Even as Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was taking to Twitter to spread more anti-Semitism, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was out promoting the latest Rolling Stone cover, which features the two of them posing with other “new voices of the House.”
Pelosi’s celebration of the Jew-hating Omar makes it harder to dismiss the freshman as just another member of Congress.
For those just catching up, last month, Omar was forced into a hostage tape style fake apology for anti-Semitic tweets. Omar then showed herself to be unrepentant in statements made at a liberal event last week, insinuating that Jews have dual loyalty. Facing criticism, she amplified her attacks on Jews over the weekend, suggesting they are expecting her to declare “allegiance” to a foreign country.
When Omar was facing backlash last month, Pelosi made a big show of demanding the freshman apologize.
As Omar has continued peddling anti-Semitism over the weekend, however, Pelosi’s official political account was promoting this month’s Rolling Stone cover on Twitter. The cover features Pelosi along with Omar, and other freshman Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Jahana Hayes, D-Conn. The headline reads, “Women Shaping the Future Nancy Pelosi and the New Voices of the House.” The fact that she was promoting it makes it more difficult to argue that this was a cover she had posed for before the latest controversy.
On Saturday, Pelosi’s @TeamPelosi account tweeted, “A picture is worth 1,000 words but @aoc, @IlhanMN, @JahanaHayesCT and Nancy on the cover of @RollingStone is worth millions of dreams to women and girls across America.”
A picture is worth 1,000 words but @aoc, @IlhanMN, @JahanaHayesCT and Nancy on the cover of @RollingStone is worth millions of dreams to women and girls across America.
To them we say: know your power. Know your worth. Have a plan. And be ready. #WomensHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/tCp84ixRw2
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) March 2, 2019
The account then subsequently promoted the cover four additional times by retweeting users celebrating the cover.
Pelosi is playing a dangerous game here. On the one hand, she tried to make a show of asking Omar to apologize last month. On the other hand, she wants to show herself as promoting the young, diverse class of representatives so as to stay relevant with the energetic base of the party.
But she cannot have it both ways. Omar was elected by her district in Minnesota, so it isn’t within Pelosi’s power to get rid of her. But at the same time, Pelosi doesn’t have to elevate her, as she does by allowing Omar to serve on the coveted Foreign Affairs committee, and by celebrating her on the cover of a national magazine that she then eagerly promotes.
The signal Pelosi is sending is that anti-Semitism will be tolerated, as long as it’s coming from the left.
This story is thus no longer a story about Omar’s anti-Semitism. It’s about how Pelosi continues to enable it.
