In remarks to reporters this week, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) called for substantive action to be taken against Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) in response to the “hateful” behavior that she has recently displayed. Omar has been repeatedly targeted by Boebert — in a recent instance that set off fitting outrage, Boebert was filmed mockingly comparing Omar (who is Muslim and was born in Somalia) to a suicide bomber. Boebert shared a tepid apology for her remarks… but then footage emerged of another instance where she’d made similarly demented, racist jokes.
“When a sitting member of Congress calls a colleague a member of the ‘Jihad Squad’… it is not just an attack on me, but on millions of American Muslims across this country,” Omar says of Boebert.
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) November 30, 2021
Omar has insisted that the whole scenario that Boebert used as the set-up for her remarks was made up. Specifically, Boebert claimed to have been walking in the Capitol when she saw a police officer running up to an elevator in which she stood, looking concerned. Boebert claims that she then noticed that Omar was present — implying that she’s the one who the officer had been concerned about — and added that she concluded at the time that since Omar didn’t have a backpack, everyone would be fine.
.@MaddowBlog: The question isn't whether Rep. Boebert is a decent and respectable official; the question is what the GOP will do to rescue the party from people like Boebert. https://t.co/pOABn9Rq8e
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) December 1, 2021
Punishments for Boebert could include censure and removing her from her committee spots in the House. Both moves can be taken with the support of a simple majority in the chamber. As Omar pointedly put it:
‘This kind of hateful rhetoric and actions can not go without punishment. There has to be accountability. I remember reading this statement after the last censure from Speaker Pelosi, and I remember her explicitly saying that we have to restore honor and decency. And if and when the Republican conference fails to do so, it is going to be our job to do that.’
Watch Omar’s remarks below:
Asked whether Rep. Boebert should face censure or lose committee seats, Rep. Omar says, “This kind of hateful rhetoric and actions cannot go without punishment. There has to be accountability.” https://t.co/8EJplAbi8s pic.twitter.com/6Q2bxPq7NJ
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 30, 2021
As Omar referenced, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) was recently censured after he posted an edited, partly animated video showing himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who is generally considered an ally of Omar in Congress. Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and other women of color in the House were singled out by then-President Trump himself at one point, who said that they should “go back” to where they came from rather than critiquing U.S. policies, as if they were somehow forbidden from engaging in the same sort of social discussions in which white Americans on Trump’s side regularly participate. In other words, the GOP culture of fostering racism extends to a disturbing degree — and even those who don’t actively participate but don’t speak out against it are complicit.
How many elected national Republicans bar Kinzinger have spoken out and condemned Boebert and Greene's anti-Omar, anti-Muslim bigotry? Do we have a count? Anything from Mitt Romney, who has faced his own religious bigotry within the GOP?
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) December 1, 2021
