Criticism is continuing to build over President Donald Trump’s treatment of women of color newly serving in Congress, including most recently Minnesota progressive Ilhan Omar. After he happily presided over chants of “Send her back!” targeting the Congresswoman at a Wednesday rally, Massachusetts U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has joined the chorus of those bluntly slamming the president for his behavior. Besides the fact that the president of the United States is very obviously employing racism, targeting Omar and others based on the color of their skin, his commentary already has the documented effect of putting figures like Omar in danger via placing a rhetorical target on her.
Warren shared:
‘#IStandWithIlhan against attacks from this racist president, and we should all remember this definition of patriotism.’
#IStandWithIlhan against attacks from this racist president, and we should all remember this definition of patriotism. https://t.co/PzFT1bNfF2
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 18, 2019
She was responding to a post on Twitter from Omar herself, who shared that true patriotism is “not about blindly supporting a single Administration” but instead about “fighting for our country and its dignity.” Trump himself has repeatedly conflated the two, alleging that figures from Omar to soccer star Megan Rapinoe “hate America” or something because they dared criticize his administration. In reality, there’s no secret conspiracy of people plotting against the United States among progressives. People are just sick and tired of Trump using racism, misogyny, and more to ferment hate in the American population.
Although he didn’t start shouting and pumping his own fist during the Wednesday rally chant, earlier in the week — and repeatedly since — he has insisted that Omar and other progressive women of color including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) should “go back to where they came from.”
Warren is far from the only one to express solidarity with Omar following the president targeting her. Hundreds of thousands of tweets rapidly went up in the time following Trump’s Wednesday rally with the hashtag “#IStandWithIlhan,” and those sharing their support included political leaders from literally around the world like here in the U.S., including Warren’s fellow Democratic presidential candidates former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and more.
Remarkably enough, even following Trump getting a crowd of thousands upon thousands of people to chant that a woman of color should be deported because they didn’t like her, the GOP stayed solidly fallen in line. Only four Republicans backed a House resolution condemning Trump’s behavior earlier in the week as racist. More recently, the standing Republican position seemed well-exemplified by North Carolina Congressman Mark Walker essentially saying maybe the “send her back” chant wasn’t so bad after all.
Check out Twitter’s response to Warren…
Featured Image via screenshot
