When an undocumented immigrant killed college student Mollie Tibbetts, President Donald Trump spoke on it for weeks, insisting that it meant that undocumented immigrants were a serious threat. They were enough of a threat, he said, that he eventually declared a national emergency over undocumented immigration.
After 26 of the 1.5 billion people of Islamic faith orchestrated an attack on American soil on September 11, 2001, Muslims were labeled the biggest threat to all American lives by the GOP and, later, Trump. He insisted that Muslims “hate us,” that all 1.5 billion needed to be banned from entering the United States, and that they present the biggest threat to all countries around the world thanks to immigration.
When confronted with statistics showing that 71 percent of terroristic fatalities in the U.S. between 2008 and 2017 were committed by white supremacists, however, Trump insisted that white supremacy is still not something he considers a threat.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called Trump out for that denial, and Twitter lost its collective mind. She was taking him out of context, they said. She was putting words in his mouth. A lot of Trumpsters, and even some Twitter users who aren’t supportive of Trump, were angry at the young new congresswoman for calling out Trump’s hypocrisy and the message he has sent by not condemning white supremacy outright in the wake of the mass shooting in New Zealand.
There is no doubt that if the shooter had been Muslim or an undocumented immigrant, Trump would have condemned those aspects of his identity and fearmongered around every Muslim and every undocumented immigrant, insisting that good, white Americans are threatened by their very existence.
It is not enough to condemn hate and racism. Trump has yet to condemn Islamaphobia despite the fact that he is the president of a country that includes Muslims, people he is supposed to represent. Ocasio-Cortez is not wrong, and more members of Congress should speak out about this.
A lot of insults were thrown at the new representative in Congress, but a lot of her supporters on Twitter were quick to defend her, too. Read some of their comments below:
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
