Booker: Trump’s Rhetoric on Rep. Omar Fuels the Kind of Hate That Manifests Itself in Violence and Terror

The big 2020 candidates are gathered together once again, Tuesday, speaking at the She The People Forum taking place in Houston. During his time on stage, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker was asked by a member of the audience to talk about Rep. Ilhan Omar and the controversies around her commentary since taking office this year.

“My question is about Ihlan Omar. She was recently critical of the outsize influence of AIPAC in determining US foreign policy, including funding of Israel,” began the audience member. “Subsequently she has received condemnation from the president and members of her own party, as well as death threats. What will you do as president to protect the right of courageous women of color to criticize US policy even when directed at allies?”

Omar has faced condemnation and reproach over more than one set of comments, including being casually dismissive of the 9/11 attacks, implying pro-Israel Jewish members of Congress are disloyal, and more conventional “anti-Semitic tropes“, but yes, some of her controversial comments did include criticism of AIPAC. Although Omar herself isn’t open to much discussion about that, it comes up frequently among activist liberals with regard to how Trump responded.

After thanking the participant, Booker stuck with the established pattern and went right to the Trump part of the question, bypassing the “condemnation” from “members of her own party” part.

“The criticisms of Congresswoman Omar, what Donald Trump has been saying about her is reprehensible, it is trafficking in Islamophobia, and it should be condemned by everyone,” he said. “This kind of selective condemnation should be a chorus of people condemning it.”

Clearly feeling the crowd’s enthusiasm, Booker literally leaned into his commentary. “And more than this, the kind of language our president uses, especially about black women in power, the kind of language this President uses–it is toxic,” he said.

Among the many remarks Trump has made about Omar, his most controversial was a tweeted video juxtaposing Omar’s 9/11 comments with images from the actual attack on the Twin Towers. That was tweeted only a week after a credible and vile death threat against the Congresswoman.

The President’s language “fuels the kind of hate we see in our communities, manifesting itself in the kind of terrorism that has been most seen in our nation since 9/11,” said Booker continuing, as the crowd began cheering. “Most of the terrorist attacks in our nation since 9/11 have been right wing extremist attacks. The majority of those have been white supremacist attacks.” The crowd cheered more.

“And so when you have a president uttering such bigotry, and uttering such racist attacks, talking about nations where black and brown people people have come from in this nation as shithole countries…That is giving license to hate and to violence that we should not be tolerating.”

“So it’s not just important to be an ally. As one of our great black women has said in the past, it’s not enough just to say I’m not a racist. We must, where racism exists, all be anti-racist,” said Booker. “Because if we are not dealing with this issue in our country, we will continue to see these kind of attacks and we will continue to see the kind of vicious violence that has been affecting our nation from black churches to synagogues to Muslim mosques as well.”

Booker did not offer, and was not asked for, any of the statistical data on his assertions. Nor was he subsequently asked if remarks about Israel or Jewish money and influence made by Omar have had a similarly contributory effect in what he’d just referred to as “vicious violence” against synagogues.

Watch the clip above, via NBC News.

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