Nobody, to my knowledge, has ever accused Rep. Ilhan Omar of being a nationalist. But if her recently surfaced comments about Somalia are any indication, she is, in fact, an ardent one — just not for the nation of America.
A few months ago, controversy broke out surrounding comments Omar made during a speech about Somalia (delivered to a predominantly Somalian crowd in Minneapolis): “We are people of brotherhood, people of blood, people who know themselves to be Somalis, to be Muslims,” Omar thundered, according to the English-translation subtitles. “We are a gifted set of individuals with a patriotic spirit that acknowledges our homeland and strives to protect it.” In a shockingly candid admission, Omar openly bragged to the crowd about her ambition to serve the interests of a foreign nation while ostensibly representing American voters in the U.S. government: “The U.S. government will do what we tell the U.S. government to do,” she boasted. “That is the confidence we need to have as Somalis.… For as long as I am in Congress, no one will take over the seas belonging to the nation of Somalia and the United States will not support others who seek to steal from us.”
