Trump Condemned for False Smear About Ilhan Omar Dancing on 9/11: ‘Inciting Hate and Violence’
President Donald Trump was condemned on Wednesday for tweeting out a smear about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) dancing on the 18th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“IIhan Omar, a member of AOC Plus 3, will win us the Great State of Minnesota. The new face of the Democrat Party!” wrote Trump in a tweet that linked to a post by right-wing comedian Terrence K. Williams, who falsely claimed that Omar, one of the first Muslim-American women to serve in Congress, “partied on the anniversary of 9/11.”
IIhan Omar, a member of AOC Plus 3, will win us the Great State of Minnesota. The new face of the Democrat Party! https://t.co/aQFEygSa4D
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019
The original tweet smearing Omar, which has since been taken down, featured a video of the freshman lawmaker dancing at a Congressional Black Caucus event over the weekend — not on the 9/11 anniversary.
While Twitter has policies in place to remove libelous political attacks, Williams deleted the offending tweet voluntarily; however, the president’s post sharing the smear is still on the site and has racked up tens of thousands of likes and retweets. Trump was fiercely condemned for the smear, with many media figures raising questions about Twitter’s policy of keeping all presidential tweets on the site, despite the constant threats against Omar’s life due to false, right-wing attacks.
Check out a few of the reactions below:
This smear was obscene, as you are. https://t.co/x4TwPqrerd
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) September 18, 2019
2/ The president of the United States RTs the lie to his 64.4 million followers that she was dancing on the anniversary of 9/11. It’s completely false, it’s a smear, and no doubt it raises security issues.https://t.co/4SjI4TUELb
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 18, 2019
Trump retweeting a false smear and inciting hate and violence against Omar again. Will @Twitter take any action? https://t.co/WsuQ96xMac
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 18, 2019
The president advancing a lie about a muslim Congresswoman dancing on 9/11 is so disgustingly craven on so many levels. How people who know better defend this piece of trash I will honestly never understand.
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) September 18, 2019
Thread on the Trump smear machine and how it turned an innocent event involving @IlhanMN into a false allegation of her dancing on 9/11(!). Absolutely despicable. https://t.co/90m0EtTe5L
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) September 18, 2019
It’s very normal and totally safe that Trump can just tweet baseless attacks on @IlhanMN, accusing her of celebrating the anniversary of 9/11—something people act extremely rational about. Great stuff. pic.twitter.com/jwbiX9cu7b
— jordan (@JordanUhl) September 18, 2019
Ilhan Omar was not dancing on the anniversary of 9/11. But um… are we not allowed to ever dance on the 11th of September ever again?
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) September 18, 2019
Twitter took down a tweet that President Trump shared — which falsely said @IlhanMN was dancing on the anniversary of Sept 11.
She wasn’t. The video of her dancing was from a CBC event.
Omar receives death threats because of lies like this https://t.co/SQpR6cJgXN
— Rozina Ali (@rozina_ali) September 18, 2019
If anyone is still wondering, this is the event where Rep. Ilhan Omar was dancing, on September 13. The president, who has repeatedly smeared Omar, promoted a video claiming she was dancing on the September 11 anniversary. pic.twitter.com/G20rzLHV3F
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 18, 2019
[featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
