Ilhan Omar Pushes for Bernie Sanders, Says He Can Bring End to 'Western Imperialism'
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota on Sunday proclaimed her support for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as a way to end “Western imperialism.”
During a rally at the University of Minnesota’s arena, Omar and Sanders took turns attacking President Donald Trump.
“The current occupant of the White House likes to talk about making America great. But every action and virtually every word out of his mouth is an attack on the very values and ideals that make this country a beacon of hope for me and the people around the world,” Omar said.
She said Sanders will change the world.
“I am beyond honored and excited for a president who will fight against Western imperialism and fight for a just world,” Omar said.
The comment drew criticism on Twitter.
Wow, how is it that Omar could be such a poisonous whiner when she has tasted the kind of success that many of us haven’t? You don’t hear me complaining about that. Rather, my beef is her problem with “western imperialism.” Don’t like it here? Then get the hell out!
— Joel Torczon (@jtorczon) November 4, 2019
Did you know:
Ilhan Omar called for an end to “Western Imperialism” last night at a Bernie Sanders rally
This is the same Bernie Sanders who praised China for their record on human rights and “eradicating poverty”
The Democrat party has become the pro-China party
Shameful.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 4, 2019
Omar told the Minneapolis crowd that voters must put Trump’s “cruel ideology in the dustbin of history where it belongs.”
“Your efforts to coddle white supremacy, to ban Muslims from entering the United States, to call people at neo-Nazi rallies ‘very fine people,’ will fail,” she said, referring to comments Trump made after a 2017 clash in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which he said there were good people on both the left and right of the political spectrum — comments frequently misrepresented by those on the left.
Omar said the Sanders campaign’s proposals for such things as free health care for all are not “radical.”
“These are values that have been enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for decades,” Omar claimed, referring to the United Nations document.
She added, “But here is the cold truth: We can’t achieve any of these goals if we don’t build a movement that is representative of all of our aspirations, all of our pain, and all of our shared trauma.”
Sanders ignited chants of “lock him up” with his own broadside at Trump.
“It gives me no pleasure to tell all of you what you already know: that today, tragically, we have a president of the United States who is a pathological liar — who is running the most corrupt administration in history, who has obstructed justice, who has used his office for personal gain, who has threatened to withhold national security funds from an ally in order to improve his political chances,” he said.
“This is a president who deserves to be impeached, and will be impeached,” the senator said.
Sanders claimed his campaign is all about unity while his opponents “thrive on division. They thrive on hatred. They thrive on pitting people against one another who come from different places or who worship God differently.”
He has been endorsed by Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, two fellow members with Omar of a group of progressive Democrats who call themselves “the squad.”
The fourth member, Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, has not announced her presidential endorsement.
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