Despite Demanding More Security, Threats Have Not Increased for 'the Squad'
If you’re even roughly familiar with how the outrage mill works in American politics, you knew this was coming.
Politico headline, Thursday, July 18: “House Dems warn Omar in ‘imminent danger’ after Trump rally chants.”
“House Democrats erupted in fury Thursday over President Donald Trump’s attacks on freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar at his reelection rally, fearful that crowd chants of ‘send her back’ have personally endangered her and her family,” Politico reported.
Omar had told reporters that she wasn’t concerned about her personal safety. Congressional Democrats were certain, however, this was just going to lead to death threats or worse.
“It’s crystal clear to me that her life is in imminent danger,” Democrat Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois, also a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said. “He has threatened the safety of a member of Congress. That takes this to a whole different level.”
“It’s bad enough that the president didn’t stop the chant last night. But he started it. It’s instilling fear, it’s going to instill violence,” Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, a top House Democrat, said.
And thus the Capitol Police met with members of “the squad” (I’m vacillating between being sick of that nickname for progressive Reps. Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, and hoping to God it sticks until the 2020 election) to assess their security options and assess the danger that they’re in. And lo and behold — I’ve almost never gotten to say this — but Rep. Omar was right.
“Fox News has learned that threats have not increased for [members of “the squad”] this week,” the outlet reported on Friday.
Oh.
In fact, the lack of threats against “the squad” is partially due to something members of the four-person progressive attack squad belies the impression that they’ve taken over the Democrats.
“The threat assessment regarding members of the squad, who have recently clashed with President Trump, remains low compared to some other lawmakers,” Fox News reported.
“One source told Fox News that even though the four had been in the news a great deal, they were still low-profile, freshman members.”
In fact, there are some who believe that if the U.S. Capitol Police focuses on the squad, they could miss other more credible threats against other lawmakers.
Also, while threats against lawmakers, in general, are up, the number of credible threats are down, the Capitol Police reported.
That hasn’t stopped Democrats from demanding extra security for “the squad” — and for themselves, while they’re at it.
On Thursday, Rep. Al Green — the Texas Democrat behind the farcical attempt to impeach the president — introduced a bill that would increase protections for members of Congress in the wake of the “send her back” chant.
“This is an important time in this country. These are dangerous times. Every member of this House needs additional security,” Green said.
“Leadership has adequate security. Members do not have adequate security. I want to thwart the efforts of those who might want to harm a member of this House.”
Except there’s no indication that threat exists. Even Rep. Omar, a woman who I don’t find myself agreeing with much, doesn’t believe there’s a threat. Neither do the people whose job it is to protect her.
The reason that Democrats want to pretend there’s a threat is simple: It makes Trump and his supporters look bad as if the former is tacitly stroking violence and the latter group is so predisposed to it that they’re willing to target his enemies.
Then again, a crazed gunman linked to Antifa attacked an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility last weekend in Washington. In his manifesto, he talked about how ICE detention centers were “concentration camps” — the same language Ocasio-Cortez used. Maybe they’re the ones who need more protection, not congresswomen who aren’t receiving any spike in threats,
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