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Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump is refusing to tone down his rhetoric after an assault on Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
What occurred? Omar, a Somali American who represents Minneapolis in Congress, was attacked at a city corridor on Tuesday by a person who sprayed an unknown liquid on her with a syringe. She was unhurt and capable of proceed the city corridor, nevertheless it was an alarming second after months of virulently racist rhetoric in opposition to Somalis and Somali People by Trump.
When requested concerning the assault Tuesday night, Trump instructed ABC that “I feel [Omar]‘s a fraud. … She most likely had herself sprayed, figuring out her.”
What’s the context? Trump has verbally attacked Omar for years, together with telling her and three different members of Congress to “return” to their house nations in 2019 (of the 4, solely Omar was born exterior of the US; she is a naturalized US citizen).
Lately, nonetheless, Trump has taken a fair darker flip: In December, he known as Somali immigrants “rubbish” who’ve “destroyed our nation”; this month, he stated, “I all the time say these are low-IQ folks. How do they go into Minnesota and steal all that cash?”
The present ICE and CBP presence in Minneapolis started as an try to focus on town’s massive Somali neighborhood following right-wing outrage over a welfare fraud scandal (lots of these charged in reference to the scandal are Somali American).
Why does this matter? We don’t know for certain if Trump’s rhetoric is instantly linked to the assault on Omar, although there may be proof that her attacker supported Trump. However what we do know is unhealthy sufficient: Along with being shockingly hateful, Trump’s verbal assaults on Omar and Somali People dehumanize a complete neighborhood. And brutal immigration operations focusing on Somali immigrants — first in Minneapolis and now in Maine — observe the logic of collective punishment.
