For anyone who may have forgotten, Trump took some heat but suffered no consequences for inciting violence at his campaign rallies in 2016. It didn’t matter how many people got hurt or how many times Trump was caught on video telling his supporters to “knock the crap out of him,” no one could stop him and the violence just continued.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET! pic.twitter.com/VxrGFRFeJM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2019
On Friday, Trump tweeted about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who gave a speech about the injustices suffered by Muslim Americans following the events of September 11, 2001. In the full speech, she explains that Muslims have always suffered from Islamaphobia, but that increased exponentially when “some people did something” in 2001.
Critics have argued that she trivialized the tragedy, but her meaning is quite clear. The people who did something on 9/11 are in no way tied to every Muslim in the country or in the world, no more so than every white person is tied to the Charlottesville killer, the New Zealand shooter, the man who killed Jewish worshippers in New York, or any other mass murderer. White people distance themselves from such events while Muslims suffer the consequences still today due to the decisions made by terrorists in 2001.
Omar was already the target of numerous death threats thanks to people like Fox News’s Jeanine Pirro, who was suspended from the air after calling Omar un-American, the day after which 50 Muslims were shot and killed in a mosque in New Zealand. With absolutely no regard for her safety, Trump is egging his supporters on toward the Islamaphobia that got those Muslim worshippers killed.
Twitter was appalled by Trump’s tweet, which is now pinned to his Twitter page. Read some of their comments below:
Featured image via Flickr by Lorie Shaull under a Creative Commons license
