President Donald Trump, a man beloved by neo-Nazis who himself has dabbled in anti-Semitic tropes, demanded that Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar resign following the semi-manufactured uproar over the congresswoman’s recent comments about the Israel lobby’s influence in Washington.
“I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting attended by members of the press on Tuesday.
“What she said is so deep-seated in her heart, that her lame apology, and that’s what it was, it was lame, and she didn’t mean a word of it, was just not appropriate,” he continued, adding declaratively: “I think she should resign from Congress.”
Trump has yet to call for the resignation of any Republican members of Congress, including well-documented white nationalist Rep. Steve King and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, who once allegedly described himself as “David Duke without the baggage.”
The president’s comments on Omar came amidst a rambling cabinet meeting where Trump also whined about a purported deal reached by congressional negotiators to prevent a new government shutdown, which would include $1.4 billion dollars for border security, much less than the White House’s demand of $5.7 billion but just $200 million less than the amount approved by the Senate in the package it passed in an attempt to avoid the first shutdown back in December. Trump, and the then-Republican controlled House, nixed that deal.
Despite the dramatically lower amount allegedly offered in the forthcoming deal, Trump insisted that his plans to build a “beautiful looking structure” would proceed undaunted, taking the opportunity to offer his dopey thoughts on the existing barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I never kid about construction, I love construction. And I know how to do it for the right price,” Trump blabbered at one point.
“It was crazy what they were putting up,” he continued. “In fact, I happen to think that the walls they were building were so unattractive and ugly that walls got bad names, okay? If that means anything.”
It doesn’t.
Trump also re-assumed responsibility for last month’s record-setting government shutdown, saying that he was “proud” of what it accomplished.
And when asked whether he was aware of the investigation into Jeff Bezos by American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer which has admitted to the FBI that it improperly colluded with the President in the past, Trump denied being aware of the embarrassing attempts by the company to ostensibly blackmail the Amazon CEO, whom Trump had repeatedly targeted in the past.
“No, no, I wasn’t,” Trump reportedly said.
Just another fun day in the White House!