The GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives ousting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the Foreign Affairs Committee is not the egregious gesture progs are making it out to be. If anything, there's a part of the collective psyche of Omar's fellow "Squad" members which love this development given it allows them an opportunity to put on a show.
Rashida Tlaib literally breaks down in tears over Ilhan Omar being removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee. pic.twitter.com/Q81minIxvJ
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 2, 2023
Rep. Cori Bush on removing Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Cmte: "The white supremacy happening is unbelievable. Ilhan Omar has been harassed at her job for simply existing as a Muslim woman in Congress." pic.twitter.com/dKNnr9LtMA
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 2, 2023
AOC on Republicans removing Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Cmte: "One of the disgusting legacies of 9-11 has been the targeting and racism against Muslim Americans and this is an extension of that legacy... Racism and incitement of violence against women of color." pic.twitter.com/zHrE0VutTn
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 2, 2023
Say, where's the impassioned defense of middle aged white dudes Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both of whom were booted from the Intelligence Committee? And therein lies the greater point. This has to do with affronts committed by these Dem members of Congress, whether it was Omar's rampant anti-Semitism, Schiff's egregious falsehoods over Trump/Russia collusion and Swalwell...uh....just being Swalwell.
Some will point out this is merely Speaker McCarthy playing "tit for tat" in response to Reps. Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Paul Gosar being tossed from prominent committee assignment when the Dems controlled the House. I concur that if it was wrong for GOP House members to be removed based on partisan disdain, the Republicans shouldn't engage in such behavior when they're in control. Alas, that seems to be the modus operandi in modern American politics.
All that being said, there is at least precedent for the GOP being willing to police its own. Noah Rothman explains.
In 2018, for example, the House GOP leadership ejected Rep. Steve King of Iowa from all of his committee assignments after he wondered aloud why the term “white supremacist” is considered a slur. And like Omar, who has repeatedly and unashamedly advertised her intention to apply her worldview to the conduct of foreign affairs, Republicans had reason to believe King’s bigotry would color his policy preferences.
At no point did it occur to anyone that being deemed too bigoted to serve on committees called King’s very citizenship into question. Republicans can and should be criticized for having stomached King’s many racially provocative comments before the one that cost him his career, but Republicans’ late is better than Democrats’ never.
The decibel level at which Democrats are arguing in Omar’s favor is designed to convince you that a grave injustice is being done to her. But the relevant precedents, Omar’s conduct and the case her fellow Democrats made against her betrays the theater of it all.
Again, that is the point. Look for excerpts of all those grandiose speeches to show up in future ad campaigns when Omar has yet another hotly contest primary in 2024.
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