Elected officials, supporters and the like rallied behind Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), who remained unmoved in the face of yet another racist attack by President Donald Trump.
“I am where I belong, at the people’s house,” the Muslim congresswoman tweeted Wednesday. “And you’re just gonna have to deal!”
Omar, 37, hit back at the president after his supporters broke into a chant of “send her back!” at a raucous campaign rally in Greenville, N.C. Trump shamelessly riled up his base Wednesday as they parroted his latest attack against Omar and three other congresswomen of color, who he dubbed “a bunch of communists” who should “go back” to the countries from which they came.
The “Fab Freshmen” — Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), — are all U.S. citizens. Omar, a Somali immigrant, immigrated to the U.S. as a child refugee.
The president continued his attacks on the four congresswomen and piled on the hate against Omar, who he’s accused of being “anti-Semitic” and un-American” for her criticism of U.S. policies and unquestioning support for Israel.
“She looks down with contempt on the hardworking Americans saying that ignorance is pervasive in many parts of this country,” Trump said at the rally, energizing his supporters. “Omar has a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds.”
The president made several other explosive claims, accusing Omar of “minimizing” the 9/11 attacks and slandering the “brave Americans trying to keep peace” in her native Somalia. Not long before the rally, standing before a gaggle of reporters in South Carolina, Trump repeated the claim that Omar married her brother.
Unfazed, the congresswoman responded in a tweet quoting an excerpt from the late poet Maya Angelou‘s “Still I Rise.”
“You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.– Maya Angelou
Elected officials, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) rushed to Omar’s defense as the president doubled down on his racist rhetoric. The hashtag #IStandWithIlhan quickly became the number one trending topic on social media as messages of support rolled in.
“#IStandWithIlhan against attacks from this racist president, and we should all remember this definition of patriotism,” Warren tweeted.
“Trump is RACIST. Trump supporters are RACIST,” writer David Leavitt added. “The Republican Party that supports him is RACIST. Anyone still debating these facts are RACIST. #IStandWithIlhan”
“We are living in dangerous times,” another added. “Those chanting are not thinking. This is herd mentality. #IStandWithIlhan”
On Tuesday, House Democrats passed a resolution to formally condemn Trump’s bigoted language, but the president has only continued fanning the flames.
Watch more in the video below.
