Fox News host Tucker Carlson slammed Rep. Ilhan Omar following her call for “dismantling” the economy and political system in the United States.
“If anyone should love America, it’s Ilhan Omar,” Carlson said on his Fox News program Tuesday night after criticizing Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth for declining to come on his show unless Carlson apologized for previous criticisms of her. “This country rescued her from a squalid Kenyan refugee camp and made her a national figure. Quite an ascent. But Ilhan Omar is not grateful. She hates us for it.”
Carlson then played a video clip of Omar calling for the “dismantling” of the “whole system of oppression wherever we find it” after asking how politicians can “lead a country they despise.”
“As long as our economy and political systems prioritize profit without considering who is profiting, who is being shut out, we will perpetuate this inequality,” Omar says in the video. “So, we cannot stop at [the] criminal justice system. We must begin the work of dismantling the whole system of oppression wherever we find it.”
We have every right to fight to preserve our nation, heritage and culture. When vandals like Tammy Duckworth and Ilhan Omar tell us that we’re not allowed to question their patriotism, as they scream about how horrible this country is, we have every right to laugh in their faces. pic.twitter.com/0xjVtUaG3P
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 8, 2020
“We live here,” Carlson said. “We don’t want to destroy it. We have every right to fight to preserve our nation and our heritage and our culture.”
“When vandals like Tammy Duckworth and Ilhan Omar tell us that we’re not allowed to question their patriotism, even as they scream about how horrible America is,” Carlson said. “We have every right to laugh in their faces.”
Social media posts quickly poured in following Omar’s comment, including a Twitter post from former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. He echoed Carlson’s belief that Omar is misguided in her attempt to tear down institutions that helped rescue her from abject poverty.
“Ilhan Omar was born in Mogadishu, spent part of her childhood in a refugee camp,” Gingrich tweeted. “She and her family were accepted by the United States and in one generation she has become a congresswoman. Why is she so angry at America. Gratitude might have been better than rage as a response.”
Ilhan Omar was born in Mogadishu, spent part of her childhood in a refugee camp. She and her family were accepted by the United States and in one generation she has become a congresswoman. Why is she so angry at America. Gratitude might have been better than rage as a response.
— newtgingrich (@newtgingrich) July 8, 2020
Others, including Omar’s fellow “Squad” member, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, defended the statement.
“Yes @GOPLeader, @IlhanMN has long been on the side of dismantling systems of oppression & structural racism, as she stated,” Ocasio-Cortez said in response to a tweet from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “It‘s revealing that *YOU* equated ‘oppression’ w/ ‘our entire system’ as you intentionally took a Black Congresswoman’s words out of context to target her.”
Yes @GOPLeader, @IlhanMN has long been on the side of dismantling systems of oppression & structural racism, as she stated.
It‘s revealing that *YOU* equated “oppression” w/ “our entire system” as you intentionally took a Black Congresswoman’s words out of context to target her. https://t.co/8U00MDCZVP
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 8, 2020
