Sanders writes: "Last night, I was at dinner with Ilhan Omar, her daughter, and some other members of Congress when we heard the news that thousands of people at a Donald Trump rally were chanting 'send her back.' To my surprise, Ilhan was pretty unfazed."
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar. (photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
19 July 19
ast night, I was at dinner with Ilhan Omar, her daughter, and some other members of Congress when we heard the news that thousands of people at a Donald Trump rally were chanting "send her back."
To my surprise, Ilhan was pretty unfazed. Sadly, as she told me, she has been dealing with this kind of hatred and racism for a long time.
And she knows, as we do, that Trump is a demagogue doing what he does best: dividing and conquering through hate.
No. Trump won't talk about trying to throw 32 million Americans off their health care. He won't talk about his massive tax breaks for billionaires. He won't talk about his budget which called for huge cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. And he certainly won't talk about how climate change is destroying the planet.
But he will try to divide the country up based on the color of our skin, our religion, where we were born or our sexual orientation.
Brothers and sisters: Now is the time, more than at any other moment in our lifetimes, to say NO to racism, NO to divisiveness, NO to the hatred that Trump is trying to foment.
Ilhan Omar is a leader with strength and courage. She won’t back down to Trump’s racism and hate, and neither will we.
Ilhan and I have worked together on a number of important issues since she was elected – most recently our effort to cancel all student debt in this country.
She is a critical voice in our fight for justice in America, and I am excited to work with her and other progressives when we are in the White House.
