During a town hall on Thursday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) discussed the ways the Democratic party is working to rebuild trust with its constituents.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you Representative Omar for everything you've said tonight. It's very inspiring, but it has raised a question for me that is deeply troubling.
00:14I want to preface it with a little quote. Trump was speaking to Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, Florida back in July of 2024.
00:24It's a conservative Christian group, and he said, Christians, get out and vote. Just this time. You won't have to do it anymore.
00:33Four more years. You know what? It will be fixed. It will be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.
00:41He added, I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you. Get out. You've got to get out and vote.
00:48In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good, you're not going to have to vote.
00:55You can see where I'm going with this.
00:59In this regard for the law and this contempt of court orders and all the systems we live by, is there some action that you and we and everybody need to take to ensure that we will actually be able to vote in 26 and 28?
01:18Yeah, that's very concerning.
01:34No, I mean, again, you know, going back to the election, people heard that and still voted for him. That sounds as if, you know, people are not really understanding the danger that they were creating for our country by empowering someone like that.
01:53We also just heard two days ago Steve Bannon say that he's already endorsed Trump for 2028 and he is trying to find a way for him to do that.
02:05And so what the question is, we know this danger is looming over us. So the question is, what do we do?
02:14What we do is to make sure first that we are registering to vote and that we are checking to see that we remain on that roster.
02:24The second thing that we do is to make sure that we are helping others that are in danger of being taken off rosters to remain on rosters.
02:35I mean, there's also legal funds out there that are fighting throughout the country against voter enfranchisement.
02:45He is not going to be able to do anything without our consent.
02:50And our consent happens by us thinking that there isn't anything we can do.
02:55So every little action that is out there that is possible for us, we must do.
03:00Now those of us in Congress are going to fight to make sure that we are shedding light on dangerous things.
03:07That we are taking the lessons that we've learned from those that have given up our first point of leverage and making sure that doesn't happen again.
03:20And so this again is the fight of our time.
03:24And we're going to be asking ourselves what did we do?
03:28And so we must be able to answer that question.
03:31I did everything within my power.
03:54Five years ago George Floyd was murdered here in our city.
03:57He was not the first and he unfortunately will not be the last unarmed person to be murdered by the police in our country.
04:05During the uprisings in our city and across the country, we loudly declared that silence is complicity.
04:12Today, for me, it feels like inaction is complicity.
04:17Considering what appears to be a lack of action and the absence of a clear and cohesive strategy among the Democrats over the last several weeks,
04:26my question is why?
04:28Why should we place our faith in a party that appears idle, uninspired, and painfully weak?
04:35Yes, the Democratic Party needs to take a look at itself, but we've been hearing that for years.
04:50And even the lesser of two bad choices is not a strategy that builds trust amongst first-time voters or those in need of action.
05:04My question for you tonight is can you offer any concrete, actionable steps being taken right now to rebuild trust in the community?
05:20So I will say I'm not the spokesperson for the Democratic Party, but I do think that it is a valid question.
05:32I do believe that Democrats are taking a hard look at themselves and what they stand for.
05:46But we are only as strong as you are willing to make us.
05:51Right?
05:52Because we exist as a party, and a party relies on its voters at its base.
05:57And so your ideas, your input, your pushback gives us the strength to find the direction in which we lead.
06:05And so I don't think people should feel disempowered.
06:10And I think we also, as voters, if I can just put on my voter hat, as somebody who lives here as well,
06:19I think we have to strategically think about what it means about the lesser of two evils.
06:26I don't think about the lesser of two evils.
06:29I think about what party can I organize within to get the best outcome for myself and my community.
06:38And what party is going to organize itself to harm me and my community.
06:43And so to me it has never been the lesser of two evils.
06:47The Republican Party for me has always been the party that is willing to come after me and my family and my community.
06:56And everything I hold dear.
06:59And I know, even if I don't agree with the Democratic Party 100%, that under the Democratic Party I will not be fighting to save Medicaid.
07:11Right?
07:13Under the Democratic Party I will not be fighting to make sure that people have simple due process.
07:21And under the Democratic Party I know that I will not be questioning whether a president is going to be turning himself into a dictatorship,
07:30disregarding the Constitution and running for another term that he is not legally able to.
07:37So to me, what has never been about me, it has been about the bigger picture.
07:44And I think we often times, as Democrats, find our little siloed groups and we attack each other on why we can't be perfect.
07:56And that is problematic.
07:59The Republicans used to have that problem.
08:02And they figured out that once we have power, we can fight about who gets to win.
08:10Right?
08:12And we haven't figured that out.
08:15In 2020 we did, after we went through the four years of pain under the Trump administration.
08:21We put our heads down and we elected Democrats into majorities.
08:27And we were able to push Democrats to implement policies that were helpful in addressing the climate crisis,
08:37policies that were helpful in making sure that students weren't continually shackled with student debt.
08:43We were helpful in making sure that we take Medicare debt off of credit reporting.
08:51All of those things are back on.
08:53And so to me, we, when we think about why doesn't the Democratic Party have a strategy,
08:59we as voters also have to have a strategy on what it means for us to have to win to govern,
09:05so that we can have the wins in policies.
09:19So my question is related to the previous question here.
09:25I'd like to ask you about Christian nationalism.
09:27And I will make two statements, and then I'd just like to have you comment on the statements.
09:31Christian nationalism is a threat to democracy and to Christianity.
09:36And Christian nationalism is one of the main reasons Trump got elected.
09:41And I'd just like you to talk to me about that.
09:43And maybe if you have some comments about the influence of Christian nationalism that you see in Congress.
09:50Yeah, I mean, I think religious supremacy in essence is a threat to not just our democracy here,
09:58but to democracies around the world.
10:01And it is a threat to people being able to live with freedoms and liberty
10:08and to think about what it means to live in an inclusive, welcoming society.
10:13And I think it is important for us to not allow people to say that you are against people being Christian.
10:25Because we are for everybody practicing whatever it is they want to practice.
10:32That is what liberty means.
10:40And what the appeal for liberty is.
10:43That I get to practice my faith.
10:46You get to practice your faith.
10:48And you get to decide that you don't believe in any faith.
10:51That's the beauty.
10:54And so when you tie nationalism, right, like a national identity to a religion,
11:05then you get exclusion.
11:09You get racism.
11:11You get fascist.
11:14You get extremist.
11:17And it becomes dangerous for everybody to live under it.
11:23And so we have to be able to understand what that means and how it can be dangerous for all of us.
11:38Yeah.
11:44Hello.
11:45Thank you, Representative Ilhan Omar, for having this powerful meeting.
11:51And for your representation, voice, and leadership for human rights.
11:56I feel grateful to have you represent me.
12:00I'm here because when I was growing up and learning about dark chapters in our country's history,
12:06like slavery, Jim Crow, apartheid, the internment of the Japanese-Americans,
12:12I always told myself I would have spoken out and worked against those atrocities.
12:18Today, there are human rights abuses against immigrants, women, people of color,
12:24the GBTQ community, federal workers, etc., etc., etc.
12:30Our colonialist leader is talking about attacking and invading our friends and neighbors,
12:36Canada, Panama, Greenland, Gaza.
12:39Now is my time to speak out.
12:42The actions of this administration are unethical, immoral, vile.
12:47I'm trying to call at least one representative a day,
12:51write editorial letters, rally at the state capitol, go to town hall meetings.
12:56If there's anything I can do, Representative, to support you and your ongoing work
13:02to protect the human rights of those targeted and scapegoated
13:06by this nefarious, cruel, authoritarian administration in power, please let me know.
13:18You're already being a model citizen.
13:20I think everything you listed is what I would have recommended.
13:24So thank you so much for everything that you are doing.
13:27I mean, we should all follow your lead.
13:33Hello, Representative.
13:35I just want to say thank you.
13:36You are a shining example of doing two town halls in one week.
13:40And I just want to shout that out.
13:46I want to bring up Representative Al Green's efforts to impeach over the criminal plans
13:52to displace two million Palestinians who have survived this horrific genocide over the last three and a half.
13:57And I just wanted to bring one of their voices into the room.
14:00This is my friend.
14:01I showed a video of her son with you last February, and unfortunately, they're still trapped in Raqqa.
14:07And she said,
14:09Oh God, when will we leave this spot of death to a safe country?
14:13With every second we feel that heaven is closer to us than anything else.
14:17From beneath the shells raining down on us, I write to you not knowing if I will ever write again.
14:22As the rockets and bombs lit up the sky a little while ago at about 2 a.m.,
14:27we told Amir and Kareem that these were fireworks for Amir's eighth birthday, which was two days ago.
14:32We smiled through the fear, trying to shield them from a reality no child should ever know.
14:37Amir ignores what his ears hear and eyes see and believed us, because children cling to hope, even in the darkest times.
14:44If anything happens to us, do not let silence swallow our story.
14:48Do not let us become mere numbers in the news.
14:51Tell our story. Carry our voices.
14:54Let the world know that we were here, dreaming, loving, and fighting to survive until our last breath.
15:00Do not forget us. Remember us always.
15:03Your voice is an extension of our lives.
15:06And we've seen now, it looks like the Israeli military was dropping a photo of Trump and Netanyahu this week saying,
15:12The world doesn't care about you. You'll be erased from the map.
15:16And to me, that is incitement of genocide using the president, and he's been aligning himself with that.
15:22And so I just want to ask, how are our efforts to support that, and what can we do to help increase pressure to remove this criminal president
15:35who is attacking our constitution and inciting a genocide?
15:43I appreciate that and thank you for sharing your words with us.
15:50We know that Trump came into office promising to be the anti-war president.
16:02We still have war in Ukraine. He started bombing Yemen.
16:08And we're seeing him greenlight the starvation and the killing of innocent people in Gaza.
16:18And I know that al-Ghameen has promised to lead an effort to impeach him, but he has not produced the articles of impeachment.
16:29And as I have said to you, when that happens, you can count on me.
16:34You can count on me.
16:41Democrats, too, don't forget that.
16:44Why would you send the army to Israel?
16:48Yes, yes, yes.
16:50And we need to stand up for Democrats to oppose that.
16:59Yeah, unfortunately, that is true. Maybe I didn't set the stage for that.
17:04I apologize.