No Politician Ever Has Been 'Treated as Badly' as Ilhan Omar — Except Maybe Every Republican

This is a remarkable op-ed in The Independent that hauls out the crying towel for Rep. Ilhan Omar and claims: “No politician in living memory has been treated as badly as Ilhan Omar.”

And the fault is racist America.

In fact, the mainstream media fawns over Omar, giving her hateful, bigoted views loving attention whenever she opens her mouth.

Apparently, the author of this love letter to Omar, Tasmiha Kahn, is also a woman “of colour who wears a headscarf.” But far more than the superficial resemblance to Omar, Ms. Khan shares the same far-left philosophy as her role model.

The propaganda campaign against Omar shows no signs of stopping. This is not only an attack on Omar and her family, but all minorities that make up the fabric of this nation. Given that Omar is a visibly Muslim woman, who wears a headscarf, there are serious ramifications for people like me.

Like Omar, I am a Muslim American who also happens to be a person of colour. The combination of hijab and being brown does not always go down well in our predominantly white society.

Being “different” never does “go down well” in any society. Try being gay in the black community — or in a Muslim community for that matter.

Because of my appearance, I am all too often subjected to judgement. This makes me feel like anything I say, like Omar, has the potential to be taken out of context. It makes me feel that I, like Omar, am also under the magnifying glass. I should not have to fear for my life or that of any other Muslim. If we allow such cruel rhetoric to snowball, we are contributing towards our own demise.

Being “subjected to judgment” is part of the human condition. It’s crazy not to expect some slack-jawed mouthbreathers to make fun or hurl taunts or say hateful things to a woman wearing a scarf. It’s also disturbing that many in Khan’s position easily imagine that stares by ordinary people are somehow racist. They could be staring at her for any number of reasons, not just because of her race or religion.

In fact. the mainstream media fawns over Omar, giving her hateful, bigoted views loving attention whenever she opens her mouth. I would surmise she is treated a lot more fairly than most conservatives. Ms. Kahn must be talking about internet trolls, Twitter bullies, and others who post threats and insults and have — most of them — a very small, equally stupid audience.

From the start of our democracy, politicians have proudly held starkly different views. But have attacks ever been as vicious as they are against Omar? We need to get back to a time of civil debate instead of attacks and censorship. And I’m not just talking about Trump: many Democrats have also facilitated the silencing of Omar.

Is Khan really as oblivious to reality as this? What planet does she live on? For more than 40 years, every single prominent conservative figure has been forced to endure hate and vitriol unlike anything seen before in American politics. Is it an accident that Omar accuses everyone and their brother of being a “racist” or “anti-Muslim” — just like Ms. Khan?

We should not weep for a woman — Muslim or not — who accuses Jews of controlling the government or of “genocide” or who charges white people as a race with oppression, racial supremacy, and hatred. She — and those who defend her using the same tactics — will get no sympathy from those of us who have endured the lies, exaggerations, and misstatements of fact from the far left-wing for most of our lives.