Author: Aaron Rupar / Source: Vox
Days after he posted an edited video to Twitter trying to link Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to the 9/11 attacks, President Donald Trump made it through a Tax Day business roundtable in the first-term Congress member home state on Monday without mentioning her. Afterward, however, Trump told a local reporter he had no regrets about his incendiary, misleading, and dangerous tweet — even though she’s faced death threats from his supporters.
During a brief interview, Tom Hauser — a political reporter from KSTP TV, a local channel owned by Republican megadonor Stanley Hubbard — noted to Trump that his video tweet “has led to direct threats on [Omar’s] life.
Any second thoughts about that tweet and the way it was produced and put together?”“No, not at all,” Trump replied. He then went on to use a series of dog whistles about Omar, who in January became one of the country’s first Muslim congresswomen.
“Look, she’s been very disrespectful to this country. She’s been very disrespectful, frankly, to Israel. She is somebody that doesn’t really understand life, real life. What it’s all about,” Trump said. “It’s unfortunate. She’s got a way about her that’s very, very bad, I think, for our country. I think she’s extremely unpatriotic and extremely disrespectful to our country.”
REPORTER: Congresswoman Omar says your video led to direct threats on her life. Any second thoughts?
TRUMP: “No, not at all.” pic.twitter.com/wiSNptg0F3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar)
Trump’s comments represent the latest in a series of rhetorical escalations against Omar since a fan of his was arrested and charged with allegedly plotting to kill her on April 6.
During a speech later that same day to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump gratuitously attacked Omar, saying “
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