President Trump on Tuesday complained that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) should not be giving input on how to run the country, asking of the Somali refugee, “How is your country doing?”
The president’s attacks on Omar came as part of a broader diatribe against a group of first-term congresswomen known as “the squad,” which consists of Omar and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).
“We’re going win the state of Minnesota because of her, they say,” Trump said of Omar. “She’s telling us how to run our country. How did you do where you came from? How is your country doing?”
The comments were the latest personal attacks Trump has levied against Omar, who arrived in the United States with her family after fleeing war-torn Somalia. She is a U.S. citizen.
A crowd at one of the president’s North Carolina rallies last year chanted “send her back” about the congresswoman as Trump looked on.
He has also accused her of being anti-Semitic because of her views on the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, and the president tweeted last year that the four “squad” members, all women of color, should “go back” to their countries. All four are U.S. citizens, and only Omar was born outside the U.S.
Trump also took aim at Ocasio-Cortez during Tuesday’s rally, saying she’s “not a good student” or a “good anything, but she’s got a good line of crap.”
“We don’t need socialists and we don’t need communists telling us how to run our country,” Trump said.
The Trump campaign has made a play for Minnesota in the 2020 election, but recent polls have shown it will be an uphill climb. Democratic nominee Joe Biden is leading Trump by 10 percentage points in an average of polls from the state.
Omar, meanwhile, is expected to coast to reelection in her solidly blue district that represents Minneapolis.