House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent the weekend in Germany blasting President Donald Trump for his criticism of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) — but it didn’t take long for the commander-in-chief to fire back.
In a tweet on Monday, the president called Omar “out of control” before slamming the freshman congresswoman’s apparent hold on Nancy Pelosi.
“She is out of control,” Trump said of Omar, “except for her control of Nancy!”
Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made. She is out of control, except for her control of Nancy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019
“Some people did something”
Trump’s Monday tweet came in response to a series of controversial remarks that came from the House speaker over the weekend. On a trip to Germany, Pelosi blasted Trump’s previous criticism of Omar, which came after Omar downplayed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 to simply: “Some people did something.”
The president had reacted by sharing a video on Twitter in which Omar can be heard repeatedly saying the inflammatory line over footage from the deadly attacks.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET! pic.twitter.com/VxrGFRFeJM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2019
That prompted backlash from Pelosi, who tweeted on Saturday: “The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground, and any discussion of it must be done with reverence. The President shouldn’t use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack.”
She went on to say “it is wrong” for Trump “to fan the flames to make anyone” — namely, Omar — “less safe.” She later released a statement calling for increased security for the Minnesota Democrat, who has made headlines in recent weeks for repeated controversial, some say offensive, comments.
“Following the president’s tweet, I spoke with the Sergeant-at-Arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff. They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces,” Pelosi said. “The president’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video.”
“What if he was a Muslim?”
But while Omar continues to allege she’s facing increased death threats over her latest remarks about 9/11, she remains undaunted, choosing to defend her statement and play the part of a victim rather than admit she slipped up. She even drew a false parallel between her statement and one made by then-President George W. Bush, in which he called the World Trade Centers “buildings,” to suggest that Bush, unlike her, was not criticized because he is not Muslim.
“The people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!” President George W. Bush
Was Bush downplaying the terrorist attack?
What if he was a Muslim 🤔 https://t.co/XMazssoD49
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 12, 2019
Of course, Bush made his statement in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, before it was clear who had committed the heinous acts — but Omar failed to note that. And so did her supporters — among them, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who have argued that any criticization of Omar’s comments threatens her safety.
For her part, at least Pelosi said she attempted to speak with Omar regarding her controversial comments on 9/11 — Pelosi said Omar “was in transit” when “we tried to reach her” — but that doesn’t make up for her attack on Trump after the fact.
And this is far from the first time Pelosi has changed course on Omar. After the freshman congresswoman made remarks that many called anti-Semitic earlier this year, Pelosi originally criticized Omar, but later failed to follow through on a House resolution that was set to condemn Omar and her comments. The resolution ended up serving as merely a watered-down condemnation of all hate speech, including Islamophobia.
Indeed, as Trump said in his tweets, it seems Omar, with her allies in Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib, has quite the stronghold on Pelosi. Who’s really leading the Democratic Party?
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