On Monday night, MSNBC star Rachel Maddow gushed over Rep. Ilhan Omar, letting her give two-minute speeches in between softball questions. When it was over, Maddow proclaimed "thank you for your time this evening. I'm sure these last few days have been incredibly stressful. You taking time to talk us about it is an honor."
When the liberals grouse that Trump will only go on Fox News to get softball interviews, imagine Omar sitting down on Hannity. There were no questions about her kooky remarks at Netroots Nation that the Palestinians are a "non-violent movement." This is the polar opposite. Genuflect, genuflect, genuflect.
MADDOW: So, as I was just saying, there's obviously no playbook for how to respond to racist attacks from a sitting president. How have you gone about formulating your response, figuring out the right way for you to absorb these attacks from the president, and to talk to the country in the way that you have ever since this started?
OMAR: Look, many of us as I said today when we're brown and black in this country have been subjected to the old racist trope of "go back to where you came from," whether it happens on a school playground or inside the hallway or someone shouting at you in the street. And many of us have had our responses.
And now, today and yesterday, we had to figure out how to respond to it coming from the president of the United States. And we were reminded, something that my 7-year-old says. Does he know he is the president of the United States? We had to make sure to let him know that here in this country, we see everyone, we welcome everyone, and we remind people that they are valued. [Except the Jews.....]
And we`re not going to allow him to continue his throwing of the [vile] of garbage that constantly comes out of his mouth that allows for the media to be distracted truly from delivering the kind of inside investigation into the lawlessness that is of his administration, the constant human rights violations, the policies that are detrimental to our existence in this country, and the harm that he is causing on a daily basis to our Constitution and the existence of our country.
The second question was Rachel's longest:
MADDOW: As the president has singled out you and your colleagues in the House, obviously that`s put an incredibly hot spotlight on you. But as you are saying, that critique that this is an effort to distract by the president, this is an effort for him to create a narrative that he likes. He's doing this obviously on purpose and he knows how people will respond to the sorts of attacks.
I wonder how you think that in terms of balance. Obviously, you have a platform because you are looked to for a response to the attacks from the president that is of his making, but also you get to speak on your own terms once you get that. How do you sort of avoid helping him do his work of distracting from the kinds of things that you just described?
Omar insisted America was like the Third World banana republic that Trump implied Somalia was. “He’s called on us to go back and fight corruption and fight these countries that have worse leaders and inept leaders," she said. ”We are living in one. He is that president. He is corrupt. He is the worst president we have had. He is inept and we are going to call him out for it."
And this was Maddow's third: "Today in your remarks with your colleagues, you and Congresswoman Tlaib, both specifically mentioned impeachment and called for impeachment proceedings to start against the president. Is that for the conduct laid out in the Mueller report or for other scandal-ridden behavior, are you suggesting that he ought to be impeached in part for the kinds of attacks that he's levied against you and your colleagues?"
Omar suggested impeachment would be over "high crimes and misdemeanors," but then suggested his comments were impeachable: "This is a president who himself said our country and its leaders are dumb. This is a president who said the state of New Hampshire is a drug infested den. This is a president who constantly vulgarly speaks about how dirty our streets are, how inept we are as a nation, and doesn't really offer any solution in dealing with that."
