Appearing on Showtime’s The Circus Sunday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said Islamophobia played a role in the Democrat Party’s failed attempt to rebuke Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) recent antisemitic remarks.
A transcript is as follows:
ALEX WAGNER: Why do you think people in your own party reacted so strongly against what [Rep. Omar] said?
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB: I am trying to figure it out. It’s just this past week, I feel, and I know this would be somewhat shocking for some, but I think Islamophobia is very much among the Democratic Party as well as the Republican Party. And I know that’s hard for people to hear, but there’s only been four members of Congress that are of Muslim faith. Three of them currently serve in this institution. More of us need to get elected, more of us need to understand as we come into this institution that I have a lot of work to do with my colleagues.
WAGNER: So you think Democrats have some Islamophobia and that’s at the root of some of this consternation?
REP. TLAIB: I think our country’s struggling with it.