Ilhan Omar Goes Full Communist at Bernie Rally: Workers of the World, Unite!

Rep. Ilhan Omar gave a fiery left-wing speech at a presidential campaign rally for Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday night — calling for a “mass movement of the working class” to topple President Donald Trump and “Western imperialism.”

“I am beyond honored and excited for a president who will fight against Western imperialism, and fight for a just world,” the Minnesota Democrat thundered at Williams’ area in Minneapolis. “I am excited for President Bernie Sanders!”

“So, friends, I want you to realize something,” she said. “My destiny, your destiny, the destiny of workers around the world are linked together.”

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Her comments echoed the famous rallying cry from the “Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels:
“Workers of the world, unite!”

Continuing her left-wing internationalist barnburner, Omar said the United States has a responsibility to welcome refugees and to fight global warming, which she called an “existential threat.” But she also called for strong unions and denounced “trade deals that offshore our union jobs to corporations.”

However, Omar denied that she or Bernie were espousing “radical ideas.” Rather, she said, their proposals of massive government spending on programs like free college and universal government-run healthcare represent a fulfillment of human rights guaranteed by the United Nations.

“We can’t achieve any of these goals if we don’t build a movement that is representative of all of our aspirations, all of our pain, and all of our shared trauma,” she said. “The root of every injustice is an imbalance of power, whether through gender, association, corruption, wealth, or race.”

.@IlhanMN at Sanders rally :”The root of every injustice is an imbalance of power, whether through gender, association, corruption, wealth, or race." pic.twitter.com/riIsXaHXsy

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 4, 2019

Omar touted her background as a refugee from Somalia, at one point saying: “Here in Minnesota, we don’t just welcome refugees, but we send them to Congress.”

The crowd interrupted her numerous times with chants of “Green New Deal.”

Ilhan Omar and Bernie Sanders inspire chants of “Lock him up”

However, Omar went on to bemoan: “Right now, achieving that universal dream feels more out of reach than it ever has in my lifetime.”

Without naming Trump, Omar denounced him at length.

“The current occupant of the White House likes to talk about making America great,” she said. “But, every action, and virtually every word out of his mouth, is an attack on the very values and ideals that make this country a beacon of hope for me and the people around the world.”

Omar falsely claimed that Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people” and accused him of “coddling” white supremacy. Referencing Trump rally chants of “Send her back” directed at her, Omar said, “None of us are going back. We’re here to stay.”

At the mention of Trump, the crowd repeatedly broke into chants of “Lock him up,” which Omar made no effort to stop.

“So, we need a president who will fight every day for working people, for those who are regularly disenfranchised and purposely left behind,” she said. “We need a president who will put an end to the corruption, to the greed and the systems that allow inequality to continue. And Minnesota that is why I am here today supporting Bernie Sanders for president!”

Following his hospitalization for a heart attack last month, Sanders, a 78-year-old Vermont Independent, received endorsements from three of the four members of the “Squad” of progressive first-term Democratic congresswomen: Omar, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

Omar was the only member of Minnesota’s Democratic congressional caucus not to endorse the state’s moderate Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar,

A longtime left-winger, Sanders has lately shifted toward progressive orthodoxy on immigration, guns and race.

During the rally, Omar also appeared to take the opportunity to address criticism of her, including by members of her own party, for last week voting “president” on a congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide and for making anti-Semitic comments.

“I am proud to stand with the son of a Jewish refugee who survived genocide,” she said. “The acknowledgment of pain and suffering is personal for both of us. The fight for human rights is undeniable. And when we recognize injustices of the past and present, whether it is genocide against Jewish people, Armenians or Rwandans or Bosnians or Native Americans or more.”

Bernie bros-out with Ilhan

Sanders took the stage after Omar, praising her as an “extraordinary woman who 30 years ago was in a refugee camp in Kenya.”

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He then slammed Trump as racist, sexist and homophobic and accused him of “running the most corrupt administration in history.”

“This is a president who deserves to be impeached, and will be impeached,” he vowed, referring to an impeachment inquiry being led by House Democrats over Trump’s Ukraine dealings.

The crowd once again erupted in boos and “Lock him up,” a riff on the “Lock her up chant” heard at Trump rallies in reference to Hillary Clinton. In 2016, Sanders rally-goers were also known to indulge in the slogan.

“Lock her up” chants at Trump rallies were widely condemned in the press. Where are those same critics now?

I’m not even getting into how deplorable it is that a major Presidential candidate has someone with Omar’s record giving a surrogate speech at a rally. https://t.co/baArmnAyiy

— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 4, 2019

Minutes later, though, Sanders appeared to call for an end to divisiveness.

“We are going to do exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing,” he said. “He is trying to divide us up. We are going to bring our people together… around an agenda that works for all of us, not just the one percent.”

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