After protesters crashed an AOC town hall earlier this month, calling her a sellout on foreign policy despite her being labeled a "progressive" - now it's another member of 'the Squad' whose political rallies are getting crashed.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar held a town hall Thursday night in Richfield, Minnesota - which came days after she was among 30 Progressive Dems to issue a letter to President Biden urging a diplomatic solution on Ukraine, but which was retracted merely less than a day later after backlash from fellow Democrats. Like AOC before, anti-war activists demanded answers from Rep Omar on Ukraine. Journalist and independent political commentator Michael Tracy observed of a video clip of the exchange, "Pressed on her Ukraine war position for what may be the first time since February, Ilhan Omar just starts incoherently scream-crying"....
Ilhan Omar doubles down on backing Ukraine and yells at anti-war protesters pic.twitter.com/MbIkuug52z
— samirah (@SameeraKhan) October 28, 2022
"You are supposed to be a progressive democrat! Anti-war! Anti-war!" - a protester can be heard shouting during her talk. She then responded: "We are helping Ukraine defend themselves..."
"$80 billion to Ukraine is not anti war" - the man continued interrupting. She then struggled to explain as tensions in the room grew that the aid is saving Ukrainian lives amid the Russian onslaught.
Immediately after the town hall incident in which Omar was called a "warmonger" she took to Twitter to denounce the activists as "dangerous propagandists".
"I am sorry, you all aren’t ‘anti-war protesters,’ you are dangerous propagandists who are literally making a mockery of the anti-war movement," she wrote in a pair of tweets.
She added: "I have never had the pleasure of responding to [Russia’s] ridiculous internet disinformation in person before. Thank you for the opportunity"
She defended her yes votes in support of massive US aid to Ukraine as not at all 'promoting war'. "I am amazed at the nerve that some people have to not be upset with the country literally waging war, but at the country defending itself and those helping them do that," the Minnesota Democrat commented additionally.
I am sorry, you all aren’t “anti war protesters”, you are dangerous propagandists who are literally making a mockery of the anti war movement.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 28, 2022
I have never had the pleasure of responding to 🇷🇺 ridiculous internet disinformation in person before. Thank you for the opportunity ✌🏽 https://t.co/xzTLQCymgO
And further: "I was even told by one of these people tonight, ‘it’s America that started the Russia war,’ seriously wtf," she said in the aftermath.
But some have noted that seven months ago, and early on in the Russian invasion, Rep Omar was tweeting about how dangerous it would be to flood Ukraine with West-supplied weapons...
Back in March, Ilhan Omar sounded a lot like the antiwar protesters she demonizes today as Putin puppets.
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) October 28, 2022
Her rhetoric then was purely performative, while her actions ultimately reinforced the objectives of Empire.
This is why we call them the #fraudsquad. pic.twitter.com/RM64jQCP6Y
And yet now Omar, AOC, and fellow Progressives in Congress have proven they are afraid to so much as raise the potential for diplomacy with Russia, in the face of nuclear-armed confrontation - even after President Biden himself admitted the world is staring down nuclear "Armageddon".
The #FraudSquad surrenders yet again 🏳🏳🏳 https://t.co/ITfNUm0yt2
— Gramsci en colère (@AmericanDevine) October 25, 2022
During the town hall fiasco with the protesters, Omar defended her policies by broadly invoking the children of Ukraine...
“We are helping little children like me that had been helped,” she said, in reference to her own experience of coming to America as a young refugee.
"Listen. Unless you have not been paying attention to what is happening, there are millions of Ukrainians that have been displaced. There are piles of bodies that are being found in mass graves," she said while raising her voice. "There are little children [whose] lives are being lost…" The protesters then cited the killings of civilians by Ukrainian forces in the Donbas going back to 2014.
By the end of the back-and-forth, Omar is seen getting emotional and almost screaming, with her voice cracking in anger and frustration as she shouts down the heckler.
After protesters crashed an AOC town hall earlier this month, calling her a sellout on foreign policy despite her being labeled a “progressive” – now it’s another member of ‘the Squad’ whose political rallies are getting crashed.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar held a town hall Thursday night in Richfield, Minnesota – which came days after she was among 30 Progressive Dems to issue a letter to President Biden urging a diplomatic solution on Ukraine, but which was retracted merely less than a day later after backlash from fellow Democrats. Like AOC before, anti-war activists demanded answers from Rep Omar on Ukraine. Journalist and independent political commentator Michael Tracy observed of a video clip of the exchange, “Pressed on her Ukraine war position for what may be the first time since February, Ilhan Omar just starts incoherently scream-crying”….
Ilhan Omar doubles down on backing Ukraine and yells at anti-war protesters pic.twitter.com/MbIkuug52z
— samirah (@SameeraKhan) October 28, 2022
“You are supposed to be a progressive democrat! Anti-war! Anti-war!” – a protester can be heard shouting during her talk. She then responded: “We are helping Ukraine defend themselves…”
“$80 billion to Ukraine is not anti war” – the man continued interrupting. She then struggled to explain as tensions in the room grew that the aid is saving Ukrainian lives amid the Russian onslaught.
Immediately after the town hall incident in which Omar was called a “warmonger” she took to Twitter to denounce the activists as “dangerous propagandists”.
“I am sorry, you all aren’t ‘anti-war protesters,’ you are dangerous propagandists who are literally making a mockery of the anti-war movement,” she wrote in a pair of tweets.
She added: “I have never had the pleasure of responding to [Russia’s] ridiculous internet disinformation in person before. Thank you for the opportunity”
She defended her yes votes in support of massive US aid to Ukraine as not at all ‘promoting war’. “I am amazed at the nerve that some people have to not be upset with the country literally waging war, but at the country defending itself and those helping them do that,” the Minnesota Democrat commented additionally.
I am sorry, you all aren’t “anti war protesters”, you are dangerous propagandists who are literally making a mockery of the anti war movement.
I have never had the pleasure of responding to 🇷🇺 ridiculous internet disinformation in person before. Thank you for the opportunity ✌🏽 https://t.co/xzTLQCymgO
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 28, 2022
And further: “I was even told by one of these people tonight, ‘it’s America that started the Russia war,’ seriously wtf,” she said in the aftermath.
But some have noted that seven months ago, and early on in the Russian invasion, Rep Omar was tweeting about how dangerous it would be to flood Ukraine with West-supplied weapons…
Back in March, Ilhan Omar sounded a lot like the antiwar protesters she demonizes today as Putin puppets.
Her rhetoric then was purely performative, while her actions ultimately reinforced the objectives of Empire.
This is why we call them the #fraudsquad. pic.twitter.com/RM64jQCP6Y
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) October 28, 2022
And yet now Omar, AOC, and fellow Progressives in Congress have proven they are afraid to so much as raise the potential for diplomacy with Russia, in the face of nuclear-armed confrontation – even after President Biden himself admitted the world is staring down nuclear “Armageddon”.
The #FraudSquad surrenders yet again 🏳🏳🏳 https://t.co/ITfNUm0yt2
— Gramsci en colère (@AmericanDevine) October 25, 2022
During the town hall fiasco with the protesters, Omar defended her policies by broadly invoking the children of Ukraine…
“We are helping little children like me that had been helped,” she said, in reference to her own experience of coming to America as a young refugee.
“Listen. Unless you have not been paying attention to what is happening, there are millions of Ukrainians that have been displaced. There are piles of bodies that are being found in mass graves,” she said while raising her voice. “There are little children [whose] lives are being lost…” The protesters then cited the killings of civilians by Ukrainian forces in the Donbas going back to 2014.
By the end of the back-and-forth, Omar is seen getting emotional and almost screaming, with her voice cracking in anger and frustration as she shouts down the heckler.
