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Ilhan Omar says she will continue to be a ‘nightmare’ for Trump

US Representative Ilhan Omar (C) speaks on stage alongside US Representative Pramila Jayapal (R) during a town hall meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 18, 2019. (AFP photo)

Muslim US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar says she isn't backing down in her criticism of President Donald Trump, saying she's going to "continue to be a nightmare to this president because his policies are a nightmare to us."

Omar, a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives, made the comments as she spoke to a crowd of supporters who greeted her on Thursday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in the state of Minnesota.

The freshman Democratic lawmaker has represented Minnesota's 5th congressional district since January 2019.

“His nightmare is seeing the beautiful mosaic fabric of our country welcome someone like me as their member of Congress,” Omar told her supporters.

“We are going to continue being a nightmare to this president because his policies are a nightmare to us,” she added. "We are not deterred. We are not frightened."

Omar's supporters held signs saying "End racism now" and "I stand with Ilhan." She told them she was not deterred: "We are not frightened. We are ready."

Omar was born in Somalia and immigrated to the US as a refugee in 1995 when she was a child. She became a US citizen in 2000 at age 17.

Omar has been targeted this week by Trump who has questioned her patriotism.

Trump triggered a firestorm this week after he tweeted that the four progressive members of the US House of Representatives, known as “the squad,” should “go back” where they came from, even though all are US citizens and three are US-born.

The other three members of the so-called squad are Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

Trump stepped up his vilification of four liberal female lawmakers as “un-American” at a raucous rally on Wednesday, in Greenville, North Carolina. As Trump recounted past comments by Omar, the crowd began chanting: “Send her back!”

Omar told reporters at the US Capitol on Wednesday that Trump is "spewing his fascist ideology."

"As much as he's spewing his fascist ideology on stage, telling US citizens to go back because they don't agree with his detrimental policies for our country, we tell people that here in the United States: dissent is patriotic," Omar said.

Trump's attacks have widely been seen as a bid to rally his right-wing base as the 2020 White House race heats up -- at the risk of inflaming racial tensions and deepening partisan divisions in America.

Long before Trump turned up the heat on the four Democratic congresswomen of color, hateful rhetoric and disinformation about lawmakers was lurking online.

Racist, inflammatory and inaccurate content has circulated on far right blogs, news sites and social media accounts about the four female lawmakers since they ran for public office.

With his tweets and harsh comments, Trump has elevated that rhetoric, playing into a conspiratorial feedback loop that reared its head repeatedly during his campaign and presidency.


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