U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar is once again finding herself in hot water, this time over comments she made claiming America is being turned into “one of the worst countries.”
Her remarks came during a Friday interview with Democracy Now, where she criticized President Donald Trump’s military parade marking the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.
“I mean, I grew up in a dictatorship, and I don’t even remember ever witnessing anything like that, to have a democracy, a beacon of hope for the world, to now be turned into one of the—you know, one of the worst countries, where the military are in our streets, without any regard for people’s constitutional rights, while our president is spending millions of dollars prompting himself up like a failed dictator with a military parade,” she said, according to a transcript of the interview.
Omar, a naturalized citizen who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia in the 1990s, was first elected to Congress in 2019. The remarks add to a litany of controversial comments she has made during her congressional tenure, including a 2019 description of 9/11 as “some people did something,” made during a speech to CAIR, a group whose national leader praised the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel.
Fox News contributor Guy Benson called Omar’s latest comments “staggering ingratitude.”
“She was displaced from her home country of Somalia as a young child because of violence and war, she was then a refugee elsewhere in Africa for years, and then she was given maybe the greatest blessing in the world—she was given America,” he said. “This country has given her everything—she’s prominent, she’s successful, she’s wealthy, she’s powerful power, and she’s gotten herself elected to our Congress.”
“Now she’s turning around and saying that we’re becoming one of the worst nations on earth,” he noted. “It’s pretty breathtaking.”
In response to Omar’s comment on how the “military are in our streets, without any regard for people’s constitutional rights,” Benson said, “It’s just untrue. It’s totally made up.”
“She’s talking about this parade as if it’s a Trump glorification event, when even the critics had to admit it was a wonderful, stirring, patriotic celebration of 250 years of the Army,” he added.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wrote in response to Omar’s comments: “Denaturalize and Deport.”
“Maybe go back to Somalia then?” added Congressman Greg Steube.
Omar also urged Americans to protest the parade, saying, “We should all collectively be out in the streets rejecting what is taking place this week.”
Democrat Sen. John Fetterman disagreed, saying, I’m not sure why it’s outrageous to have a parade to celebrate the Army, it’s celebrating a quarter of a millennia of the American Army. I don’t understand why that’s controversial.”
