Donald Trump harangued Muslim-American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for referring to the 9/11 terror acts as 'some people did something,&#...
Donald Trump harangued Muslim-American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for referring to the 9/11 terror acts as 'some people did something,' sharing a video on Friday night that shows graphic images of the attack and its aftermath.
He tweeted 'WE WILL NEVER FORGET!' and a 43 second video that showed Omar's comment during a speech to the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), interspersed with footage from September 11.
The video does not include Omar's full statement, '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,' or any other soundbites from her speech.
His assault came after Omar compared her controversial comment to one George W. Bush made after the attack, suggesting Friday that he would have faced similar backlash if he were Muslim.
'Was Bush downplaying the terrorist attack? What if he was a Muslim,' she asked on Twitter.
Progressive Democrats, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, lined up to support Omar in response to a plea from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for fellow lawmakers to condemn Trump's tweet targeting the freshman congresswoman.
They called the president's behavior 'disgusting' and noted that Omar was receiving death threats.
The Washington Post first noted that Bush once referred to the terrorists as 'the people who knocked these buildings down' in remarks at Ground Zero a few days after the attack.
Omar piggybacked on the example in a tweet that linked to the original article.
She had said at a fundraiser for CAIR that the organization '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.
'So you can’t just say that today someone is looking at me strange and that I am trying to make myself look pleasant. You have to say that this person is looking at me strange, I am not comfortable with it, and I am going to talk to them and ask them why. Because that is the right you have,' she stated.
The remarks earned her new criticism, having already weathered allegations that she's an anti-Semite.
'First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as "some people who did something,"' GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw said in an accusatory tweet. 'Unbelievable.'
Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade said on the morning program he co-hosts, 'You have to wonder if she’s an American first.'
The New York Post on Thursday even went as far as to splash a photograph one of the World Trade Center towers collapsing in a ball of flames, with the banner: 'Rep. Ilhan Omar: 9/11 was 'some people did something.'
The Washington Post's fact checker pointed out that Bush once said something similar in a Sept. 14, 2001 speech, when he spoke through a bullhorn at Ground Zero.
Bush told rescue workers in an impromptu speech through a bullhorn that the nation mourns victims of the Twin Towers attack.
'I can’t hear you!' one told him. Bush said, 'I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!'
It was part of an intentional effort by Bush not to refer to the attackers as Muslims.
Three days after the impromptu speech delivered by bullhorn, Bush visited the Islamic Center of Washington D.C. to condemn attacks on Muslims.
He said: 'The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war.
'Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America, they represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior.'
Minnesota's Amy Klobuchar joined her Senate colleagues in supporting Omar hours later. She was careful to note that she does not condone the congresswoman's remarks but found Trump's tweet to be offensive
Omar connected the dots on Friday and pointed out in a tweet that Bush did not come under assault for having referred to the attackers as 'people' instead of murderers or terrorists.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference shortly after Omar sent the tweet that she had not connected with the congresswoman yet.
'I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with her to see the nature of her comment, and as is my custom with colleagues I call them in before I call them out. So I’ll look forward to hearing from her,' she said. 'She was in transit, we tried to reach her, she was in transit. So I’ll have some comment after I do speak to her.'
Democrats were at a retreat in Northern Virginia on Thursday, where the comments, that were revealed in an April 8 video posted to Twitter, were a topic of discussion.
Ocasio-Cortez defended her colleague to reporters staking the retreat out.
'We are getting to the level where this is an incitement of violence against progressive women of color,' the New York representative said.
Ocasio-Cortez smacked Crenshaw on Twitter for declining to cosponsor the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund while having the 'audacity to drum resentment towards Ilhan w/completely out-of-context quotes.'
She told the Texas congressman to 'go do something' about Republicans making insensitive comments.
After Trump amplified Omar's remarks on Friday night, Ocasio-Cortez called on fellow lawmakers to support the Minnesota congresswoman.
'Members of Congress have a duty to respond to the President’s explicit attack today. @IlhanMN’s life is in danger. For our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit in the outright, dangerous targeting of a member of Congress,' she tweeted. 'We must speak out.'
AOC shared an image of Martin Niemöller's 'First they came ... ' poem as part of her call to action.
The version of the poem she shared says: 'First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
'Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me,' the last line of the poem that's featured in United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says.
Ocasio-Cortez took on Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), who had blasted Omar's comments and circulated a short clip
Sanders answered her call half-an-hour later. The Vermont senator and 2020 presidential candidate said in a tweet: 'Ilhan Omar is a leader with strength and courage. She won't back down to Trump's racism and hate, and neither will we. The disgusting and dangerous attacks against her must end.'
Left-wing Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who's also seeking the presidency, was close behind her 2020 opponent with a tweet that that accused Trump of 'inciting violence against a sitting Congresswoman—and an entire group of Americans based on their religion.
'It's disgusting. It's shameful. And any elected leader who refuses to condemn it shares responsibility for it,' the Massachusetts senator wrote.
Minnesota's Amy Klobuchar joined her Senate colleagues in supporting Omar hours later. She was careful to note that she does not condone the congresswoman's remarks but found Trump's tweet to be offensive.
The Democratic presidential candidate who shares her home state with Omar said: 'Someone has already been charged with a serious threat on Congresswoman Omar’s life. The video the President chose to send out today will only incite more hate. You can disagree with her words—as I have done before—but this video is wrong. Enough.'
Other candidates including Beto O'Rourke, Pete Buttigieg and Julián Castro also condemned Trump's attack on Omar.
Buttigieg, who served in the U.S. Navy reserve, tweeted: 'I served oversea, at risk to my life, in the struggle against such terrorism. But it can only be fully defeated if we have leaders at home who defuse its capacity to sow hate - hate against Islam or against any number of "others."
'The president today made America smaller. It is not enough to condemn him; we must model something better.
'The threats against the life of @IlhanMN make clear what is at stake if we fail to to do this, and to beat back hate in all all its forms.'
Other candidates including Beto O'Rourke, Pete Buttigieg and Julián Castro also condemned Trump's attack on Omar
Omar spoke about threats of violence she had received, as she defended herself against the 'double standards' she said she faces, to Late Show host Stephen Colbert earlier in the week. She that she is 'as American as everyone else' and suffers from anti-Muslim discrimination.
Last week, police in New York arrested a man for allegedly threatening to 'put a bullet in her [expletive] skull.'
She told Colbert: 'I took an oath - I took an oath to the Constitution. I am as American as everyone else is.'
The issue of whether to link al Qaeda and other terrorist attacks including 9/11 to Islam became a campaign issue in 2016 when Trump accused former Barack Obama of refusing to call out 'radical Islamic terrorism.'
He then leveled the same charge at Hillary Clinton, accusing her of being in 'total denial' for not calling the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, the work of a radical Islamic terrorist.
She had tweeted: 'Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people, and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.'
Trump said, 'She is in total denial. And her continuing reluctance to ever name the enemy broadcasts weakness across the world.'
However, when he made his first foreign trip as president to Saudi Arabia, the home country of a majority of the 9/11 attackers and its mastermind Osama bin Laden, he struck a different note.
'This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects, or different civilizations,' Trump said. 'This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it.'
OMG. i could go on all day about 2 110 story towers each being rendered into powder at the unheard of rate of 11 floors per second. but i shouldn't have to. i could also go on all day about a 3rd tower collapsing into it's own footprint at the regular rate of 7 floors per second. but i shouldn't have to. oh, and that was only 3 out of a total of 7 buildings that were demolished that day. oops.
ReplyDeleteAOC mentioned 9/11 - which proves that she has more balls than everybody else.
everybody else.
edit) jet fuel. frickin jet fuel.
figure it out idiots.