Radical Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has attacked and disparaged American soldiers in a furious speech condemning cuts to foreign aid spending.
The Somalia-born lawmaker invoked her background as a war refugee in a speech targeting President Donald Trump’s foreign aid policies.
The Trump administration’s drastic reforms to USAID, the corrupt agency that spends billions of tax dollars on humanitarian relief each year.
Democrats rallied outside the USAID office in Washington D.C. on Monday to accuse Trump of sparking a “constitutional crisis.”
During the protest, Omar compared the president to a dictator.
“We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one. And here we are,” Omar said.
“This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like when you gut the Constitution, and you install yourself as the sole power.
“That is how dictators are made.”
The political diatribe turned personal, however.
Omar confessed to being “exceptionally upset” about cuts to programs that benefited her family in the past.
“I lived in a refugee camp for four years as a child surviving civil war,” she said.
“It is the essential programs that USAID provided that kept my family and I fed and safe.
“It is the resources that so many people around the world rely on, and it is our soft power.”
Furthermore, Omar claimed that USAID humanizes American power abroad.
She then turned to criticizing America’s military presence in foreign countries.
“Oftentimes people interact with our country through the military,” she said.
“That does not create love for us, and it certainly does not keep us safe.
“When the world interacts with Americans through programs that provide essential need, they get to see the heart and compassion of the American people.”
The Trump administration has placed nearly all of USAID’s workers on leave as the State Department begins a takeover of the agency.
Critics have described USAID as a slush fund for leftist causes around the globe.
Defenders of USAID claim it buys goodwill and “soft power” for America abroad.
However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, now the acting director of USAID, says the agency is out of control and needs to be brought into alignment with core national interests.
Meanwhile, some pragmatic people on the Left have warned that Democrats are making a tactical error by engaging in this fight.
After all, foreign aid spending isn’t exactly popular outside of Washington D.C.
With her continued, tone-deaf criticism of America, Omar certainly isn’t helping to make the case for USAID and its staff.
