Omar Pens NYT Op-Ed Likening Trump To a Racist Demagogue

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) penned a scathing op-ed in the New York Times Thursday where she accused President Trump of demagoguery, and even described him as one of the greatest threats to our democracy. Moreover, Omar accused Trump of using his public office to promote racist policies.

“Throughout history, demagogues have used state power to target minority communities and political enemies, often culminating in state violence.” she continued, “Today, we face that threat in our own country, where the president of the United States is using the influence of our highest office to mount racist attacks on communities across the land.”

The reasoning for her swipes, Omar wrote, was Trump’s previous “go back” tweet and a later “send her back” chant that erupted in the crowd of his recent rally . Omar called it ‘fear-mongering’ even though Trump denounced the chant telling reporters “I was not happy with it. I disagree with it.”

Omar shared that her family’s journey to the U.S. after escaping the horrors of a Civil War in Somalia didn’t turn out as planned. Her reasoning: prejudice. “People identified me in ways that were foreign to me: immigrant, black. I learned that these identities carried stigmas, and I experience prejudice as a visibly Muslim woman,” wrote Omar.

Trump, according to Omar, is one of the greatest threats to our Democracy. Omar wrote that Trump has used his authority to act on his own prejudices and institute concrete policy. One example, Omar identified was enacting legislation saying “people from certain Muslim majority countries cannot enter this country is not just a bad policy; it is a direct threat to liberal democracy.”

Omar said Trump has emboldened white supremacists, pinned “religious minorities against one another”, and benefitted “the wealthy elite.”

Click here to read the full op-ed