The president relished in the idea of killing Somalis at a rally before the incident.<\/b>
\nPresident Donald Trump attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) just hours before she was assaulted on Tuesday evening, with the president mocking her and relishing in violence against Somalis at a campaign rally.
As Omar spoke during a town hall on Trump\u2019s militarized raid of Minnesota, a man suddenly lunged at her and sprayed her with an unknown substance in a syringe. Video of the attack circulated widely online.
Omar was undeterred and continued the town hall. Police arrested the man, who they identified as Anthony James Kazmierczak. Her office later issued a statement saying that she is \u201cokay\u201d after the incident.
Just hours before, at a rally in Clive, Iowa, the president waged another one of his bigoted attacks on Omar \u2014 one of countless times he\u2019s fixated on the lawmaker in recent months.
When speaking about supposed violence caused by immigrants, Trump said immigrants must \u201cshow that they can love our country, they have to be proud. Not like Ilhan Omar.\u201d The crowd booed.
\u201cDid you see that wise guy? You know, she\u2019s always talking about, \u2018the Constitution provides me with the following,\u2019\u201d he said, putting on a mocking voice.
He went on to make racist remarks about Somalia and Somali people, as he\u2019s done numerous times in recent months, and relished in the idea of committing violence against them.
\u201cThey\u2019re good at one thing: pirates. But they don\u2019t do that anymore. You know why? Because they get the same treatment from us as the drug dealers get: Boom, boom, boom,\u201d he said to laughter and applause, referring to his administration\u2019s illegal boat strike campaign. \u201cWhen we see them going in, ping, that\u2019s the end of that.\u201d
Trump has relentlessly attacked Omar as his administration has unleashed violence on Minnesota, sometimes for days in a row. He has said that she should be \u201cthrown the hell out\u201d of the U.S. while spreading lies about her status as a citizen; repeated false conspiracy theories about her; and, just on Monday, said that his administration is investigating her.
Omar has previously said that the point of Trump\u2019s campaign against her, which she has dubbed as a \u201ccreepy obsession,\u201d is to stoke violence. Other lawmakers, like Representatives Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) and Randy Fine (R-Florida), have piled onto the attacks, with the latter at one point calling her a \u201cMuslim terrorist.\u201d
That violence came to fruition against Omar \u2014 who has been loudly advocating against Trump\u2019s raid of Minneapolis and has backed calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
During the attack, the man appeared to yell \u201cyou must resign\u201d at the lawmaker while spraying her. Minneapolis police have reportedly sent a forensics squad to analyze the scene, and the liquid apparently had a strong foul smell resembling that of vinegar.
Early reports claiming to have found Kazmierczak\u2019s social media feeds have found that he is a fan of Trump, and has for years made posts in favor of the president.
The lawmaker was defiant in the face of the attack \u2014 even squaring up to punch him back seconds after it happened. Video showed aides telling Omar to end the town hall so she could be checked out. But she insisted on staying, saying: \u201cWe will continue. These fucking assholes are not going to get away with this.\u201d
Back on the podium, she said, \u201cHere\u2019s the reality that people like this ugly man don\u2019t understand. We are Minnesota strong, and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us.\u201d
Later in a statement on social media, she said that \u201cI\u2019m a survivor so this small agitator isn\u2019t going to intimidate me from doing my work.\u201d
Trump and others like Fine even continued to stoke hatred against Omar after the attack, suggesting that it was her fault or that she deserved it.
\u201cI think she\u2019s a fraud. I really don\u2019t think about that. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her,\u201d Trump told reporters. He said that \u201cI hope I don\u2019t have to bother\u201d watching the video of the incident.
In an interview on far right Newsmax on Wednesday morning, Fine said, \u201cI blame Ilhan Omar for what happened.\u201d
Many Democrats, however, spoke out in support of Omar after the attack.
\u201cMy sis is a survivor. She fled war at 8 yrs old,\u201d said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan). \u201cWhat these people don\u2019t understand is that this country belongs to all of us. I pray one day Ilhan won\u2019t have to put her fists up to defend herself. Her lived experience is why she won\u2019t let them win. We are blessed to have her in Congress.\u201d
The attack comes just days after another Democratic House member, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (Florida), was assaulted by a man who Frost said cited Trump in his attack. The man reportedly said: \u201cWe are going to deport you and your kind.\u201d<\/p>\n