and Walt. Being against the Israeli occupation is the position of Jewish Voices for Peace which is hardly anti-semitic. Also supporting BDS, because of Israel's treatment of Palestinian is not anti-semitic either.
1
Thank you, John Sheldon, for expressing so honestly how so many of us feel but do not have the courage to express. This country forgets so easily the hate Trump spews daily against people of color and different ethnicities or religious beliefs. Yet, I am afraid to open my mouth for fear that I will be called a socialist or an anti-Semite, neither of which I am..in fact, far from it. This infectious - in every sense of the word - crowd psychology of which Trump is an expert is beginning to know no bounds. Let us not throw stones at a woman who misspoke, who became an American because she wanted to be an American. Just walk in the shoes of our Muslim brothers and sisters to see what they have endured. They are just trying to survive in a nation which refuses to accept them, a so-called Christian nation which ironically turns its back on the teachings of the Christ who too many people dishonestly profess to follow.
8
@Kathy Lollock They have endured what exactly? She's been welcomed here, elected to public office and given every freedom here along with her fellow Muslims. Just how many Jews and Christians hold such a place in majority Muslim nations?
3
If Omar just said “when I said ‘some people did something” I was not careful with my words, and apologized, I think this would be non issue. Those words in or out of context are glib and insensitive.
Omar says things too quickly and without thought sometimes. And that then takes away from her main messages: messages that we need to hear.
7
Criticizing a politician's speech is not incitement to violence. Ilhan's own words, characterizing one of America's greatest tragedies as "some people did something" brought this harassment on her.
21
I remember living in New York during 9/11. I was a student in I.S. 75, in Staten Island, and my seventh-grade math class had a panoramic view of the New York City skyline. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. I remember hearing about some sort of attack in New York City. I remember going into my math class, and seeing a large cloud of smoke smothering the skyline of Manhattan. I remember crying for an hour, wondering if my father was alive or not, since he worked in the World Trade Center. I, at the age of 12, remember hesitantly asking my mother the first thing that came to my mind when she picked me up from school early that day: "Is dad dead?"
I remember thankfully hearing that he wasn't. I remember seeing him in the house. I remember going into my house to give him a hug with the news was of the attack on the TV in the backdrop. I remember my father crying on my shoulder, wondering if his best friend, whom he had not heard from, who also worked in the World Trade Center, was dead or not.
For Ilhan Omar to not to apologize for making that insensitive comment in which she referred to the 9/11 attacks as "some people did something" is morally repugnant. But this is just another element in the string of morally repellent things this woman has said. I find it sad that the New York Times did not go into detail about why Trump made his salvo against Omar. It was not done in vacuo, but rather in the context of that remark she made about that horrific day.
25
After three years of Trump cultivating hate and anger towards several ethnic and religious groups, it is just so obvious he is another Antichrist and I can't get upset by him. If anyone still ascribes to his leadership, they are simply morally bankrupt.
There is mostly good in all groups and some bad. I consider Omar a real live Angel, and I've written that here months ago. Just as Jesus cared for all people, so does she. We can't say that about Don Trump.
Don Trump reflects on New York very badly. Like I wrote; there's good and bad in every group.
2
one of the aftereffects of 911 was the WMD narrative and the invasion of two sovereign countries. All this when the attackers came from a third country:Saudi Arabia our supposed ally.
The criminal act in New York was the catalyst and excuse for wars of choice that have
At least a quarter million civilians have died in those wars. That's close to a hundred 911s wrought by our military. These numbers don't take into account deaths indirectly caused by war, which has an epidemiology of its own. It is horrific. More than a million people were rendered homeless in Iraq. And the President regularly expresses animus toward Muslims. Because he considers them all responsible for 911.
The US is not held in much regard internationally, as it once was. We're witnessing environmental breakdown. And some people say the young progressives should be circumspect.
I'm and American, born on the 4th of July many ears ago in New York.
I'm with Ilhan Omar.
3
There are so many of us who don't yet understand...
Trump does not need a foil to have actually said the things he/she is accused of;
Trump does not need to worry about his base - far larger I'm afraid than the 34 million I've heard bandied about - being weary of 9/11 or any other matter Trump sounds off on;
Trump has NEVER needed to worry about the truth and neither does his base.
The gap in this country is widening, not diminishing. Thank God for two term limits...
Many evangelicals believe Trump was sent by the Divine to move the USA into becoming a more theocratic country. As things have not been going quite so well lately we may assume the divine purpose of Ms. Omar is to give Trump and the Senate four more years to achieve this.
2
@Ian
Finally, something that makes sense!
Omar, quite simply, is not ready for prime time. She says things carelessly and foolishly in a way that undermines her own argument. One would think that, given her sensitive and unique position as the first Muslim woman in Congress, she would think through how to model herself - especially to be sure she doesn't reinforce the stereotype that her enemies want to use against her. Instead, she says and does exactly those things that gives fodder to the other side. She could have publicly and openly outreached to Jewish groups to show that she is not anti-Semitic and had them join her in condemning Israel's current policies, she could have outreached to 9/11 groups while at the same time discussing the unfairness of labeling all Muslims as terrorists, etc. She is not doing any of that. Instead, she is opening herself, and by extension, the Democratic party to attack. She is a disaster who, I predict, will lose her position in the next primary, but by then the damage to the Democratic party and the nation will have been done especially if she is one of the reasons the next election goes badly.
17
As in 2016, Trump is articulating the feelings that many Americans no doubt feel about Rep. Omar, feelings rarely discussed, save with disdain, by the Times. To wit, she seems overtly anti-Semitic, not terribly thoughtful, poorly researches her claims, and overall inspires little confidence that she is fit to legislate. That the Democrats have ceded their policies to these sorts of extreme leftists, and further that Democratic presidential prospects choose to support her, is not Trump's problem. Rather, it Trump's opportunity, created for him by Democrats, who simply cannot get out of their own way and seem fearful of their own extreme members.
18
@LTJ
Good insight. Explains why the election in 2020 is Trump's to lose.
3
I was in Church yesterday , the beginning of Holy Week for Christians.
The pastor in her sermon drew parallels to the the Crucifixion of Jesus and modern America. Where the baying hatred of a mob against an innocent person starts to assume ominous overtones.
It is not enough that we not be not part of the mob baying hatred. We also must not be like Peter who denied Jesus three times before Jesus was crucified. We need to show courage and solidarity with our Muslim neighbors .
3
@Tembrach.. It is not hated to call out an elected representative for her poorly chosen words.
2
It's very hard to determine who is playing their base harder - Trump or Omar. She is literally a broken record of identity politics. I have yet to hear her speak for longer than 30 seconds before identifying herself as a Muslim and a woman, and telling her fellow Muslim-Americans how they "should" feel. Telling Muslim-Americans they "should" feel victimized as second-class citizens reflects perhaps the most unsophisticated mentality I've ever heard from an elected official (which is saying a lot considering that bottom-feeder Trump is our president). Well, if she's such a feminist and second-class citizen, then she might want to start turning her critical eye on her own religion which treats women as less than second-class citizens because if being a second-class citizen in the US means getting elected to Congress, then I'd say that our system is quite beyond her hollow victimology reproaches. Maybe it's time for Rep. Omar to be more of a legislator and less of an activist.
23
What the democrats have been doing in the past three years has supplied Trump with enough political momentum for a landslide reelection victory in 2020.
18
This is merely the very latest in a miles-long list of examples of what an absolutely dangerous monster Donald Trump is. How on Earth the Democrats continue to find political excuses to avoid impeachment proceedings is just beyond me.
We should focus on issues like Healthcare they say. There’s no reason to pursue impeachment because the Republicans would never vote for it. We don’t want to stir up his followers. We’ll just beat him in the 2020 election.
Enough politicking. Trump’s behavior is not a political issue. It’s not about Democrats or Republicans. It’s not about conservatives and liberals. It’s about humanity. How about simply doing what’s right and making the statement that the way this man behaves is simply UNACCEPTABLE.
I fear that one day we’ll look back and say “why did we stand by and do nothing?” I shudder to think what the world will be like then.
2
There were 19 attackers on 9/11. 15 from Saudi Arabia. How is Trump treating the Saudis? Gives us some clues about what motivates Trump.
7
Omar will be gone by January 2021. She has committed too many verbal miscues that in sum actually intimate how she truly feels. Only then will she understand how fortunate she was to land on her feet in America, after having survived a vicious civil war and sectarian violence in her native Somalia and a Kenyan refugee camp.
Omar is anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, anti-American, and pro-Muslim. She seems to have forgotten that her principal responsibility is to her Minneapolis constituents.
Omar's supporters unwittingly take refuge in condescension, when they suggest that she is merely guilty of loquaciousness or that her words are taken out of context. Her complexion and her decorative headwear seem to be her major defenses. But Omar's beguiling appearance is an illusion that is shattered every time she opens her mouth.
Do we really know what lurks in the heart of a Muslim and how they really feel about radical Islam? Omar would gain credibility if she actually confronted and challenged the depravity of radical Islam and its medieval attitudes.
Maggie Haberman is among my favorite journalists. She evinces an outstanding demeanor and delivery. But she may be reaching a bit with her conclusion here, when she cites Geoff Garin, who suggests that Trump's strategy of attacking Omar may backfire.
Trump--and other Republicans--are certainly guilty of more verbal miscues and outright lying than Omar, but they enjoy a base that revels in such rhetorical excess. Omar does not.
10
Anyone who is upset by what Ms. Omar said is just looking for something to be upset about. This is 100% not a big deal, at all. There are a lot of people PRETENDING that this is a big deal, and they are doing so in order to put political pressure on Omar because they don't like her views. It's just political theater. It's just feigned outrage meant to trick democrats into eating their own, and the sad part is that it looks like it's working.
If a white man had said, in the context of a greater speech, that "some people did something" in reference to 9/11, no one would blink an eye. But when a hijab wearing brown woman says it, we all assume that she has the worst of intentions. If anything, this proves that her speech was right- 9/11 has warped this country's perception of Muslims to the point where we assume that they always operate in bad faith.
1
@Greg
Not true in my opinion. Omar has a record of incitement. Not sure I can think of other Muslims who share that quality, other than Louis Farrakhan.
7
@Frank J Haydn By "incitement", do you mean her objectively truthful criticism of the level of influence the pro-Israel lobby has on our current political system? Is that what you're referring to?
1
@Frank J Haydn.
“Omar has a record of incitement.” Could you cite your source ?
1
My first thought is that she showed extremely bad judgment talking about 9/11 at all. Why not just say that she now thinks that she lives in a America where Muslims feel unwanted and unfairly targeted by people who have baseless beliefs that all Muslims are potential terrorists. She has shown a propensity for not knowing when to keep her opinions to herself. Does anyone really think her retraction and apology for what some people considered as anti-Semitic comments has made her think differently about it? And while her description of the terrorists who killed thousands as "some people" may seem at arms length innocuous, one has to believe that her choice of words had some purpose. It is up to her constituents to decide if she should no longer be allowed to use her Congressional seat to espouse such views. But I would ask that the Democratic delegation of Congress decide whether they think it would be a good idea to adopt her views on such matters and if the answer is no, then they should distance themselves from her. I would expect no less from Republicans if one of their member tried to justify the unjustifiable.
9
The Islamic faith is not generally compatible with American values. Do Christians hold similar positions of power in Muslim countries? Do immigrants hold positions of power in Muslim countries? Ilham Omar wasn’t born in America. America has given her and her family everything. They sacrificed nothing for America. Not one thing. Why are liberals so surprised to hear her saying these things?
23
Trump’s vitriolic outbursts often seem designed to create fear and rage. He has not limited himself to women of color as he spews wrath at Hillary Clinton and Rosie ODonnell and other totally white women and he still rages at John McCain who is of course dead.
Rep Omar should not be getting death threats. However the next time she even thinks of making anti Semitic comments (dual loyalty, etc.) she should consider how hurtful and dangerous her comments have been.
2
Ms. Omar is easy picking for the Trump. He seems to have no qualms about broadcasting his hatred of anyone not white or christian. His desire to single out one Muslim as representative of all Muslims is as bigoted as it gets. Not to mention his careless and reckless use of 911. Trump is a danger to society in that his words and actions embolden those who would all too gladly incite violence against anyone not white or christian. Ms. Omar is not the problem here. Our racist in chief is.
4
@Rick Beck She's an elected official who deserves to be called out.
1
For those who so bitterly denounce Omar, it might be a good idea to read what she actually said.
https://ips-dc.org/what-did-ilhan-omar-say-heres-the-full-transcript-of-her-response-to-a-question-about-anti-semitism/
2
What’s the point of even saying anything....
People in this country have given their votes to elect a vulgar, narcissistic, egotistical incompetent man to head WH.
But, here we are lelabouring the much bigger agenda of a novice, young politician (who obviously) needs to learn and pay serious attention to her words.... oh, so important this.
Not important is the messy slope we’re gliding down, into a ditch of racism, vulgarity, white supremacy and pure hate!
3
Answer me this: What religion did the terrorist who committed 9/11 ascribe too? It's that simple.
8
@patrick, what religion did people who attacked Iraq belong to, as retaliation to 9/11? (Coalition of nations)
2
Donald Trump and his son-in-law are in bed with the Saudis, who funded the 9/11 attacks. Laughing all the way to the bank while distracting all with these attacks on one of our US representatives and basically calling for a lunatic to assassinate her. When will this end?
8
@Old Catholic And who tried to block 9/11 victims to sue the Saudis?
1
She is a black woman first. As a black woman myself, her religion is secondary to me. Black women continue to be disrespected, undervalued, marginalized in this country. Trump and his racist followers who hang on to his every lie have a woman, a black woman, a former refugee who happens to practice the Islamic faith to attack. This is just the modus operandi of the current GOP.
3
Since when is the aspiration that Jews, Palestinians, and others should live together as brothers - anti-Semitic? Why should someone from the United States be able to emigrate to Israel, move to the occupied territory of the West Bank, and, rifle in hand, push aside the longtime occupants? How democratic and peace-loving is that?
How can you claim to be redressing the crimes of the Holocaust against the Jewish people by denying the rights of others? In this case, the Palestinians. To defend that by hurling shameful accusations of anti-Semitism is a gross hypocrisy that many in the Jewish community (and elsewhere) are becoming conscious of and outraged by.
The commission of a crime is a commonplace. The commission of a crime in the name of a horribly victimized and oppressed people is something else again. The Jewish religion and Jewish culture are based on the concept of right makes right not... might makes right. For students of the Torah, pondering matters of morality is not as simple as - who has more guns? As such, it is hard to square the fundamental, laudable tenets of Judaism with the contemporary phenomenon of Zionism.
Nationalism, in any form, is a modern day sickness that denies the age-old truths of mankind - our undeniable common origins, brotherhood, and mutual interests.
Ilhan Omar is no anti-Semite. It's the latter day, red neck descendants of those who lynched Leo Frank (and populate the ranks of both the Democrats and the GOP) that are the anti-Semites.
3
Trump is awful -no question. He's using Representative Omar to anger and divide.
But there is also no question that she is tone deaf, anti-Semitic, and deserves to be criticized. She knows what she's doing and she repeats the same type of offenses again and again. She's a bomb thrower like Donald Trump.
14
You know, this is not a news article in the traditional sense. It is biased, unbalanced reporting - what has come to be known as "advocacy journalism. (personally, I consider the phrase "advocacy journalism" to be an oxymoron).
This piece belongs on the opinion pages of the Times, not the news section (where it shows up in my browser).
14
Two recommendations: Ilhan Omar takes a vow of silence, and Twitter bans Donald Trump from its platform.
9
Nancy Pelosi really needs to get on with impeaching Donald. This is getting serious.
1
The Council of American Islamic Relations, the organization which Ms. Ohmar addressed, was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator by the US government and accused of raising funds for Hamas and Hezbollah. And how many Americans has Hezbollah killed? Hamas, well, they say proudly that they try to kill only Jews. And Ms. Ilan Ohmar was addressing them in a fundraising event when she dismissed the 3,000 dead Americans of 9/11 as "something bad happened to some people". Are we really going to overlook that? Somehow the German Americans, Italian Americans and Japanese Americans decided to defend America in two World Wars. Do you seriously think that Muslim Americans are going to do the same in the future if we don't make it clear that you're here now, and your loyalty must be to America?
13
This young woman scares the heck out of the old men (and a few old women) who have been in Washington for far too long. That can only be a good thing.
7
Has the Republican Party stooped so low that they think it is OK to show 5000 people dying in their political ads?
Horrible.
6
@one-eighty When someone claims it was just a little something that happened, it's exactly right to show exactly how those 3000 (not 5000) people died
12
@Sue Ms Omar never said “just a little something happened “. You’re mistaken or lying.
Thank you, President Trump: I just donated to Ilhan Omar.
6
And my money now is going to the Republican Party.
1
People seem to think that this is all about Islamophobia.
Let's remember that Keith Ellison did not suffer the same amount of criticism? Why? Because he didn't speak recklessly and stupidly (at best) and hatefully at worst.
Trump is making a mistake by engaging Omar. He should just let her hoist herself on her own petard. By criticizing Omar, Trump just makes her a resistance hero. What she really is is a careless, thoughtless ideologue who should be a one-termer.
16
Trump’s attacks on Ilhan Omar only reminded me of how slimey he is. He is the man who bragged on 9/11 as the Towers were collapsing that one of his buildings was now the tallest in Manhattan.
Trump has no love for America or Americans no matter how big the flag he wraps around himself. He knows only hate, envy and insecurity.
13
I was on a business trip last August driving through Georgia and Alabama, and the "Christian" radio stations I tuned into while driving were attacking then candidate Omar for simply being Muslim. Christian radio - criticizing Democrats for even allowing a Muslim candidate to run for Congress. ... There's been some relentless radio propaganda, linking Democrats with Muslims just to drive rural voters to hate both.
6
To the dismay of real Republicans, if there are any still around, Trump has managed to invert what was once thought to be a Republican wisdom first proclaimed by Teddy Roosevelt:"Speak softly and carry a big stick". He, Trump, shouts and proclaims as the Prevaricator in chief, while holding a wet noodle with his small hands. He understands that his masochistic acolytes relish being flayed with his loud lies.
1
Just arrived from Turkey in Romania. In Turkey I’ve seen a T-shirt: I am Muslim, please don’t panic.
1
The problem here is Fundamental Religionists - of all stripes, brands, versions, types - endlessly forcing their views, opinions, theology in front of the rest of us. Muslim? christian? Meh, whatever - I could not care less about your religious views and why you think your One True God is the very best of All The Gods.
Worship what you wish, when you wish, how you wish - but keep it to yourself. You have tons of work to do simply removing The Beam from thine own eye. Stop judging me for the Mote in mine eye.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.” - Matthew 6:5
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully, as when they do it from religious conviction." Blaise Pascal
"'God' is too big for just one religion." Michael Franti
"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is call Insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion… You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.”" Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig
7
Rep. Omar has become a blot on the Democrats' escutcheon.
She's pulling a lot of Democrats down with her.
Democrats of Minnesota: Help your party and bolster decency, including respect for those murdered on 9/11. Do not return this sorry excuse for a member of the House of Representatives to Congress!
13
@Call Out But Donald Trump, Representative Steve King, Stephen Miller et al. aren't pulling a lot of Republicans down with them? Give me a break!
3
Trump's rhetoric is inciting violence. How is this OK? Impeach him!!
5
You use what you have. Trump has hate and lies.
1
There is no bigotry or incitement to violence in taking issue with a person’s public statements. If Omar is off limits no matter what she says, then so is Farrakhan.
Don’t get played here just because you want the internet to like you.
8
Gettin' really tired of how easily the far right is manipulated, a la "1984."
Wooo, look, he's not wearing a US Flag lapel pin!
Wooo, look, he's not qualified to be president because he's wearing a tan suit!
Woooo, look, the entire Democrat Party is bad because someone said "people" instead of using the word "terrorist" or "Muslim!"
And then they get manipulated into thinking this is important over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over for days, weeks, or in the case of Kaepernick, for years.
Fox, trump, and the far-right must just laugh their heads off at how easy it to steer their base.
8
"Immigration is what lit the fuse." -- Hillary Clinton. Specifically, the willingness of liberal thought leaders to keep defending Islam and to keep welcoming Muslim immigrants, even while Muslim fanatics are waging war against the whole world.
12
The anti-Omar/Muslim sentiment in America is understandable, and evident throughout the Western world. This is because of a) a fear of Islam and b) a justifiable rage against Islam's murderous theocracy. In the 21st century religions are crumbling under their own evil pillars of sand - the Catholic church is a prime example. Islam has been cavorting with extremism for decades in a failed attempt to avoid women driving in Saudi and the certainty amongst Saudi clerics that Islam is approaching its death-throes. Better with Omar, who will in the end force Islam to be more tolerant.
3
So it seems as though Trumps attempt at unifying the country is a call to hate and vilify all Muslims. God help America.
3
Donald Trump and the vicious trolls and shills who both support and defend him represent the most vile and horrible elements in our country: those who would attack helpless people, kidnap and condone kidnapping of children from their parents, stoke fires of hatred and violence and routinely and repeatedly ignore the violence and evil that permeates their own camp.
That said, Omar is a fool. What, really, did she hope to gain by saying the nonsense that she said? Whom did she represent? Do her constituents in that heavily Jewish district by Minneapolis really think that she was voicing their opinions? What, to emphasize, was her motive and the expected consequence of her ill-considered and intemperate words? And when challenged, what did she do? She basically doubled down, underscoring her foolishness.
None of this justifies the response of Trump and his evil empire of thugs. Death threats to someone exercising free speech are to be pursued and prosecuted vigorously.
However, Omar needs to learn that HER words have consequences. If she wants to destroy the Democrats' credibility, she has made a good start. There is only one way to deal with fools like her: marginalize them.
4
It is perfectly possible to believe both that Trump's campaign against this woman are vile, Unpresidential, racist and inivitng murder, AND that her comments about 9/11 were very odd indeed, incredibly insensitive and suggest an unwillingness to fully confront who did what exactly that day - not 'some people did something' but fellow muslims killed thousands of people in the name of her religion. To an extent she has by her choice of language brought this down on her head. Should have thought a bit harder before opening mouth
12
Rep. Omar needs a little experience and me as a political strategist. First, experience doesn't teach you what to do as much as it teaches you what not to do.
Second, I would take Trump's statement "You think our country is so innocent?" from 2017 and meme it up asking "Could you please clarify Mr. President?"
6
Ms. Omar said. “This is endangering lives. It has to stop.”
ok then. Just stop.
But she can't. She has the same disease Trump has.
21
@Pono Trump is in his 70s, she is the future of this country. God help us all.
3
Rep. Omar fails entirely to understand that the overwhelming majority of Americans, whatever their political allegiance, want to see respect for our people who perished on 9/11.
Her comments are blatantly disrespectful.
They fully deserve to be repudiated by every single Democrat and Republican.
Those who make excuses for Ms. Omar's conduct are unlikely to win Americans' hearts, minds or votes.
25
If we want the respect for perished Americans, we would stop to use the tragedy of 9/11 as a weapon to silence Muslim Americans and their concerns about their safety and their right. Using the tragedy to shut up the American citizens, it is a biggest disrespect to the list lives.
2
I’d agree except my friends were silenced when the towers fell.
1
You can't have it both ways. You can't say overheated rhetoric is fine on the left but not on the right, and keep expecting a We Are One culture when elected representatives make it clear that their primary interest is their own tribe.
Ilhan's words on 9/11 ("some people did something" - really? I mean, really?!) were unforgivable. I am a former New Yorker and I was there on 9/11.
She's just the other side of the coin from Trump.
Neither is what this country needs.
25
This has absolutely nothing to do with Ilhan Omar’s faith and I am tired of seeing her apologists frame it that way. She is deliberately provocative , waiting puckishly for our response. What she said about 9/11 was pretty awful - her comments about her Jewish colleagues conspiring against her are dangerous and she has not been held to an appropriate level of accountability for that and other comments. She is not doing anything useful legislatively - just a gadfly. She hasn’t learned the difference between being an acitvist and being in Congress. I am from Minnesota and I am appalled by what she has said and the people who manage to convince themselves that she is being picked on.
28
Let's use a bit of perspective on this matter. Omar's alleged understated characterization of the 9/11 tragedy pales in comparison to Trump's daily multiple assaults on Truth.
5
@StanC
It only pales in comparison to Trump's words if you aren't someone who knew someone (which I did) who died on September 11, 2001.
Who killed 3,000 people that doesn't pale into comparison with anything. Not anything.
7
Between her openly anti-semitic comments of the past (of which there are a myriad) and the write off of thousands who died on 9/11 by suggesting that "some people did some thing" are beyond tone deaf and well beyond "dog whistles". Even more no one want to talk bout how she married her brother to perpetrate an immigration scheme. All of this combined is a clear and open message to The People about her character. Most of us don't care about religion. I honestly don't think this is about her being a Muslim.... it's about her making antisemitic comments, making light of those who ides and those who committed the atrocities of 9/11 and misuse of power to sidestep immigration policies.
9
Never in the history of USA had a president spoken of and done, so intentionally, so much to divide a country. Trump has, affirmatively (my just turned five years old grandson’s favorite vocabulary at the time), conducted the worst behavior and committed the most inaccessible deed from the White House.
I am a Democrat and I am already weary of Rep. Omar. Should she or her family be receiving death threats? Of course not. But her 9/11 comment was offensive and needs to be called out, just as her anti-semetic comments need to be called out. Democrats are being hypocrites if they provide endless excuses for Omar while finding fault in GOP counterparts making the same kinds of statements. I can only imagine the outrage from the left had Donald Trump referred to the 911 bombers as "some people who did some thing" that horrible day. Where are her apologies for any of her offensive remarks? Where are her policy proposals, drafted legislation, bills? Or is she the left's Sound and Fury?
19
it seems to me some Dems are eager to become Reps. They want to condemn anti-Semitic remarks (even where there is no anti-semitism) and yet are totally fine with anti-Muslim remarks. They are too eager to support 9/11 as a weapon to silence minority's concerns. We already have Rep Party, why should we have another one?
Trump. At it again. Sowing the seeds of division, fear and bigotry among his minions. It's all he has. Never has a guy done so much with so little. That he manged to get almost half of the vote doesn't speak well of us as a nation.
2
I'm not a fan of Ms. Omar, who thus far has showed a tendency to speak very carelessly and foolishly -- and yes, sometimes hurtfully and offensively. Now the right-wing propagandists are tracking her every word and blowing her up into some kind of "radical Muslim fanatic" who hates America and Americans. She needs to learn to speak with more care and consideration -- and if she can't she should keep quiet until she does. Because now she's allowed herself to be turned into a political liability. Be smart and realize what game you're playing, will you? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
5
Wasn’t it Maya Angelou who said, “When people show you who they are believe them the first time.”
With every mis-spoken phrase, Omar’s supporters repeatedly claim that she was taken out of context and play the victim card. It’s time for people to realize what she is, a provocateur, and not a victim.
911 is sacred for Americans and the flippant way she referred to it in her remarks was ignorant and hurtful. She should be called out for it. I don’t with Trump’s use of 911 imagery, and conflating her remarks with support for terrorism are wrong. While it may rally his base, it just adds to the sympathy she gets from the left and another endless cycle of defending remarks from Omar begins again.
It’s amazing that she repeatedly makes serious errors of judgement and doesn’t learn from her mistakes, unless her intent is to keep pushing the rhetoric. She’s getting very tiresome. The same can be said of Trump.
10
What Rep. Omar said was ill-conceived and mis-interpreted. She needs to wisen-up.
Let's not forget that the ideology and financing of 9/11 came from Trump's friend Saudi Arabia. He cannot say how awful 9/11 was and then turn around and say how wonderful his Saudi friends are. Trump is beyond wisening-up.
5
“some people did something” Imagine the sound bite Fox News, the Republican Party, and Trump would have exploited had Ms. Omar used the word "Muslim" anywhere in that phrase.
As it stands now, they can accuse her only of euphemia, spoken in an effort to protect a certain group of Americans from further prejudice.
Remember, there was a time when Irish Americans needed such protection. Every immigrant wave has needed protection when they first arrived -- even when they were white and Christian.
2
Trump's tweet about Omar has gotten over 200k likes more than any other tweet of his that I can remember recently. Attacking her pleases many constituencies that have lots of reasons to dislike her. Muslims don’t have much power in this country so there is virtually no blowback. Luckily, she has given us plenty of ammunition and I am sure more is coming.
3
Two items I'd like clarified, please.
What does Ms. Haberman mean by (referring to Muslims) 'inaccurately conflating them with terrorists'? Is there no connection between the two?
Secondly, I'm somewhat chagrined by Ms. Omar's remarks that she has 'lived with the discomfort of being a 2nd class citizen and, frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it'. Really? She surely has knowledge of what has transpired in that area in the last 30 years or so.
She is fast becoming a true albatross around Democrats neck that will be difficult to remove.
10
I cant believe everyone is giving so much airtime! This is the kind of distraction the right wants you to have meanwhile the Mueller report is hidden and tax returns are no where to be found. nice distraction strategy.
Geoff Garin (born 1953) is an American pollster, who served as co-chief strategist for the latter part of Senator Hillary Clinton's 2008 Presidential campaign.
Good record in analysis.
1
Cynical, transparent, and shameless attempt to use fear and hatred to distract attention away from the myriad of failings of this administration. There is no leadership at most of the key agencies responsible for providing national security, the deficit is soaring, and nothing is being done to address climate change, the opioid crisis, infrastructure, or anything else. DJT attempting a "Look over there, don't look over here" Okey Doke.
4
Ms. Omar's grossly inappropriate remarks about the thousands of innocent Americans who perished on 9/11 call into question her maturity and judgment. She does not deserve an audience. Organizations that hire Ms. Omar to speak lower themselves to an unacceptable standard.
This bomb of a Congressional representative has succeeded in making Trump and his backers look good!
13
I have grimaced at some of Omar's statements, knowing the backlash would be tremendous, but I generally support what she said - if not how she said it. That she brings a different voice to Congress is a good thing - Muslims are here to stay in America and deserve their voice as well. Anything less is un-American. in my books.
Our president's tweets are a different matter: He clearly suggests we should hold all Muslims accountable for 911 - except of course his Saudi friends who were likely complict in some fashion for that attack and make a habit of using one of their foreign embassies to murder a dissident. Further, he is essentially spewing hate and encouraging violence in order to endear his base to him. This is abominable.
2
Ilhan Omar is careless in her choice of words but she's not anti-Semitic, nor a racist like Trump, nor an advocate of violence against her critics. She is, however, the gift that keeps on giving to the GOP and she should zip it or risk helping the worst president in the history of our country get a second term.
1
What I notice is that some people are objecting to her referencing a bunch of cowardly criminals without mentioning their religion.
What I object to is the fact that all but one was Saudi and we never held them to account for it and all that has followed. In fact W intervened to help a bunch of Saudi's escape the country when no one else was allowed to enter or leave.
Seriously the only objection here is that she did not specify the attackers were Muslim. I think the problem is not her at all but rather the racism/bigotry of the people who are resenting what she said.
2
@magicisnotreal "I think the problem is not her at all but rather the racism/bigotry of the people who are resenting what she said."
No, that is not the problem. That tiresome excuse will lose you the election in 2020. Try again and look inward. Ugliness exists on the left too.
5
Yes, her remarks were part of a longer sentence, but they were ripe for being quoted by themselves. I think it's time Rep. Omar had her speeches vetted and edited by a competent staff member before she brings the whole Democratic Party crashing down around her. And how could she not know when CAIR was founded?
9
I actually would like some journalist to ask her to clarify whom she meant by "some people."
That is not unreasonable. In some circles, the answer could be "the CIA" or "the Jews."
3
The republicans run the risk of creating a straw man that won't hold up and they will finally alienate much of their base. Congresswoman Omar may well prove to be less a threat than politically inept with words and not very wise. It is best to recall that in the past various Democrats and Republicans said things that blew up because of a horrid choice of words. Ms. Omar is less an asset to Republicans because she has no serious influence and will eventually be ignored by everyone except desperate extremists. Mr. Trump thinks pandering to bigotry will get him re-elected. He should realize that even committed bigots do not like being hustled.
It is obvious that the Dems have given up on trying to 'school' this Minnesota politician who is absolutely clueless and tone deaf about her hurtful and ignorant comments which she continues to utter each time she opens her mouth. So in this case Pelosi et al. have doubled down and made her the victim- the pose that the Congresswoman is most comfortable living with. In fact in certain respects these 911 comments are her worst, because they reveal her to be a self absorbed, selfish, personally obsessed individual unconcerned with the emotions or feelings of the majority of Americans who are not in her own insular cultural, social, or religious circle.
9
So much outrage about what Omar said and no outrage about the fact that 9/11 is being use as a political sledgehammer or that the man in the White House has weaken the government to the point of making possible another 9/11.
1
All that this deplorable man is doing through his loathsome behavior is turning a little known representative from Minnesota into a household name. By putting her name front and center in the newspapers, he is helping us visit our own prejudices. Ilhan will come out of this stronger and more vocal.
No, he does not realize he is doing it. He is too much of a Narcissist. Enamored of himself and loathing of others. Please don't stop him.
5
Irony is lost on Trump Republicans. In attacking Ilhan Omar for what they claim to have been anti-Semitic remarks, they have said far worse things that are outright anti-Islamic and fomenting anger and violence in our own country.
6
@Jeff
Irony is lost on Omar Democrats. In defending Ilhan Omar for what some claim to have been anti-Semitic remarks, they have said far worse things that are outright anti-white and fomenting anger and violence in our own country. See Jussie Smollett.
7
To avoid endless confrontations, some type of "Trump followers' Think Tank" may prove useful.
Anti-Muslim sentiment is part of Republican orthodoxy these days, something that has been intensified by Trump. Omar's latest comment was benign and would've been completely ignored if spoken by a non-Muslim.
5
I find it endlessly ironic that Mr. Trump, the father of insulting and profane "straight talk," is given a complete pass while getting to cherry pick 4 word phrases for his out-of-context attacks.
We will never witness Trump engaging in a substantive discussion of issues. He is a one-trick pony, an ad hominem specialist. He has absolutely no leadership qualities. He is divisive, obnoxious, rude, boorish - one struggles to limit the list of adjectives. We can add dangerous to the list.
Republicans are tarred with his toxic brush. Rep. Omar's exercise of her free speech rights should be no less protected than Trump's. Her right to religious practice can not be considered weaker than the South Carolina Christian tribe. When her rights of speech and religion are attacked by Trump and his intellectual ilk, so are those of all of us.
It is long past time for Republicans to recall their allegiance to the Constitution (besides just the second amendment, as misinterpreted by Scalia). That allegiance should not in any way extend to Trump the person. The fact that Trump allegiance trumps Constitutional allegiance says all you need to know about the Republicans of today. Trumpinistas.
2
The Muslim connection to 9/11 that really needs to be scrutinized is role played by the Saudis. DT and his minions continue to kowtow to those behind the attack. The question in my mind is WHY?
3
The Democrats will make a profound mistake if they try to respond to Trump's attacks on Rep. Omar with anything but stalwart and unified defense of her. Attempts by prominent Democrats to parse what one likes or dislikes about Rep. Omar's comments and politics will only serve to validate Trump's dog-whistling about Muslims. Better to throw the full-frontal back at Trump that he is a noxious bigot. His vaunted "base" may be defensive, but so what? That base has proved impervious to acceptance of equality and is diminishing daily.
2
Of particular note, it’s also another familiar Trump refrain; attacking women of color. There’s a through line going back to Trump’s birther conspiracy to the Khan family to Ilhan Omar. The question is does Trump do this to give his base cause to vent over racially tinged issues, giving them license to ignore PC constraints that irk them, or is he just a plain vanilla racist? Either way this is just another facet of a deeply troubled and pathologically cruel individual.
1
You are correct. Trump attacked Elizabeth Warren who says she has a lot of American Indian heritage.
1
Everything that Rep. Omar says is true, and she is speaking that truth in a very low-key manner (considering what she's talking about).
Those who criticize her have no understanding of where she is coming from - because they have never been there.
Furthermore, the evil she is calling out goes far beyond the everyday bias against Muslims. She is courageously exposing the evil in every one of us, including every Liberal, that we hide from ourselves.
This is extremely dangerous for her but she has accepted her destiny, as did Jesus. I believe we are seeing an historical figure, a latter-day MLK - someone who makes demands on our complacency.
1
Just as an aside, for anyone who wishes to inform themselves to the exact context of Ilhan's words, the transcript for the entire speech is available on the internet. Just google it.
Rep. Omar is certainly not above criticism, but Donald Trump obviously couldn’t care less about the people who died that day, other than to use their murders as a political opportunity. He’s not right, he’s merely cynical, and dishonest. It is tragic for our country that so many people believe him.
And the Republicans—Trump’s son among many examples—had no problem using flagrant anti-Semitism to solicit votes the last two elections. And they’ll do it in 2020 too.
5
What Americans see is a systematic targeting of democratic congresswomen. Trump and his minions hate that they lost the house to women in 2018 , so the rank and file and political hacks attack women to feel better and to polarize.
This is a losing tactic , Trump has already lost the youth vote, womens votes ,African American voters, now the independents are peeling off.
This appears to be yet another instance where Omar's use of imprecise language with offensive undertones has set off a firestorm. She is a terrible representative of her constituents and her party.
10
@David B
I think Ms Omar is being extremely precise in her language and it is having the exact response she is looking for. She has said many vile things, targeted other groups of people, yet she is the proclaimed and self-proclaimed victim each and every time. As a Democrat, I am worried that she and her "progressive" enablers are going to hand Trump another four years--something we may never be able to recover from.
5
I find the hatred, the attacks and the threats against Ms Omar to be evidence of the fear and irrational rage of the Right Wing that's increasingly rearing its ugly head more overtly. The unhinged response to Ms Omar's every comment increases geometrically and may have a tragic result. To make her such a target is a tried and true method of fascists. Me? I admire her courage. I just hope she doesn't become a martyr.
1
Wow--the trolls are all out one this one. Labeling themselves 'lifelong Democrats' or whatever, they promote a very obviously choreographed Republican agenda to promote the notion that a single phrase in a speech by one member of Congress proves that she doesn't care about the 9/11 victims.
This gives Republicans an opportunity to push all of their buttons: to promote fear of others, particularly Muslims, to raise the fear of 9/11 all over again, to label the Democrats as soft on terrorism and defense. This unites their base and, they hope, raises fear in suburban voters. Their whole agenda is motivated by fear.
I guess we're supposed to be afraid of one modestly spoken Muslim woman in Congress representing one district.
Listen trolls: you may fool some people, but your ability to do so is rapidly waning.
3
Rep. Omar is right to stand her ground.Today, Muslim-Americans are being KILLED for their faith. In schools, churches, and homes, their children and families are facing real and present dangers, threatened by the worst among us: White Supremacists, shamelessly goaded on to terror, by an amoral POTUS. We Americans, of all faiths, were attacked on 9-11. Hatred ruled the day. We fought back hard, against those foreign enemies. Many Muslim-American soldiers, like Humayun Khan, fought and DIED for this, their country. They gave up their lives, for our liberty. May god rest their brave souls. Today we are attacked from within. Homegrown hatred is stirred, endangering us all. We must stand our ground.
1
Elaine Bloom - Maybe for once you should apologize to Muslims. The subtle comments they receive at workplace, in public places, etc are worse than what African Americans go through. The fact that Rep. Omar is Black, Muslim, and Woman adds to the worse stereotypes that America can attack her on. Americans and America need to apologize to Iraqis and Afghanis that have been the center of attacks from American military. Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward Gallagher - killed a 70 year old man and two little girls who were walking to school. Zero. ZERO. Media attention to the attacks made on innocent Muslims. America deserves Trump. He' truly represents America: Selfish,Ugly, and Racist.
1
There are a lot of people who have very legitimate grievances against this country. Our education system fails so many minorities (and poor whites also), too many neighborhoods are unsafe, Puerto Ricans living on the island really are second class citizens despite being born on US soil, and the list goes on.
However Ilhan Omar comes from a place where so many people sniff glue to kill hunger, and earn money as pirates. The US may very well have saved Omar and her family’s life. And we offered her citizenship! But yet she complains non-stop about how the USA treats her - that somehow she is a second class citizen??!! She plays right into Trump’s hand!
4
Sigh. Neighborhoods are unsafe because young men who live there prey on their own, and schools in such neighborhoods are attended by same.
A school is only as good as its students and parent body.
2
Trump has no shame, no morals, no ethics, no class, and not as much money as he has led us to believe. he also has the ego of an over-inflated balloon, just waiting to be burst. one can only hope it is burst soon.
3
Trump fans hatred and divisiveness among Americans with his tweets and comments on a Hispanic "invasion" at our border and for using horrific images of 9/11 to attack Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's comments defending the civil rights of American Muslims who were treated as second-class citizens after the attack by foreign terrorists.
I am ashamed that such a despicable man sits in the Oval Office. I hope that his "dog whistle" tweets don't lead one of his white nationalist supporters to attack or harm Omar or other members of the Muslim religion.
4
My question is what a person who is so woefully ignorant of fairly recent history is doing representing the American people in congress. By paraphrasing Nazi propaganda that ultimately led to the Holocaust, she has proven herself unworthy for the job.
If she is a so-called progressive, may Gd help us all.
This does not mean I endorse Trump, far to the contrary. But, this representative, wittingly or not plays into the sick mindset of white supremacists and neo-Nazis and displays scant willingness to acquire knowledge outside of her already calcified views.
4
Omar has made anti-Semitic remarks. She has demonstrated intransigence in her refusal to correct her error. For that reason, in my view, she should not be re-elected. But she, in her offensive remarks, did not advocate violence or hatred toward Jews. Rather, she showed herself to be ignorant, puerile and willfully careless. By contrast, Trump intends to incite hatred and even violence toward Muslims. And because Omar is black and female, to incite hatred and even violence toward people of color and women as well. Sadly, such brutality and perversion is his stock-in-trade and finds resonance with too many white, Christian Americans.
3
I've read her entire statement. Rep. Omar is NOT careful with her words or statements. For example, CAIR was not founded after 9/11, it was founded in 1994 (perhaps b/c of the 1993 bombing?) Like it or not, she is under a spotlight. Her words of "some people did some things" just wasn't a smart thing to say. Go to the 9/11 museum, they don't say some people, they say radical Islamic terrorists. Why can't Rep. Omar use that exact same language? I don't understand why it is racist or Islamophobic to have minimum communication standards for a Member of Congress.
18
English is her third language. She’s only been in congress for less than 3 months, and people are demanding everything she says be perfect, to the point where they are taking a fragment of her sentence and ignoring the rest of her speech. You’re ignoring her points on the erosion of civil liberties and scrutinizing what word she used. What’s offensive is you’re not giving her the presumption she was shocked and horrified by 9/11. Why not, because she’s Muslim? Your bias is showing.
@Sulayman Rumi Actually, I didn't give any meaning or opinion regarding her words. I am simply wondering why a Member of Congress can't be clear? She is a Congresswoman. She has POWER, she has a MICROPHONE, she needs to do better. The only thing she is accomplishing is getting DT re-elected. If it happens, many people will blame her for that.
2
If Ms. Omar doesn't understand how to communicate with the American people, she shouldn't represent them. Seems simple enough to me.
2
The Democrats will have to start fighting fire with fire or we'll be stuck with the orange aberration in the WH again. Except for one, all the perpetrators of 911 were Saudis. Create a vfideo of the towers showing this fact side by side with Trump being hosted and celebrated by the royal Saudi family; show the towers again, with the Saudi connection and Trump's refusal to condemn the barbaraic murder of the journalist perpetrated by Trump's friend the royal Saudi prince; show the towers again side by side with evidence of the numerous murky connections and business deals between Trump,the private millonaire citizen, (using now his presidential power for cover) and the murderous autocratic Saudis. After all, the Saudis connection tom 911 is a FACT, while Omar's connection to 911 by inference or association is very tenous and nothing but an attempt at manipulating public opinion.
5
@Sitges Every President since WWII has created a photo opportunity with Saudi family of royals, Trump is just the most recent.
4
A Muslim woman doesn’t have to prove that her country has contributed to America’s greatness. She may or may not achieve success in this country. But my problem is that my initial awareness of her was her anti Israel complaint. I’m sorry to say that there are many villains in this long and tragic saga and not all of them Jews.
2
Representative Omar may or may not have misspoke depending on a persons sensitivity.
But in February she joined 224 others in Congress to sponsor H.R. 1327 Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1327/all-info
8
@Chickpea And she co-sponsored the bill 2 days after it was introduced, much earlier than many of the others. Scanning down the list of cosponsors, there are may more "D's" next to the names than "R's." Where are all of those supposedly 9/11 sympathizing Republicans who condemn Rep. Omar?
Can you imagine the condemnation of Rep. Omar and charges she is not a real American had she not cosponsored the bill?
2
It's so sickening, at least for me personally, to have to read and hear practically every day all the garbage that comes out of the mouth of the con man who inhabits in the White House.
The conservative, mainly white male, who support this vile man certainly don't have any problem with the lies, insults and hateful words that trump seems to relish when he voices them daily or in his tweets. But to me it's a continuous confirmation of the tragedy that befell the United States in November 2016.
The worse thing one can contemplate at this time is not to know whether the con man will be in the Oval Office for 2 more years or 4 more years.
My only hope is that enough numbers of decent Americans, sick and tired of all the damage already inflicted on our nation, will rise to rid the country or this vicious and fraudulent human being.
3
Omar seems to be more concerned about being a Muslim than being an American. So far, she's been nothing but a liability to Democrats and her ego and faux "outrage" is doing nothing but helping Trump.
9
It's the identity politics that has infested this country & will sink it. No one is an American anymore, just a hyphenated one
5
You know, one could easily replace the name “Omar,” with any of a very long list of names, and “Muslim,” with “Christian,” and get exactly your same claim.
1
Pure, unadulterated racism. That is what Trump is counting on. That it has any chance of working (that it worked just well enough in 2016) says really bad things about our citizenry.
3
It's always interesting to see how many people suddenly become terribly, terribly concerned about "women's rights" (or gay rights, for that matter) when it's a chance to bash Islam.
She deserved to be criticized. Really, “some people did something”?
“Some people murdered thousands of people” would have at least been a little less tone def.
11
English is her third language and she didn’t expect people would listen to a fragment of her sentence and not her entire speech. If you listen to the whole thing it’s very obvious there’s no controversy there. The entire audience had no problem with her remarks because they heard the whole thing.
Rep. Omar obviously needs a Kellyanne Conway or a Sarah Sanders to go on Sunday morning TV and "really" explain her words ... despite the tape and eye witnesses:
"That's not what she said, Chuck, George, Norah. What she said was ...."
Seems to work for Trump and with at least 36 percent of the country no matter what.
2
I think the Times is assuming that Trump wouldn't have gone after any democrat regardless of skin color, religion, sexual orientation, gender, whatever if they had made such a ridiculous statement.
4
As a Jew and a New Yorker, I found her remarks to be highly anti-semitic, her criticism of Israel aside. She should have been censured, not saved by the Black Caucus. Shame on them for not standing with their Jewish brothers and sisters--who have always stood with them. This slap in the face will not be forgiven or forgotten anytime soon.
14
"Mr. Trump is banking on painting the entire Democratic Party as extreme. "
The Times seems to want to paint a picture that Trump came up with this idea, and that is where they are wrongheaded, a good majority of the American people feel the same exact way, so you have it backward. Trump isn't creating the notion, what he is doing is taking advantage of the way many, many millions of Americans think, about immigrants, about Mexicans, and about Muslims, so to put all the blame on him is either nonsensical or the NYT just doesn't know what the American people are talking about in that big area of the world between the George Washington Bridge and the California border. Donald Trump is speaking for the great unheard.
2
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a day that's 18 days before Christmas, some people did something at Pearl Harbor, causing losses that, fortunately, were in some cases insured."
Reimagining President Franklin Roosevelt's address to Congress on December 8, 1941.
11
It is utterly disgraceful that a president of the United States should attack a Congresswoman simply because of her religion. This alone should impeach him. It's unfortunate that we have no other path than impeachment to get rid of a gutter rate like Trump. He has hard this country like no other individual in history.
3
“I think Islam hates us” said Trump. Well I've met many Muslims all over the world including in country in Saudia Arabia etc and can honestly say they have been some of the most pleasant, caring and hospitable people I've ever met. Look there are extremists everywhere including the white Christian shooters that commit mass murder in this country. As much as Trump would like Muslims, Hispanics are simply not going away so creating divisions within our country by beating up on a particular race because of personal hatred is not the country Trump and the rest of us should be leaving our kids to suffer the consequences.
People were offended by what Rep. Omar didn't say about 9/11. So they're policing her speech because it wasn't politically correct enough for conservatives. Trump is trashy, as usual. How boring.
I'm irked at Omar's words, but ultimately don't care. I do care she's being politically stupid and shooting herself in the foot. Omar's a Muslim immigrant from MN nee Africa - there's nothing inherently controversial about that. But if she wants to wield that identity for good, she has to vet her words to a T. Americans died in Somalia trying to help, and welcomed Somalis like her family here. She's now an American, elected by her fellow Americans to serve in Congress and is naive enough to be un-PC about 9/11? She should have given Obama's race speech v2. Instead she's made herself look like an ingrate to this nation, and hurt her cause by turning herself into a political pawn - over one sentence. It's bad for Democrats, Somalis, Muslims, immigrants and America.
Very diverse Minnesotans elected Omar to Congress because they had faith in her to get their district's needs met. Instead she's making a national name for herself, and a bad one at that. If Omar wants to be a champion for everyone she formally and figuratively represents, she must get positive attention for doing an amazing job over time in Congress. Instead she's risking her seat to a Republican four months in. It's haram.
10
"Some people did something." "Some very fine people on both sides."
Trumpy Trump and Ilhan Omar : Please. Think. Before. You. Speak.
It may help.
4
Yes, Trump has something against Muslims and that's disgraceful. Having said that, to portray Ilhan Omar as progressive or Leftist is quite far from reality as she is neither. She ran a campaign by leveraging her identity, her religion, and immigrant background, generating sympathies and excitement in a heavily democratic city which hasn't elected anyone but a Democrat for ages. Rest of the progressive values were a side show. Her views about her own religion, 9/11, War on Terror (referring that Obama murdered people because of the Drone Strikes), Israel-Palestine, etc. resemble more of the kind of rhetoric that comes out of Iran or other Islamic countries and groups. She is someone who represents a world view that doesn't believe in America as a melting pot but expects it to adjust to whatever ways people like her chose to believe in and behave. Honestly, she is lucky that with the kind of views she harbors and without any experience, she gets to sit on Foreign Affairs Committee, thanks to the Democratic capitulation to views which are not representative of a wider population but are the most vocal and louder.
162
@Resident You make a lot of accusations against Rep. Omar. You say she expresses views about her religion; what I've seen is that she has complained about persecution of Muslims in the US, which has occurred. I have seen nothing that she has extolled her religious beliefs. Many non-Muslim Americans -- some other members of congress included -- also criticized Obama's OK of inaccurate drone bombings that resulted in civilian deaths. When has she opposed America as a melting pot? You say so without evidence. Omar has expressed nothing more than the opinions shared by many Americans, including Muslims. You say you oppose Trump's vilification of Muslims, but you repeat many of his divisive statements. Maybe Muslims are only OK in your book if they keep their legitimate concerns to themselves.
30
She leveraged her religion, background and immigrant status....
Sounds like the vast majority of politicians who come from the many US congressional districts that have fairly uniform socioeconomic demographics...from heavily Irish Catholic, to Italian Catholic to WASP to Southern Baptist to Mormon to urban Jewish. Many of these areas have a more diverse melting-potish perspective today...but definitely did NOT a generation or two ago. The oft-romanticized New York City of my grandparents was a cauldron of intense ethnic rivalries. My own German born great grandmother lived in Harlem and the Bronx and refused to speak English for 45 years! Finally a politician came along that the diverse ethnicities of NYC could rally behind without their votes having to be purchased. His name was Al Smith. When he eventually ran for president, the hate and vitriol he received from the “heartland” was probably the worst America had ever seen directed at a presidential candidate from a major political party. He was Catholic (an oft detested religion beholden to foreign parties) was anti-Prohibitionist (think liberal supporter of cannabis decriminalization) was progressive (supports “socialism”), was “tied” to Tammany Hall (narrow urban focused political machine).
My point... she’s no different from the many politicians we have had in the past. Washington and Jefferson considered the House of Representatives to be the (diverse) “mob” and they were cool with that so long Congress was bicameral.
12
@Resident
How she got elected is how almost all white men get elected... leveraging identity, religion, and background, while generating sympathies and excitement in a heavily gerrymander city.
Her views about religion, 9/11, War on Terror, and Israel-Palestine... yes, they are a contrast to the locked stepped, flag waving litmus test that seems one must do to get an elected voice. I personally am open to other views. However, your attitude of what the wider world thinks about America doesn't match with mine, when I travel outside of the United States I see every-day people that still like and are interested in Americans and they appreciate America, they just don't 'get' Trump and that worries them.
I live one mile from Omar's District, I can tell you that the emigrants that live nearby are a great asset to our community, they are good neighbors. Can you image moving to Minnesota in the heart of winter and feeling fortunate, well they do. Oh, and the ethnic food and culture they bring make me feel fortunate too.
Finally I must comment on 'white-washing' the Democratic party as a party of capitulation, it leaves me incredulous. To me capitulation is defined as the 'Republican Party', they sold their souls to the 'Cult of Trump' two years ago, just like Fox network.
27
Donald Trump, Ilhan Omar and others (like Steve King) must learn that fighting words have often severe consequences. The tongue has great power, but the speaker needs to use the freedom of speech with good judgment and empathy for how the hearer will receive the words. Neither one of these two people possesses tact and restraint, so the tongue gets them into trouble they then waste effort to quell and deflect.
Hear the admonition of Proverbs 21:23: “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from
troubles.
Omar should be doing the job of representing her constituents. Instead, she advances the muslim
cause. If she worked for CAIR, on behalf of other muslims, this would be alright. Instead, most of the constituents she represents are of other faiths and ethnicities, with priorities other than promoting the muslim identity.
629
@Alizabeth I don't think the things you are saying are true. Have you heard her speak? She specifically aims to represent the diversity of voices that elected her. The Republicans are pulling her words to paint a picture of her as speaking for muslims only, but that is not what she is doing.
Watch her interview on the Late Show. She's a lovely human being, smart, articulate and she comes across as a gentle and highly reasonable person.
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@Carrie
"...she comes across as a gentle and highly reasonable person." Not a lot of commentators here seem agree with you, or her.
55
@Alizabeth Sorry, but this is an unfair double-standard. There are countless Christian politicians in this country that openly cite their faith as a factor in their decision making. Are they betraying their non-Christian constituents? Are all of our representatives supposed to be irreligious to ensure total and complete neutrality?
The fact that you expect this person to hide her faith and identity just because she doesn't represent the majority faith is insulting and discriminatory.
251
There are more potential Democratic candidates gearing up for Minnesota's fifth Congressional district primary than running for President.
I am trademarking the saying "I'm not Omar" in preparation for a run. The money is already pouring in.
Trump too is in the race at trademark attempts with
"Let Omar be Omar", her image on top of a collage of 9-11 tragedies and funerals.
17
Ms. Omar's comments trivialize the murder of close to 3,000
Americans of all backgrounds and religions on 9/11 by Muslim extremists. Her remarks are disrespectful to the memory of those who lost their lives in the attacks. I can't help wondering what this woman is doing in our Congress. Let's hope her constituents perceive that she is no credit to them. By defending Ms. Omar, the Dems are setting themselves up for trouble.
504
@Lifelong Democrat I defend her right to her opinion. I do not respect hate speech or attacking individuals and promoting violence.
16
@Lifelong Democrat
How do her remarks remotely trivialize the Americans who died in the 9/11 attacks?
You are a victim of political theater. Read everything she said in the speech.
She said "some people," who most certainly were "terrorists" (the word she didn't use) did the deed; but because she said "some people" and not "terrorist" you are upset.
Her willingness to inject some skepticism into her remark about the origins and agents of the 9/11 attack has made her an object of ridicule; but it is actually ridiculous to speak about something that we the people know nothing about.
We really don't know who the "some people " are. And it is to her credit and bravery that she speaks with a skeptical mind about 9/11.
Ask for a full criminal investigation of 9/11 before you claim to know what happened and who did it.
11
@Chuck -- Welcome to the real world of politics. A good politician doesn't discuss 9/11 and the people who committed the acts without making clear that those people were terrorists and their acts were abhorrent and unacceptable. That's just the way it is. You can argue all day that it shouldn't be that way, but you are swimming upstream against a strong current. These newbie Congressional representatives with little to no experience on the national stage are loose cannons on the ship of state. To paraphrase George Carlin, think of the intelligence of the average voter, and then consider that half the voters aren't even that smart. You're not going to change that fact, so you have to work with it or around it, not take it head on.
6
I listened to the extended version of Rep Omar’s remarks. There is no context that renders “Some people did something” as anything other than what it is: a ridiculous and offensive description of 9/11. Democrats shouldn’t waste a nickel of political capital coming to her defence. The more she commits herself to the public record, the more she becomes the best friend Donald Trump will ever have in 2020.
698
@Ted Cape. The "context" argument from my fellow democrats is utterly ridiculous. Omar's glib, insensitive, offensive comments read exactly the same in context and out.
The far left wing of our party is likely going to blow the election for the democrats and give 4 more years (if our democracy holds) to the wannabe dictator in the White House.
54
@Ted Cape
In listening to the extended version, did you not notice the emphasis she put on the words "some" and "did"? To me (a professional discourse analyst), that verbal stress signaled a distinction between the 9-11 terrorists and all peace-loving Muslims, a distinction that's been blurred by many rightwing US propagandists including Trump. In other words, although only SOME Muslims perpetrated 9-11, ALL Muslims are guilty in the minds of many Americans. And I'm sure those in her listening audience understood it that way.
29
@Ted Cape: I agree. But, additionally, her use of hijab in our (formerly) secular Congress allows her to make a political and religious statement without opening her mouth. This is not popular with most Americans.
27
We all know Trump’s oratory skills are non-existent.
The only problem is that, in the case of Rep Omar anyway, he’s absolutely right.
69
If she had only said “...some terrorists who do not represent all Muslims and who we all condemn, committed a horrendous crime...” but she did not. Why didn’t she? Or couldn’t.
59
@Max Green
Maybe does not say it because she does not believe it?
10
Rep. Omar at this point is a republican tool. Look at how the game is being scored. She costs more votes than she brings in, and has the power to be the trans bathroom issue of 2020. All pain and no gain.
Funding speaking engagements for her should be a Trump 2020 job #1. Followed by a Trump rant on how she's gonna get you.
When one sees who benefits from her all too common missteps, one wonders whose side she is really on.
She has the power to alienate a large enough segment of the electorate to swing the election.
Were she the great patriot she claims to be she would step down. She is worth at least 500,000 votes to Trump.
47
@Lawrence: On the other hand, Trump and the whole Republican attack machine, were able to demonize the moderate and respectful Obama, and the middle of the road and respectful Clinton, and turn them into figures of hysterical fear and hatred among the Reublican base. All that was before Omar or AOC even appeared on the horizon. The trouble with trying to be so obviously harmless that the Republicans won't scream at you is that it just won't work. They scream at helpless children, and they are going to scream at you. So if you have some interesting ideas, you might as well go ahead and be yourself, which actually, a lot of people like to see.
5
Irresponsible attacks by the most powerful man in the world against a small dark different woman of color.
Wow what a Guy ! Reclaiming his Manhood.
339
@John. You seem to be minimizing what ms Omar said and focusing instead on left wing talking points. It's what came out of her mouth, not her color or size or gender that gave trump his opening.
66
@John
Her comments here (and in other issues, such as about Israel and those who support that nation) speak for themselves. Trying to prevent any criticism of her as irresponsible or making it not about her remarks or beliefs but "against a small dark different woman of color" is what is irresponsible. Where did we seem to adopt the idea that being a certain something brings with it a shield against criticism?
51
@George S
She's apparently not allowed to criticize our foreign policy of many decades, which continues, without criticism. Our ongoing interference in the middle east brought on 9-11 but we can't see it.
22
If your using the burning towers as a cudgel then your debasing a shared national tragedy by politicising it. Once again Trump is behaving like a demagogue.
209
@J Cordes
Odd, most of the comments seem to point to Omar as debasing the shared national tragedy of 9/11. Perhaps Trump is not the only politician here behaving as a demagogue?
10
@J Cordes: Surely it is Trump and his familiars who have politicized the Twin Towers? I was there. I saw it. I smelled it. And I groaned to hear decent young Americans say they were going to Iraq "to put the garbage out" because they hit the Towers.
2
@Mark Shyres
Omar is not debasing the tragedy of 9/11. How does she do that? By using the language of "some people" instead of the official language of "terrorist?" Why and how does her reasonably skeptical tone of "some people" debase the tragedy?
The tragedy was debased when the FBI failed to conduct a proper criminal investigation of the site. As things stand no one knows "who" did the deed, or how it was done.
She spoke reasonably and forthrightly.
Most of the comments that attack Omar basically accept the official conspiracy that "terrorists" caused 9/11, but people who study the event know this tells us nothing. So, people who attack Omar speak from a position of not knowing.
Embrace her skepticism...and demand the truth.
4
The 75 lawsuits against this President are unprecedented in their quantity and nature. Now he is using his bully pulpit to incite violence in his demented base by spreading vicious lies and innuendo to his base who are responding with explicit threats elected Congresswoman's life. Now three churches are burned in Mississippi and here in North Carolina, UNC Chapel Hill students and their supporters receive public death threats while UNC police stand by and pepper-spray and arrest activists. Murders by white supremacists more than doubled in the last two years. Better the New York Post should superimpose a white man with a Confederate flag on the bloodied body of Heather Heyer or the bloody injuries of Deandre Harris. It would make more sense.
57
Once again you can see blatant coordination within the left wing media, this time saying her comments were taken “out of context.” The context is even worse - she is arguing that Muslims were actually somehow the victims of 9/11
72
@Andrew L Innocent Muslims were victims of 9/11. Some of them were inside the towers or first responders and died in that attack, Moreover, Muslims have been turned into whipping boys and girls simply because of their religion or even their appearance or names. The level off hatred generate and encouraged by Trump and some of his supporters has put Muslim Americans in fear of attack. Omar herself has received a new wave of death threats based on a couple clumsy remarks she has made.
4
@Andrew L, they're not? A small contingent of religious Nazi terrorists crash planes and kill thousands, terrorizing the nation, and our nation's response has been nothing short of horrific. Easily a million dead Muslims across Asia since 9/11 and $6 trillion in war spending.
1
@Andrew L Not only was it presented and verified at the time of the attacks that there were in fact some Muslims who died in the 9/11 attacks (you know victims), but at the same time there was a precipitous rise in anti-muslim feeling in the United States starting with defacing Mosques culminating in the new enjoyed high point the white nationalists are feeling these days.
1
"In Attacking Ilhan Omar, Trump Revives His Familiar Refrain Against Muslims".
Trump gets triple play from attacking Omar: Muslims, women and Democrats.
45
I may be in the minority in the comments but I think she deserved to be criticized. I'm in the new York area and for many people 9/11 is still a gaping wound. Almost everyone I know knew someone who died that day. One friend who lives in the Rockaway, Queens area (lots of firefighters and Cantor Fitzgerald people) told me when I spoke to her a few days after 9/11 that she knew 20 or 30 people who died. So for here I don't think that this was just "something."
I don 't care that Ilhan Omar is black or Muslim. Neither makes a difference to me. What does matter is that she has a very narrow world view and doesn't seem to think about any other group. I also feel that she does not care who she insults because the Democratic party will find some way to excuse her.
I'm a lifelong Democrat but I'm not sure I can continue to support Democratic candidates if they don't care about so many of us.
892
@Elaine Bloom Sure, you're a Democrat. And I'm Elenore Roosevelt.
172
@Elaine Bloom
I believe it is you that has the narrow view. Llhan Omar is commenting on the prejudice against Muslim, not the horror of 9/11. Read her entire statement, not just the headlines.
248
@Elaine Bloom I would just point out that American history and policy suggests that since our founding, most white Americans have not cared about any other group than white Americans.
235
Without trump-mc connell-gop-fox sustained rage machine, what's left?
Most media reported months ago that they expected their reporting of the outlandish rage would expose it's Mc Carthy tactics. It has not happened.
At this point, every media needs to consider how their reporting supports the rage machine that is dismantling our democracy.
35
@johnw - Fox News is a brand that Forbes estimated to be worth $11.7 billion dollars and the on-air presenters earn millions; the daily Fox content is available in 90,000,000 homes in the US. How can this propaganda juggernaut be stopped?
2
While I deplore the attacks and threats against Rep. Omar, I am dismayed that she continues to provide Republicans with easy targets with which to attack her and by extension, Democrats in general, on issues of anti-Semitism and patriotism. Either she is too naive to recognize how her inartful statements will be weaponized against her and the Democrats, or she is intentionally stirring up controversy to either call attention to herself or provoke inflammatory responses to prove her points about anti-Muslim bias. If she is interested in re-electing Trump and handing the House back to the GOP, she is doing a good job. Democrats, how about trying to work together strategically to unite this country and preserve our democracy instead of succumbing to infighting guaranteed to keep power in the hands of the Republicans? How about spending some time learning how to be an effective legislator, Ms. Omar?
13
@Michele
She's an elected Congressperson who happens to be Muslim and wants to use her pulpit to advocate respect for the civil liberties of Muslims. Obviously it's an activity that hasn't brought her wide acclaim from many Americans, but one that she has a perfect right to do.
@Cornflower Rhys Of course she has a right to do so. However, she also needs to recognize that she needs to choose her words with care to avoid them being distorted and used against her and the Democrats in general. I hope she can see the bigger picture here and use her pulpit wisely.
1
It's sad to think that in 2019 our nation (as a whole) still fears people who appear different. Go on right leaning news organization websites and read the disparaging comments about Omar, most of which don't even relate to things she has done or said. They simply hate on her because of propaganda, lack of knowledge or fear.
I'm not saying I agree with all of Omar's stances, but can we be adults here and listen to each other?
In the age of Trump, being a respectable adult has gone out the window.
1
I stand with Ilhan because she supports Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, and the Green New Deal. And because she speaks out against bigotry and militarism at home and abroad.
I genuinely fear her safety. But like many civil rights heroes before her, she's fearless and will not be silenced. Solidarity forever.
2
The problem with Omar is that all her comments relate to one issue -- Muslims. Even her comments on Israel indirectly relate to this. Although there are alot of Muslims -- I suppose -- in Minnesota they aren't the only ones there and surely there are other issues, may I say -- more important than this one that would make her more useful, effective and relevant as a representative of her state as a whole than this rather narrow one. While I don't disagree with some of the things she says, I believe she lacks judgement and makes herself and the Democratic Party vulnerable to Trump's simplistic categorizations and unfair vilification -- which unfortunately have proved effective in the past.
9
Representative Omar's own rhetoric is damaging against her and she seems to delight in instigating the masses with her personal style of politics. Hopefully, the good people of Minnesota will elect someone better to represent them in the future. I think she will continue to be a lightning rod for Democrats and problematic in the 2020 election.
9
Representative Omar's own rhetoric is damaging against her and she seems to delight in instigating the masses with her personal style of politics. Hopefully, the good people of Minnesota will elect someone better to represent them in the future. I think she will continue to be a lightning rod for Democrats and problematic in the 2020 election.
2
Unfortunately, Miss Omar seems to convey a message that is not exempt from proselytism. She may very well voice opinions that would go unnoticed when uttered by people whose religion is not expressed in their way of dressing but she has to realize that as a member of Congress she made the choice of religious identity politics,i.e. she branded herself as a Muslim militant and anything she says is interpreted through that self-imposed prism.
Miss Omar is in no way representative of the overwhelming majority of US Muslims whose political views are expressed in a way that Miss Omar is not privy to. The many Muslims that I know had to flee oppressive regimes and none of them shares the sense of alienation that miss Omar seems to harbour.
Democrats have a loose cannon in their ranks whose handling might prove thorny since she is playing mirror politics with Trump who uses her to instil that Muslim immigration is problematic and her using Trump to imply that Muslims have to resort to religious identity politics to assert their rights, neither of which is true.
5
I am sure that there are better ways of referring to 9/11 than "some people did something". I am also sure that Rep. Omar meant no disrespect. I suspect that we are missing the point: the wholesale discrimination against muslims exacerbated by the attack (which, by the way, also claimed muslim victims). I fear that we are, again, playing the game of Trump: this is a lowly use of Rep. Omar's words to fire up the base and, by discussing it, we are playing in Trump's territory. Finally, of this, I am absolutely convinced: no Republican, as enabler of Mr. There are fine people on both sides, both sides, has one speck of moral authority to point something out to anyone.
Her "someone did something" remark was uncharacteristically non-specific. She is usually very specific in her criticism of people she believes to have committed wrongs. We know exactly who committed heinous acts on 9/11 - there's no need to be non-specific. I'm uncomfortable with this cyclical pattern of her speaking out and then becoming a victim.
10
I am no fan of Trump and his crazy views, but the writer says that Omar was relatively unknown in national US politics. How untrue is that. This woman has moved right to the forefront with some of her own crazy views and her comments about Israel. Sorry, she is no better than he is.
12
There is no misconstrued larger context.
The criticism is that she downplayed the 9/11 attacks because under her world view, the attacks weren't especially heinous or significant.
Arguably, the context is worse and maybe you could read into her longer statement a position that 9/11 wasn't perpetrated by Muslims at all (so a crazy conspiracy theory that Muslims were being unfairly targeted because they didn't even perpetrate 9/11).
Now I do think Trump is exploiting the situation and his video tweet made me cringe. But he's free to attack people for what they say.
8
Democratic Candidates and Members of Congress:
Please "do something" to distance yourselves from the appalling, corrosive remarks Ms. Omar likes to make. Don't allow blind fealty to PC to obscure decency, or 2020 will bring
yet another yuge surprise.
9
Trump is grotesque defined but Ms. Omar gets fewer and fewer ongoing passes due to her inability to parse her message beyond saying every single thing which she's either heard or that occurs to her.
This said, it is also her moment and not ours so she can have it but should not be surprised if deeper and more thoughtful thinkers dismiss her as we have Trump as unfit for the public sphere.
2
we allow hate speech - it's protected by the 1st amendment.
but
DISSEMINATING hate speech, no matter who utters it - is not required.
so when djt, or any other low life, uses hateful rhetoric - it should never be spread through the media - ANY MEDIA.
I am not a religious bigot. I have no problem with Omar being in Congress. I am left of most "liberals."
In fact, most of the time, I am defending the left against liberals.
However, Omar needs to be more careful about what she says. Trump can get away with being sloppy with his language because his followers love the horrible thinks he says.
Omar does not have luxury of randomly saying things that give ammunition to Trump's white supremacist base. Omar keeps saying things that gives helping her enemies and that hurt the cause of the U.S. left, American Muslims and Muslims worldwide, including Palestinians.
I blame the terrorists that hijacked the planes for 9/11. And I blame U.S. politicians that support Saudi Arabia, which is the leading exporter of terrorist propaganda, and for sprouting the Mujhadeen, which interpret into Al Qaeda. The U.S. must take for supporting and arming the terrorists who attack us. We are more responsible for 9/11 than Islam in general.
But you can't just throw around words without thinking about how they will be interpreted and misused against you.
Omar needs to think before she speaks and stay away from sloppy language and slang.
By the way. I tried to send this message directly to her office, but they wouldn't take a message from outside her district, so hopefully she will read it here.
3
It's an honor to be criticized by Trump. Here's hoping that Ilhan Omar has a long and fruitful political career
2
“I think Islam hates us,”
I come pretty close to hating him & his ilk, and I'm white, old, Christian and live in a red state. He may be worrying about the wrong group.
I think Omar is quite proper in voicing her opinion. That's what her electorate voted for her to do. Her opinion may differ from mine now and then, but I haven't heard anything she said that was inflammatory or just wrongheaded. I bet every congressperson - even the ones I like - has had an opinion different than mine many many times (possibly per day). Different opinions help keep us from blindly following a disastrous path.
2
Representative Omar is a public figure. She was speaking in forums that were distinctly not private conversations. Her words are on the record and she is accountable for them. Such remarks are consistent with her historic narratives.
Ms Omar has placed herself firmly in the public sphere and calls for attention. Therefore, she deserves no special privilege or benefit of the doubt for being associated with - or self identifying with - any number of victim groups.
It is quite reasonable to question her judgement and motives and to what degree they represent a wing of progressive politics. People can decide for themselves.
14
Ilhan Omar needs to do her job, which is addressing the
concerns of her district. Her inflammatory rhetoric only serves to further divide Democrats. What we need is unity so that we have chance at all of winning the Presidency in 2020.
I would ask Ms. Omar to work for the Union not against it.
14
Our current president will use every tactic he can to use hate as a political weapon. Democrats must stand up for inclusiveness and cooperation. They will win in 2020 if they defend the good in our constitution.
8
@Jeff
We are. Too bad Trump and his supporters don't care about what good or constitutional and in fact hold both in contempt.
As an independent voter none of this plays a role in who I may or may not vote for.
It's all fodder for the gossip networks like Fox, CNN and MSNBC.
Most of care about jobs, immigration issues and overall security of the Nation. Boring issues but real one.
The issue I have with politicians like Cortez becoming the voice of the Democrats is her ideas have no basis in reality.
10
@Ari I take it you take Trump/Miller as being honest brokers?
It is totally unacceptable for any public leader to incite violence directed toward an individual or group. It is especially egregious when in support of racist, religious, gender, or sexual preference discrimination purposes. Diversity is the basis of our strength as a society, and political manipulation based on such “fear” is a dangerous step in the direction of dictatorship.
4
I was born & raised in NYC, and was on the Upper West Side when the planes hit. It was a horrible and tragic event, and I was traumatized for years after. That said, I’m sick to the gut of people treating the attacks with a holy patina of near religious fervor. Discussion of the actual political motivations for the attacks, and debate over the US’s hysterical and frantic response have both been warped & stymied by the tendency to freeze the event in stained glass. Rep Omar was addressing a constituency that did in fact suffer because the “home of the brave” had a near nervous breakdown after the attacks, and beyond the initial attack on Afghanistan could not (and has not) come up with a rational political response against the countries that were actually responsible.
16
Ilhan Omar, a freshman in Congress and to politics, is off to a bad start. Omar was not elected to Office, because, she is a Muslim.
She represents constituents in Minnesota. There are a wide range of subjects, which people would expect a freshman like Omar to spend time on.
However, the issues which Omar is concentrating on right now, creates the impression that she is more concerned about topics outside her constituency.
There is a time and place for those subjects which Omar is delving on. Omar should know this.
Mr. Trump's rhetoric does not help. Mr. Trump is POTUS, and for all people in this country. It is wrong to say "Islam hates us". He should know better.
6
Omar is not the embodiment of the left of the Democratic Party. I don’t know who she appeals to but certainly is distasteful to a large number of Americans who are on the spectrum from left to right. She was brash, ill intentioned and meant to foment dissent not unlike the white supremacy, with her invoking of religious sentiments. That she suffered in a refugee camp should strengthen her resolve towards peace not enmity. We do not need voices like hers to take America forward to a more open, tolerant frame of mind. The DNC lightly censured her instead of asking her to step out of the fray. She needs to be asked to resign.
We normally expect honorable actions when it comes to the President, but the 45th occupant has robbed us of any expectations. It makes no difference that he speaks ill of her. He will appeal to the exact same voter base who seem not to care about the substance or implications of any sentiments, attitudes or policies. They are only filled with hate that seems to float them above the rest of the Americans. The President and the GOP seem to harbor ill will towards a large swathe of Americans whose ideologies differ from theirs. To such an extent they have forgotten that we are all part of the same nation.
10
@Meena Why should she resign? The Constitution is available for all people.
1
Prejudice frightens me, always and from any direction. I am sorely afraid of prejudice. I teach my students of the dangers and they understand.
3
Donald Trump is the President. He should set a standard of behaviour for himself that is higher than that set by others. To suggest otherwise is to demonstrate a lack of understanding of the position he holds. However, instead of doing so, Trump debases himself almost daily and, by doing so, debases you all.
5
Rep. Omar's office should apply to the court for a restraining order against Trump from harassing, intimidating or otherwise targeting her either through any medium. This restraining order would also make clear that any insinuation that Rep. Omar was somehow responsible for or promoted 9/11 simply because she is Muslim would fall within the purview of the hate speech because that is targeting given the fact that she had no involvement in it.
Think about it. An American having to apply for a restraining order from presidential harassment.
4
"Some people did something." "Some very fine people on both sides."
"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the the first stone against her." John 8:7
Without sin. Not so much.
4
Ilhan Omar and AOC proudly proclaim their courage to speak truth to power. Not so much when it comes to speaking truth to terror.
18
trump's familiar refrain is that of a mob boss giving a nod. This is very dangerous signal to at least intimidate Rep Omar. The FBI needs to step in given that congress is so intimidated by trump.
Rep Omar hurts her fellow immigrants more than any right-wing bigots.
She embodies every immigrant stereotype of someone who has nothing but criticism and contempt for the country that welcomed her, and no interest in assimilation.
I personally know so many immigrant families (Latin American, Indian and Muslim), who strive so hard to live the American dream and are so grateful for it. If only those stories made the 24 hour news cycle instead of Rep Omar. She needs to step down.
16
@Dave
Don't you really mean that she needs to shut up and stop speaking truth to power because she isn't a home-grown American citizen?
How dare she criticize our politics, even though all adherents of Islam, world wide, have been made scapegoats for the act of an extremist group, and are still being used as such to this day!
Apparently you're not able to hear of it, but I have no objection to anyone that stands up to being bullied for so long and so unfairly, and applaud Rep Omar for having the courage to push back against her detractors.
That the president is using Ms. Omar as a foil merely for political gain should not surprise us at all. He is the most cynical player In the Republican Party right now, but there are plenty more coming down the pike, and plenty more before him who played this kind of game. Obviousness.
1
Democratic Rep. Ilan Omar is a co-sponsor of legislation to meaningfully assist specific groups of survivors of the 9/11 attacks. According to Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Nadler, Republican Trump fraudulently obtained $150,000.00 meant for small businesses impacted by the 9/11 attacks. Rep. Ilhan Omar is a courageous, truth-telling representative for her majority non-Muslim Congressional district in Minnesota who also effectively advocates for people outside her district. Trump displays to the country and the world the worst stereotypes of the greedy, self-enriching, vulture capitalist New Yorker.
4
Trump, of course, would go on doing what he knows best: Insult individuals and disparage and rant against entire groups of people or communities.
But what has Ms. Omar ever done to present herself as a fair and temprate spokesperson? Ever Since Ilhan ascended the public stage, all she has done is to whine and complain about real or perceived grievances of her community. She spends almost all of her time in public either rationalizing Islamic excesses or dismissing or explaining them away. She never says a word, let alone admit, about the causes of the non-Muslim world's concern or complaints against the Muslim societies.
Read today's' op-ed piece in the Times about what her brethren are doing to women who dared to celebrate Woman Day in Pakistan. The piece written by a Pak woman recounts in gory details the treatment that Pak male chauvinists, including their clergy, are dishing out to their women. The piece describes how a Christian woman was forcibly dragged and converted to Islam (presumably to book in advance a seat in the Paradise for the evildoers), while a state assembly passed a law against women demanding equal rights. (In Pakistan, this kind of treeatment is meted out to Hindu, Sikh women routinely.
It may be dangerous for a reformist in those societies to speak out against this behavior, but how dangerous can it be for proactive leaders, like Ilhan, to raise their voices against these savage practices from their safe sanctuaries in the West?
5
Two wrongs don't make a right. The killing of 3,000 innocent people certainly justifies going after the perpetrators. It does not justify mistreating thousands of other innocent people. I believe this is Rep. Omar's valid point. I don't think she was being deliberately provocative in the way she described the tragedy of 9/11. Rather, she was exhibiting a common human trait. We tend to think that if someone has suffered themselves, they will be more compassionate toward the suffering of others. In reality, the opposite is often true. We can become so focused on our own suffering that the suffering of others doesn't register, and we may even inflict what we have endured on someone else without realizing It because we believe, mistakenly, that our own suffering renders us incapable of hurting others. It doesn't. Rep. Omar needs to be aware of this.
Regarding Mr. Trump, please correct me if my memory is wrong, but didn't the man who killed all those people in the Pittsburg synagogue declare himself a Trump supporter? And instead of disavowing the man's support, didn't Trump blame the killings on the synagogue not having an armed guard on duty? As I recall, at another mass shooting at a West Coast bar a few weeks later, the armed guard at the door was the first one shot.
1
Omar is the gift that keeps on giving. If Trump wins, he should thank 3 people for his win: Schiff, Omar, and AOC.
11
Dems are going down in November 2020 for sure. They try so hard to be politically correct that they can't even think straight.
13
@John Murray
Trump supporters can't see straight, either.
It's far easier to mindlessly support a racist demagogue like Donald Trump than to try to hold more than one competing idea in one's head simultaneously. Dems can do that; Trump supporters can't, and have no interest in ever trying, which makes them much easier to control and direct. So yeah, it's possible Trump could get reelected against the votes of the clear majority of the country, just like last time.
@Kip
Let’s see now, I gave $25 to Beto o’Rourke’s Presidential campaign ( I’ve got the receipt!) and yet I’m probably going to vote for Trump in 2020. Two competing ideas. My head. The time is now.
Your first sentence is effortlessly disproved!
1
Radical Islamicists are, no doubt, delighted at the defense of Omar.
I, on the other hand, think she seems to have developed an ego far beyond any supporting intelligence or political skill.
Who is she to even think of trying to explain how Islamicists are being viewed now?
She is the Muslim version of Cynthia "Slapper" McKinney and her constituents will need to resolve this at the next election the same way McKinney lost her seat.
8
In these hyper reactive times when every vulture is ready to rip someone's words out of context to use as a political weapon I am surprised that representative Omar is incapable of choosing her words more carefully, especially on such sensitive topics.
4
although i don't agree with much of what representative omar has to say, she has the right to say it and to do so without fear from being threatened - particularly by the president. isn't that what democracy is about. the president went so far as to use an edited version of what she said, which changed the context.
where is our modern day patrick henry? or voltaire? the attribution may be in question but the statement was not - “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
the president's blatant bigoted use of the 9/11 video is undoubtedly intended to incite violence. given the chance, he would probably build an arena and establish gladiatorial combat to the death. are his supporters any better than the romans who abetted the reign of caigula?he was known to be extravagant, cruel, a sadist, and a pervert. sound familiar?
aren't his efforts to circumvent the law and offer pardons to others to do so abuses of power? shouldn't these deviations from the law high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of congressional oversight? censure? impeachment?
2
It's appalling that Rep. Omar has become Trump's foil. His recent tweets are reprehensible. They also fuel Omar's self-vindicating agenda. Rep. Omar clearly has a pattern of making wounding gaffes. This is repeatedly why she makes headlines. Like Trump, she's an agitator. Her lack of historical insight and self-righteous anger define her platform. So does her origin story.
On her treatment - she's not alone. Trump has been lambasted, mocked, had effigies made in his image, had his image published against backdrops of war and mayhem. So have the Obamas, the Clintons. Reagan. Nixon. It goes on.
The mark of individuals truly committed to the possibility of human progress is that they elevate those around them, and the culture itself. There are many examples - from Obama, to the ever smiling Malala, to the Dalai Lama, MLK, Gandhi and thinkers like Victor Frankl. All endured discrimination, hardship, loss. Yet they never led from a place of smallness, from a place of "I suffer every day and you are at fault". Their influence is transcendent. Their examples make us want to do and be better.
Every time, Rep. Omar summons yet again her "multiple identities" (as though most Americans - or certainly growing numbers, don't contain these as well) and how she faces discrimination "every day," the effect is curdling, withering, diminishing of multitudes who suffer the same. She's stuck in her story and her rage - again and again - and she wants all of us stuck right along with her.
10
I think that it's important to remember that the religious fanatics who crashed airplanes into the World Trade Buildings on 9-11-2001 killed a diverse group of random people including Muslims and everyone else. Sadly Omar is using an old rhetorical trick where she maximizes some people's suffering by minimizing other people's suffering. It's ironic here that the suffering that she is minimizing is our suffering. The goal of terrorism is to create discord that will cause the modern secular world to splinter. The 9-11 attacks were attacks against all of us, there is no need to equivocate, no matter what trump and miller do or so say. Let's not forget, let's honor our dead, let's be smart and let's not give trump another term.
7
With respect to Ms Omar, she has to realise that this is not the Age of Enlightenment that will give adequate ear to her concerns. If it was, she wouldn’t have any concerns in the first place.
The Democratic mission is not just to get elected and out Trump. It is to drive the worms back into the woodwork where they can languish as they await the next dictator. To do this, they have to champion the very people that loathe them. They must speak eruditely for the disaffected that willingly voted for a billionaire political neophyte with more hidden skeletons than the catacombs of Paris over a mainstream candidate seen as ironically corrupted and inept. Omar needs to stop exploiting her cultural differences with her fellow Americans and get on with being American and a politician in opposition to an emerging fascism that might engulf western democracy in its varied insidiousness. She is doing no one any favours by advancing her own agenda. The Republicans and their supporters are eating her for breakfast regardless of her pluckiness.
4
Authoritarians around the world are stirring up hate and fear to gain power and Trump is one them. For him it is all about winning. Concepts like democracy and good government mean nothing. He will do anything to be a winner. He has apparently sold out to Russia based on observations of his behavior and knowledge of his finances which is no small thing for an American to do. He started his campaign by attacking Muslims and so his attacks on Omar continue this pattern. Can he whip up enough hate and fear in America to win another election. Apparently he believes he can.
2
When "some people do something" very bad, and an entire population is facing threats on a daily basis ever since, then stating this fact out loud is NOT "terrible", it is denouncing racism.
All that Omar did here was remembering the very definition of racism.
So to claim, when a person remembers that only SOME people did something bad, that remembering this would somehow being dismissive of those bad things that happened, means to completely ignore that claiming this IS racist.
And this is what the GOP has been doing for years now: trying to make people as confused as possible about racism, so that they could adopt racist behavior on a daily basis all while making believe that it's others, not them, who are racist.
But once a country's leaders start cultivating racism, it cannot but loose its greatness, as history has shown time and again...
1
As I look around the world, I don't see one majority-Muslim government that is instituting and maintaining anything close to what we call democracy. The religious rights of non-Muslims are not protected, the place of women is subservient, free speech is not tolerated, anti-Semitism is rampant. So, I do not want to see Muslim influence gain traction in American life. Representative Omar is an example of what I don't want to see more of in this country's government.
18
Rep. Omar is at best incredibly naive in public speaking and is starting to affect her party. When you know every word will be scrutinized, twisted or misinterpreted, the last thing you want to do is to give fodder to the crazies in the GOP and force your party to take uncomfortable positions to defend poorly thought statements. I don’t doubt the intention that she had, but having heard her speech her choice of words was poor.
7
After reading through the comments here, I'm shocked that few people are commenting on the most shocking thing of all. Our president tweeted an inflammatory. manipulative propaganda video that stirs up Islamophobia. Whatever one thinks about what Ms. Omar said or didn't say, it is completely irresponsible and dangerous for the leader of our country to fan the flames of bigotry. His job is to represent all Americans and attempt to unify our country, not divide it. I continue to be alarmed every day at the growing animosity in our country and our president's role in it. This cannot have a good outcome.
5
If by "some people," Rep. Omar was not referring to the terrorists, who was she referring to?
If by "did something," Rep. Omar was not referring to the 9/11 attacks, what was she referring to?
Face it, her remarks were unambiguous. "CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized X," and X is that "some people did something," a clear and unambiguous reference to the terrorists on 9/11.
Her remarks are appalling.
15