‘This Is Not About Me’: Ilhan Omar Stops Traffic In Washington To Respond To Donald Trump
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has been at the forefront of recent attacks from President Donald Trump and his supporters, gave an expected press conference in the middle of a busy Washington, D.C. street Thursday, blocking two lanes of traffic, per a report from The Hill.
According to The Hill report, the first-term congresswoman stopped two lanes of traffic in front of the Capitol on Independence Avenue to speak to journalists about comments made at a rally for the president’s re-election campaign Wednesday night in North Carolina, where rally goers chanted “Send her back!” at the mention of Omar.
Omar insisted that the situation was not about her, but was instead about her vision of what the country was supposed to be.
“I am not [scared for my safety.] What I’m scared for is the safety for people who share my identity,” Omar said, according to The Hill report.
Omar is one of three Muslim members of congress, per The PEW Research Center. She fled her home country of Somalia as a child and is the first Somali American to serve in congress, per TIME.
President Trump on Sunday – in a tweet that many have deemed racist – directed Omar and other congresswomen to “go back” to their ancestral countries. Of the women to whom the president directed his message, Omar is the only one born outside the United States, though she is a U.S. citizen.
BREAKING: Rep. Ilhan Omar says President Trump is “spewing his fascist ideology” after rallygoers chanted "send her back!" https://t.co/wmSzWeNW0D pic.twitter.com/eGLSSyoiyQ
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 18, 2019
According to CNN, the 37-year-old congresswoman told press that Trump was “spewing his fascist ideology” at his North Carolina rally.
Omar is part of a group of four freshman congresswoman that includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who have been deemed a “squad” for their similar progressive policies and frequent criticism of the 45th president.
The rally goers also chanted “treason” and “traitor” when the president referenced Omar and other congresswomen, per a previous report from The Inquisitr.
Omar has received support following Trump’s Wednesday night rally in North Carolina. Meghan McCain, a Republican co-host of The View and vocal critic of Omar’s policies, spoke out against the language used against her, per Rawstory. She claimed that criticizing the congresswoman based on her race made it difficult for political opponents of Omar, like McCain, to criticize her politics.
The press conference was rather unorganized, per The Hill report. Rep. Omar had to help a reporter up from the ground after he tripped and fell over a curb. A lawmaker, who was not named in the article, reportedly got out of his vehicle and began yelling at the press and Omar to get out of the street.
