‘She can look and maybe learn a little bit about the disaster that is Somalia…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has been known to break ranks with President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans on many issues, such as budget spending and executive authority.
But he stood firm with the president recently amid Democratic accusations of racism—and even raised the stakes on Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.—after Trump declared that she and other anti-American congresswomen ought to “go back” to the countries they pledged allegiance to.
Paul said Omar—a Somali refugee who became an American citizen—might appreciate her adoptive country more by getting a better understanding of what she left behind as a child.
“I’m willing to contribute to buy her a ticket to go visit Somalia,” he told Breitbart News last week during Turning Point USA’s annual Teen Student Action Summit in Washington, DC.
“And I think she can look and maybe learn a little bit about the disaster that is Somalia—that has no capitalism, has no God-given rights guaranteed in a constitution, and has about seven different tribes that have been fighting each other for the last 40 years,” Paul continued.
Paul told Breitbart he had encountered many people who had endured oppressive governments under communist regimes and that they expressed their gratitude at having escaped the despotic systems.
“I’ve met people who have come here from behind the Iron Curtain—they got away from communism,” Paul said. “They’re some of the best Americans we have, because they really appreciate how great our country is, and then I hear Rep. Omar say America is a terrible place.”
He said Omar’s own personal story belied her frequent rhetoric that the U.S. is hostile to immigrants and people of color.
“Well, she came here and we fed her, we clothed her, she got welfare, she got [schooling], she got healthcare, and then, lo and behold, she has the honor of actually winning a seat in Congress, and she says we’re a terrible country?” Paul said. “I think that’s about as ungrateful as you can get.”
Trump made his offending tweets two weeks ago following the attacks from members of “The Squad”—four socialist-leaning freshman House members backed by the Justice Democrats—that included Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez‘s comparison of border detention facilities to Nazi concentration camps and Rep. Rashida Tlaib‘s declaration, on her first day in Congress, that she was “gonna impeach the motherf***er.”
Of the four, only Omar—most notorious for her anti-Semitic remarks and her comments downplaying the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks—is known to have been born outside the U.S.
Tlaib, nonetheless, identifies closely with her Palestinian heritage, and Ocasio–Cortez’s family moved to New York from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, whose governor resigned last week while plagued by accusations of corruption.
So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
Following the tweets, Trump incurred further wrath when, during a North Carolina rally, his supporters initiated a chant of “Send her back” in reference to Omar.
He also riled the Left by criticizing the district of Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., which includes much of majority-black Baltimore, calling it “rat-infested.”
Subsequent tweets by the president showed footage from the district strewn with garbage and riddled with crime.
Trump: Baltimore is a violent place.
(Highest homicide rate in USA / @BaltimorePolice civilian employee assaulted in street/ proper sh*thole)
The left:
Tweet a close up pic of a flower / share a hashtag. Feel better. #WeAreBaltimore
— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) July 28, 2019
Omar embraced her status as a “victim” of the GOP bullying by saying that it was insufficient for Trump opponents simply to disapprove of the comments, but that they must take action.
“It is not enough to condemn Mr. Trump’s racism,”she wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times. “We must affirmatively confront racist policies.”
She then proceeded to outline several economic and social programs, such as increasing the minimum wage and allowing open borders, that would, in fact, exacerbate many of the problems faced by lower-income Americans and minorities.