Monday October 19, 2020
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., walks through the halls of the Capitol building in Washington.Andrew Harnik | AP file
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar wrote a message on Twitter following President Donald Trump's recent accusations about her politics and personal life.
In a tweet Saturday night, she is seemingly referencing his latest remarks at campaign rallies held on Friday and earlier Saturday.
"He is unraveling. What you are witnessing is the weakest expression of strength," she wrote. "It's similar to the final acts of fallen dictators. We will outlast him because our stronger [muscle]."
Alongside other members of The Squad—the group of women elected to Congress during the 2018 elections, consisting of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, in addition Omar—the Minnesota congresswoman is periodically subject to verbal attacks from the president. Trump mentioned Omar numerous times during events promoting his reelection campaign over the weekend, initially during a rally in Ocala, Florida, and again during another in Muskegon, Michigan, the following day.
The president accused Omar, who was born in Somalia and came to the U.S. as a refugee at 12 years old, of entering the country illegally while speaking to Florida supporters on Friday. He also said she "married her brother or something," reiterating unproven claims from Omar's critics, who suggested she did so to gain permanent resident status. Trump has said this before.
"She hates our country. She comes from a place that doesn't even have a government, and then she comes here, tells us how to run our country," he continued Friday in ongoing comments about Omar, who is seeking a second congressional term this November.
The president shared similar statements during a subsequent campaign event in Michigan on Saturday, going as far as to say she "truly hates our country." There, he told attendees, "we're going to win Minnesota," and "having people like Omar [representing the state] doesn't hurt, either." The latest election polls conducted in Minnesota show Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leading Trump by double-digit margins.
"She's one of the reasons we're going to win," he said at the Michigan rally. "We're going to win because of Ilhan, right?"
Before her Saturday evening tweet, Omar retweeted a post by Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline that referenced Trump's attack on her:
Trump's weekend comments came slightly more than two weeks after he accused Omar of ballot harvesting, another unsubstantiated claim, during a campaign rally in Minnesota. The rally followed his widely criticized performance at this year's first presidential debate, where he failed to explicitly condemn white supremacists and associated militia groups. Trump's allegations related to voter fraud were among multiple xenophobic comments shared during the event, primarily focusing on refugees in Minnesota.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and Omar's district office for comments, but did not receive replies in time for publication.