Nancy Pelosi slams Trump for 'hateful' incitement of violence


Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi demanded Trump take down a video that is leading to increased threats on Rep. Ilhan Omar's life.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is calling Trump out for his attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Last Friday, Trump tweeted a video that spliced together footage of the 9/11 attacks with footage of Omar speaking at an event for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, editing her remarks to insinuate that she made light of those attacks.

Pelosi called on Trump to take down the video, saying that Trump's "hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger."


Trump knows this full well, given that one of his rabid supporters was recently arrested for making violent threats against Omar. A man has already been arrested for threatening to shoot Omar in the head, and when being investigated, he said he loved Trump.

This time around, Trump's tweets have already led to additional violent threats against Omar, including many replying to or referencing the video posted by Trump. Thus far, Trump still refuses to remove the tweet or take the video down.

Pelosi has asked the Capitol Police to conduct a security assessment to ensure Omar, her family, and her staff are safe and to address any additional threats. That's an admirable move, but it is one Pelosi shouldn't have to make. The president of the United States shouldn't be recklessly tweeting videos that put a sitting Congresswoman's — or anyone else's — life in danger.

Along with his casual disregard for another person's safety, Trump's piousness about the 9/11 attacks is repugnant. Trump has long falsely accused Muslims of cheering the attacks the day they happened. That didn't happen.

What did happen, though, was that Trump went on the radio that same day and bragged that he now owned the tallest building in Manhattan. (It's a boast made no less disgusting by the fact that it wasn't even remotely true.)

Trump being Trump, he also made sure to profit from the attacks. As Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) pointed out, Trump has "no moral authority to be talking about 9/11 at all." Nadler was referring to the fact that Trump took a $150,000 grant from the Bush administration after the attacks. That grant was meant for small businesspeople in the area who had suffered physical damage to their location. Trump's building suffered no such damage and he isn't a small businessman.

Trump has no problem putting people in danger just to pump up his fanatical anti-Muslim base, and he's never had any problem taking money he didn't deserve. Sept. 11 presented him with the perfect opportunity to do both, but both Pelosi and Nadler are here to call him out.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.