RIFLE, Colo. – Gun-toting loose-tongue Congress member Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, apologized for using anti-Muslim language in describing a recent encounter with fellow House member Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. At a meeting with constituents last week in her Western Slope district, Biebert used the term “jihad squad” to refer to Omar, who is Muslim of Somali lineage. Omar took offense. The remarks, she said, inflamed tensions against Muslim Americans.
Verbatim
Boebert to constituents: “Actually I have an Ilhan story for you. So, the other night on the House floor was not my first ‘Jihad Squad’ moment. So I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers. You know, we’re leaving the Capitol, and we’re going back to my office, and we get an elevator and I see a Capitol police officer running to the elevator. I see fret all over his face, and he’s reaching, and the door’s shutting, like I can’t open it, like what’s happening. I look to my left, and there she is. Ilhan Omar. And I said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine.’” Boebert’s Western Slope audience lapped it up.
Boebert. Colorado Republican. She started it.
Verbatim
On hearing Boebert’s story, Omar said: “This buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol. This whole story is made up. Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout. Muslim bigotry isn’t funny and shouldn’t be normalized. Congress can’t be a place where hateful and dangerous Muslims tropes get no condemnation.” Then Omar gave Boebert a taste of her own medicine: She called Boebert an “insurrectionist who sleeps with a pervert”, a reference to Boebert’s husband, who in 2004 pleaded guilty to public indecency and lewd exposure. Omar also said Boebert “shamefully defecates and defiles the House.”
Omar. Minnesota Democrat. Responds in kind.