This week, President Donald Trump continued his tradition of acting as though he’s an authority in an area where he most certainly is not. He claimed that Minnesota Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s apology for claiming the Israel advocacy group AIPAC was paying off politicians was “lame,” but as Omar pointed out this Wednesday — Trump is himself guilty of discrimination and prejudice against a whole range of minorities, and he has yet to even apologize, let alone change his course.
As she put it:
‘Hi Donald Trump — You have trafficked in hate your whole life — against Jews, Muslims, Indigenous, immigrants, black people and more. I learned from people impacted by my words. When will you?’
Hi @realDonaldTrump–
You have trafficked in hate your whole life—against Jews, Muslims, Indigenous, immigrants, black people and more. I learned from people impacted by my words. When will you? https://t.co/EqqTyjkiNE
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 13, 2019
After her initial attention-grabbing remarks, Omar insisted that she “unequivocally” apologizes, noting that she’d been educated on the “painful history of anti-Semitic tropes” — like that Jews are secretly pulling the puppet strings of world leaders for their benefit.
On the other hand — you’d be hard-pressed at best to find an example of Trump apologizing for offering up a sentiment that didn’t just offend but actively ostracized large groups of people. He has not backed down from policy proposals ranging from a ban on Muslims entering the United States to a wall blocking off Mexico because of supposedly dangerous, secretly criminal — or something — immigrants.
When his rhetoric alone has been the culprit, he has also refused to back down. He initially refused to single out white supremacists for any kind of special condemnation after a weekend of violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 that they sparked, and when he faced criticism for that, he refused to acknowledge that he’d ever been out of line and instead just complained that his detractors were bending his arm.
The irony in him claiming Omar should either resign from Congress or the House Foreign Affairs Committee is striking. It’s similar to the situation sparked by his insistence that Michigan Democratic U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib should be ashamed of herself for insisting to a crowd of activists the night after the new Democratic House majority got sworn in that they’d “impeach the motherfucker,” speaking of Trump.
Apparently, he’s not the one tweeting insults — including some occasional profanity — from his Twitter account at all hours of the day? He obviously is; his refusal to accept any sort of self-awareness is simply striking.
Ironically, both Omar and Tlaib are Muslim, and considering the fact that not that long ago, Trump was pushing the line that Muslims posed an innate threat to the United States that must be addressed via a travel ban — it’s not that far-fetched to suggest that their identity weighed on his decisions to go after them, no matter how detached from reality the moves made him look.
Although there’s not a Muslim among the major 2020 presidential candidates to emerge so far, there other minority community members, like Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (N.J.), both of whom are black.
It would be a remarkable feat of irony if Trump was succeeded by one of the people he’s expressed so much hate for while in office.
Check out Twitter’s response to Omar…
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
