Grasso writes: "Republicans have bent themselves completely out of shape over the past day twisting Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib's words on Palestine and the Holocaust."
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (photo: AP)
14 May 19
epublicans have bent themselves completely out of shape over the past day twisting Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s words on Palestine and the Holocaust. But the Democrats, miraculously, might just have enough backbone this time around to put an early end to this vilification of a female Muslim member of Congress.
Democrat Rep. Tlaib is being slammed for her horrible and highly insensitive statement on the Holocaust. She obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. Can you imagine what would happen if I ever said what she said, and says?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019
After being slammed by Republicans including President Donald Trump, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, and Louisiana Rep. Steve “David Duke without the baggage” Scalise for her comments about the “calming feeling” she experiences when thinking about the ways her Palestinian ancestors sacrificed themselves to help Holocaust survivors, Democratic leadership has stepped in to call out the bad-faith arguments characterizing Tlaib as having felt “calm” about the Holocaust itself.
“If you read Rep. Tlaib’s comments, it is clear that President Trump and Congressional Republicans are taking them out of context,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told the Hill in an email on Monday. “They must stop, and they owe her an apology.”
On Twitter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also called upon Trump and House Republicans to apologize to Tlaib for mischaracterizing her comments.
Republicans’ desperate attempts to smear @RepRashida & misrepresent her comments are outrageous. President @realDonaldTrump & House GOP should apologize to Rep. Tlaib & the American people for their gross misrepresentations.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 13, 2019
Perhaps Democrats have learned their lesson after failing to stand up for Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, another Muslim woman in Congress, after the first time Republicans tried to slander her as being anti-Semitic. Clearly their misstep in not defending Omar sooner is part of the reason why Republicans continued to try to misconstrue her support for Palestine, her stance decrying Islamophobia, and her questioning of foreign influence on the U.S.
Omar herself also stood up to Cheney and Trump on Monday, calling them out for Islamophobia. “Give it up, we all know you never met a Muslim you didn’t want to vilify!” Omar tweeted at Cheney.
You praised people at a neo-Nazi rally. We don't have to imagine.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) May 13, 2019
This is another transparent attempt to sow division b/t minority communities and distract from your own criminal behavior by smearing a Muslim woman.
No one should fall for it this time. https://t.co/y0ggJT83oF
The Democratic leadership actually learning a valuable lesson about the GOP’s racism, and responding accordingly? Sometimes, it appears, miracles do happen.
