Nancy Pelosi Is Finally Starting to Take Ilhan Omar's Safety Seriously

On Friday night, the president tweeted out a video that included now-familiar clips of Rep. Ilhan Omar speaking to the Council on American-Islamic Relations in March, juxtaposed with images of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The message of the video was clear: Omar, a Muslim woman, is inextricably linked to the 9/11 attacks. “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!” the tweet read.

This attack from the most powerful man in the world comes less than two weeks after a New York man was charged for threatening to kill Omar, calling her a “terrorist.”

There was a swift condemnation of the video and tweet from some corners of the political sphere, while others released tepid responses or said nothing at all.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned Trump, but barely.

Yep, she just both-sides it! Democratic still can’t seem to understand how to condemn bigotry against Muslims without accidentally conceding some of the points the bigots are making.

Now, it seems Pelosi is starting to come to her senses. She told reporters today from London that she had spoken to the House Sergeant-at-Arms, the official in charge of security for the House, about Omar’s safety, according to CNN.

Pelosi said in a statement that she wanted “to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff” in light of the tweet.

“They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces,” she added.

She also weighed in further on the tweet and its fallout.

“The President’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video,” Pelosi said.

The video, though it is no longer pinned to Trump’s profile, is still very much up.

Earlier today, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended the president’s tweet.

“Certainly the President is wishing no ill will and certainly not violence towards anyone, but the President is absolutely and should be calling out the congresswoman for her not only one time but history of anti-Semitic comments,” she said on ABC.

The Islamophobic shitshow to engulf Omar emerged last week, after Rep. Dan Crenshaw tweeted out Omar’s comments to CAIR and then appeared on Fox & Friends to talk about it. This was followed by a truly irresponsible cover story by the New York Post. In response, Yemeni-owned bodegas in New York City announced they’d be boycotting the paper. All of this was the inevitable lead up to Trump’s dangerous and callous tweet.

Unsurprisingly, it’s been Omar’s fellow Congressional freshman who have stood with her most steadfastly.

“We are getting to the level where this is an incitement of violence against progressive women of color and if they can’t figure out how to get it back to policy, we need to call it out for what it is because this is not normal and this is not a normal level of political debate or rhetoric,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters.

“Enough is enough,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib said on Twitter. “No more silence, with NY Post and now Trump taking Ilhan’s words out of context to incite violence toward her, it’s time for more Dems to speak up. Clearly the GOP is fine with this shameful stunt, but we cannot stand by.”