Two of the United States’ leading Democrats hit out at Ilhan Omar for her 7-year-old statement that Americans need to be more fearful of white men.
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville and California Rep. Ro Khanna lashed out at the progressive arm of their party on Thursday’s episode of Fox News’ the Politics War Room podcast when Carville brought up Omar’s remarks in 2018.
She had been asked how much of a threat ‘jihadism’ poses to the United States, when the Minnesota congresswoman suggested ‘our country should be more fearful of white men across our country, because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country.
‘And so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe inside of our country, we should be profiling, monitoring and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men,’ Omar told Al Jazeera.
Carville on Thursday questioned whether her claims that white men cause most of the deaths in the United States is true as he questioned why she would make such a bold claim.
‘When is somebody going to say, “Why don’t you people just learn to shut up about this? You’re not doing anybody any good,'” the strategist argued.
At that point, Khanna chimed in – saying he, too, disagrees with Omar’s statement on a ‘substantive level.
‘I think that white Americans have done enormous things for our freedom,’ he argued. ‘I mean, who are the people who scaled the cliffs of Normandy? Many of them were white men,’ the congressman said of the major Allied victory in World War II.
California Rep. Ro Khanna (left) and Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville hit out at Ilhan Omar (right) for controversial remarks she made in a 2018 interview
Omar remarked in an interview that Americans should be more afraid of white men
‘It’s not just [that] I disagree politically, I disagree substantively,’ he continued. ‘This is a great country. It is a kind country. It is a decent country.’
Khanna then shared his own family’s experience immigrating from India, and praised the success his family has achieved in the United States, which he said ‘would not be possible anywhere else.’
He went on to suggest that Democrats should start every speech praising the United States – rather than bashing it.
‘What Democrats should start every speech with is “America is the greatest country country in the world and we want to make it better.”‘
Carville also seemed to agree, saying that even though he is a ‘liberal Democrat… I don’t like the – let’s just say – progressive wing of the Democrat Party.
‘My argument is maybe these people are not worth the trouble,’ he argued. ‘Maybe they should just go on their own way.’
Conservatives have also previously hit out at Omar for her remarks in the Al Jazeera interview, which were shared to X earlier this week amid backlash for telling a conservative journalist to ‘f*** off.’
‘This isn’t just sick; it’s actual genocidal language,’ Vice President JD Vance wrote of her 2018 remarks.
‘What a disgrace this person is.’
Republican Sen. Mike Lee, of Utah, also called her remarks ‘blatant racism’ as he asked the public to condemn it.
