Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) was on Jake Tapper’s “State of the Union” show Sunday on CNN and made some of the most chilling remarks about what happened to Chelsea Clinton last Friday that I’ve seen yet.
Tapper asked her about the verbal ambush that happened to Clinton during a Friday vigil in New York for the mosque victims. Here’s what Tlaib had to say (bolded emphasis added by me):
TLAIB: Well, I just — I know, you know, Congresswoman Omar and myself have gotten so many death threats.
I think she is probably really — I actually pray every day for her safety.
I can just tell you the kind of public disagreement and the kind of language that sometimes is being used towards disagreeing with her on a number of fronts, foreign policy issues, people need to be very careful. She’s become very much a target. And right after not only the West Virginia, you know, poster putting her face there with the 9/11 towers in the background — this is a woman that’s a mother, that is an American, that is serving her country.
And we need to be very careful. When we disagree publicly, when we disagree publicly on various policy agreements, we have to be very careful in the language that we use.
And I can tell you, look, I have seen the letters and have seen the various posts from not only Democrats — from Republicans, but also Democrats, that, when we target or disagree, we need to be very careful, in that it’s not feeding into the Islamophobia that is growing in our country.
“We need to be very careful” … of calling out anti-Semitism where we see it.
Not once did she say that the ambush was wrong and insensitive. Not once did she take the two students who surrounded the pregnant Clinton (who, btw, is also a mother serving her country) like vultures to task for confronting her the way they did, and for blaming her rhetoric for the mosque murders.
Instead, she says it’s Clinton herself – and others like her – who should “be careful” over what they say.
Let me remind everyone that Clinton didn’t retweet a picture of the inflammatory West Virginia poster or anything of the sort. Here’s what Clinton said in response to Omar’s anti-Semitical remarks:
“We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism.”
She repeated her comments in a later tweet, and made a promise to “reach out” to Omar, which Omar responded respectfully to in turn. Not even Omar appeared to be outraged over what Clinton said, although she no doubt was offended by it since she doesn’t view her repeated use of anti-Semitic tropes as anything anyone should be concerned over.
When confronting anti-Semitism, it doesn’t get much more diplomatic than that.
Let me also remind everyone, as I did yesterday, that Clinton’s husband Marc Mezvinsky is Jewish. In condemning anti-Semitism, Clinton was and is defending and protecting her family – including her unborn child.
What Tlaib is saying here is that she and Omar should have the right to spout out whatever anti-Semitic diatribes they want to, but that other public figures who are critical of them – including those who have Jewish families like Clinton – should watch their words.
In other words: Shut up or you’ll get what you deserve.
During the interview, Tlaib also talked about how difficult it was to explain to her two Muslim sons about what happened in New Zealand, but expressed zero understanding of how Chelsea Clinton must worry over how anti-Semitic rhetoric could be used to hurt the people she loves, including her husband and children.
Absolutely appalling double standards and shutuppery tactics are on display here, but don’t expect most Democrats to call her out on it. They won’t even step up to defend Chelsea herself from what she went through.
Cowards.
Watch video of the Tapper/Tlaib segment below:
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—Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–
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