Likely incoming Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said that he plans to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Mogadishu) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her troublesome habit of making anti-Semitic statements, and now the winsome Omar has struck back–not, of course, by apologizing for her anti-Semitism and vowing to make amends, but by accusing McCarthy and the Republican Party in general of (surprise!) “Islamophobia,” “racism” and more. To the man who has only a hammer, every problem looks like a nail, and to Ilhan Omar, everyone who opposes her must be an “Islamophobe” and a racist. After all, why else would anyone possibly stand against such a patriotic, accomplished, and eloquent legislator as she?
Omar issued a statement Monday complaining that “from the moment I was elected, the Republican Party has made it their mission to use fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to target me on the House Floor and through millions of dollars of campaign ads.”
As completely predictable as this claim is, it warrants scrutiny. Omar is trying to give the impression that the Republicans have used “fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism” against her on a regular basis. Really? Has anyone in the Republican Party ever stated that Ilhan Omar should be opposed because she wasn’t born in the United States? Has any Republican ever said that the problem with Ilhan Omar is that she is a Muslim? Has any Republican gone before the waiting establishment media cameras and proclaimed that he or she opposes Ilhan Omar because Omar is black?
Of course not. What Ilhan Omar is claiming here is that “xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism” are what really motivate any criticism of her, no matter what the criticism is for and what is actually said. She has no evidence of this, of course, beyond the usual Leftist contention that everything Republicans do is xenophobic, “Islamophobic” and racist, and for most of her hapless followers, that’s quite enough. Like Omar herself, they know that those nasty Republicans are just inveterately intolerant, and they’re not going to tolerate that sort of thing for one minute.
Omar went on, once again predictably, to claim that this horrible Republican criticism had put her in danger because, as we all know, any speech that dissents from the Left’s agenda is tantamount to violence: “Whether it is Marjorie Taylor Greene holding a gun next to my head in campaign ads or Donald Trump threatening to ‘send me back’ to my country [despite the fact that I have been a proud citizen of the United States for more than 20 years], this constant stream of hate has led to hundreds of death threats and credible plots against me and my family.”
Omar was referring to a 2020 ad in which Greene was pictured holding a rifle. The ad also included photos of “The Squad”: Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Make Mine A Double) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Ramallah). It said: “Hate America leftists want to take this country down. Our country is on the line. America needs fighters who speak the truth. We need strong conservative Christians to go on the offense against these socialists who want to rip our country apart. Americans must take our country back. SAVE AMERICA. STOP SOCIALISM. DEFEAT THE DEMOCRATS!” Omar made that about race also, tweeting: “Posting a photo with an assault rifle next to the faces of three women of color is not advertising. It’s incitement. There are already death threats in response to this post. Facebook should remove this violent provocation.”
Related: MSNBC Brings on a Famous Anti-Semite to Discuss Anti-Semitism
Greene responded: “I NEVER threatened violence to the squad or anyone. My post with the meme said America needs fighters who speak the truth. Speaking the truth is not threatening violence, the squad refusing to condemn and supporting Antifa/BLM violence is the real danger to all of us.” She tweeted: “Relax @IlhanMN, it’s just a meme. What isn’t a meme is BLM / ANTIFA violence, rioting, and destruction that occurred on Minneapolis streets. While your city was being burned and innocent people of color like David Dorn were killed, you called BLM / ANTIFA peaceful protesters.”
Indeed. But two years later, not one thing has changed: Omar is still claiming that any criticism of her at all is racism and an incitement to violence. Her agenda is quite clear: Like so very many others on the Left, she appears determined to silence that criticism by equating it with criminality, and bring about a situation in which no one will dare to utter a negative word about her for fear of being tarred with the same potentially career-ending charges. That’s her hammer, and Ilhan Omar is going to keep pounding away at every nail she thinks she sees.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member