Watch Rep. Ilhan Omar fire back at CNN for downplaying MAGA racism
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has long been subjected to racist attacks from Republican lawmakers and is not afraid to call out the MAGA movement’s blatant xenophobia—even when CNN anchors try to downplay it.
Omar, a Somali-American who was the first African refugee elected to Congress in 2018 as well as one of the first two Muslim women in the chamber, appeared on the news network Monday, where she was asked to respond to bigoted attacks from Republican Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas. Gill sent out a fundraising email that included a petition calling for Omar to be deported because she advised immigrants in her district on their legal rights if questioned by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers.
“I mean, again, you know, these are people who have really stopped caring about our institutions, really stopped caring about our Constitution,” said Omar, who has been a U.S. citizen since 2000. “I know that it is red meat for his base that are xenophobic and racist, to say to them that I am going to find a way to arrest and deport a member of Congress.”
CNN host Pam Brown then chimed in with some knee-jerk language policing.
“Just to be clear,” Brown asked. “You’re not calling his—all his base, xenophobic and racist, right?”
But Omar did not walk her words back.
“Well, I mean, he is leading to something,” Omar answered. “He has a petition out. He’s getting donations. That’s what this is all about. He knows he can’t deport me, there is no grounds for my arrest. So this information is only being put out there by him for a reason, and that reason is because he has a base that feeds off of that.”
Gill’s lie-filled fundraising email stated, “Recently, it came out that Ilhan Omar is hosting free workshops for Somalians, who are in our country illegally, on how to evade ICE and deportation.” Gill accused the congresswoman of being “more loyal to illegal Somalians than she is to the United States, the office she was elected to.”
Omar is an African woman who wears a hijab, and her GOP foes have eagerly “othered” her as an immigrant. While Omar is now a citizen, Somali refugees have temporary protected status in the United States, which means they aren’t here “illegally,” as Gill claims. But racist Congress members and their MAGA voters don’t care about that distinction.
Like many other craven and opportunistic Republicans, Gill has been publicly kissing Trump’s ass, which culminated in his introduction of a measure to replace Benjamin Franklin’s face on the $100 bill with none other than the orange führer’s mug.
The GOP’s attacks on women of color aren’t a new phenomenon. Less than one month ago, Trump’s anti-immigrant border czar, Tom Homan, said he wanted the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York for similar efforts to educate immigrants about their rights.
In gooselockstep, House Republicans are using their majority to hold committee hearings and attack and pressure local municipalities unwilling to give the president’s deportation thugs free reign over their cities and citizens.
Brown’s attempt to minimize Omar’s words is par for the course these days, as traditional media outlets including CNN attempt to evade Trump’s fascist wrath. Omar, who has spent much of her career being asked inherently flawed questions about bigotry, did an excellent job of handling another round of dishonest media scrutiny.