WaPo Power Up: Trump's attacks on Omar are a test for Democrats

[Celerity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/powerup/2019/04/15/powerup-trump-s-attacks-on-omar-are-a-test-for-democrats/5cb3b1aca7a0a475985bd436

At the White House

THE LONG CAMPAIGN: A video attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for the way she referenced 9/11, spliced with footage of the burning twin towers, still remains on President Trump's Twitter feed. And criticism from Democrats condemning Trump's Friday tweet, based on his interpretation of Omar's remarks made at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) conference last month, swelled over the course of the weekend. Some were more forceful and explicit than others, however.

“Since the President's tweet Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in the direct threats on my life — many directly referencing or replying to the President's video,” Omar said in a statement released on Sunday evening. “We are all Americans. This is endangering lives. It has to stop.”

Link to tweet

This isn't an easy issue for Democrats, fiercely divided over whether to officially rebuke Omar — one of the first Muslim congresswomen — for what some senior lawmakers in their party viewed as anti-Semitic rhetoric.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) first tweeted on Friday condemning Trump's politicization of 9/11: “The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground, and any discussion of it must be done with reverence. The President shouldn’t use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack.”

She followed up with a statement Sunday calling for Trump's “dangerous video” to be taken down and said that Capitol Police were conducting a security assessment to assure the safety of Omar, her family and staff.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) offered one of the first and most searing responses: “The President is inciting violence against a sitting Congresswoman — and an entire group of Americans based on their religion. It's disgusting. It's shameful. And any elected leader who refuses to condemn it shares responsibility for it.”

snip

[gratuitous]

1. Hmmm, odd

I wonder why the Washington Post doesn't consider Trump's calls for violence against a sitting Representative to be a test for the media as well as the Democrats? Maybe the media are on such a losing streak that they don't want to engage with issues - even a slam dunk like whether it's acceptable for the President to tweet out terrorist threats - that they can't be responsible for anything anymore. Bad timing by the media, if so.