Wednesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said President Donald Trump’s comments about Somalians were creating a dangerous situation because his followers have “exhibited violence.”
Today at the White House, Trump said, “These Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. They’ve taken billions and billions of dollars. They have a representative, Ilhan Omar, who they say married her brother. She should be thrown the hell out of our country. And most of those people, they have destroyed Minnesota.”
Host Jake Tapper said, “What is the practical impact when a President of the United States demonizes an entire group of people based on ethnicity? And again, you can point to any ethnic group and find dozens of people in that ethnic group who are committing a particular crime. The Mafia comes to mind, right? But no one you don’t hear people saying that about Italians. They did 100 years ago, but they don’t do it today. What is the practical effect on the Somali community when the president says things like that?”
Omar said, “I mean, it creates fear. And there is a possible danger that a lot of the people who follow the president have exhibited violence in many cases, especially in my case, whenever he has said something about me that is derogatory or says I’m a threat to the country, I have gotten death threats. There are so many people that have been incarcerated over the years that have been encouraged by the president’s words. And so there is fear for Somalis, not just in Minnesota, but across the country, that some of these people might attack and harm them.”
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