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Conservatives are tagging Ilhan Omar in their 9/11 tweets

Elected officials are being peppered with anti-Muslim tweets.

David Covucci 

David Covucci

Tech

Posted on Sep 11, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 4:16 am CDT

Twitter on 9/11 is a special place, where brands weave remembrance sentiments into product plugs, conservatives try to out-posture everyone about how upset they were, and leftists quote-tweet it all with reminders of the bloody legacy of American interventionism.

But this year, we have a new genre of 9/11 posts on the timeline. People who want to let Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) know that today is 9/11, and on 9/11, 9/11 happened.

Omar and Tlaib are both U.S. citizens and members of Congress who both were in the country when 9/11 happened. They probably already know. No one is tagging George W. Bush with pictures of the twin towers to see if he remembers.

Omar and Tlaib are the first two Muslims elected to Congress. And this is their first 9/11 in office, which has been littered with anti-Muslim tweets.

Like from Robert O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden, tagging the two in a picture of the Twin Towers.

And a former member of the armed services harassing a congressperson is just the tip of the hate the two are getting today.

A glance through Omar and Tlaib’s messages shows Americans are ready to be just as Islamaphobic today as they were on Sept 12.

https://twitter.com/1970sBallCoach/status/1171762550633050112

A great deal of the hate stems from Omar’s quote this summer when discussing the U.S. response to 9/11 and how the nation reacted with blanket anti-Muslim fervor and not anger toward the specific antagonists.

“CAIR was founded after 9/11,” she said, referring to the Council on American Islamic Relations. “Because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”

And by directing vitriol toward her and Tlaib today, instead of the perpetrators of the attacks, conservatives on Twitter are proving Omar’s point.

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*First Published: Sep 11, 2019, 9:27 am CDT

David Covucci

David Covucci is the senior politics and technology editor at the Daily Dot, covering the nexus between Washington and Silicon Valley. His work has appeared in Vice, the Huffington Post, Jezebel, Gothamist, and other publications. He is particularly interested in hearing any tips you have. Reach out at dcovucci@thedailydot.com.

David Covucci