Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar implied Friday that the outrage over her trivialization of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center is due to a double standard.
Omar was widely condemned earlier this week when she described the Islamic terrorist attacks as “some people” who “did something.”
On Friday, Omar fired back at her critics and wondered aloud if former President George W. Bush was trivializing 9/11 with his famous “Bullhorn Speech.”
“Was Bush downplaying the terrorist attack?” Omar asked. “What if he was a Muslim?”
“The people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!” President George W. Bush
Was Bush downplaying the terrorist attack?
What if he was a Muslim ???? https://t.co/XMazssoD49
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 12, 2019
“The people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!” Bush said in a speech that is widely credited with improving the nation’s morale following the shocking attacks. (RELATED: George W. Bush Remembers His Father’s Legacy In Tearful Eulogy)
President George W. Bush’s famous Bullhorn Speech (September 14, 2001)
“I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”pic.twitter.com/JNowdxgeJs
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) April 12, 2019
Omar’s comments were the subject of a New York Post cover that featured a photo of the Twin Towers collapsing with the caption, “Here’s Your Something.”
While Omar’s comments were widely panned, some on the left did defend her, including fellow freshman Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The freshman congresswoman insinuated Thursday that those who are criticizing Omar for her comments are motivated by animus toward her faith or ethnicity.
Ocasio-Cortez also accused the Post of “inciting violence” with its cover: “We are getting to the level where this is an incitement of violence against progressive women of color and if they can’t figure out how to get it back to policy, we need to call it out for what it is because this is not normal.”