Fox News host Tucker Carlson went on a racist rant about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Tuesday night about Omar’s immigrant status.
Citing a Washington Post profile on Omar, Carlson claimed the congresswoman “hates this country more than ever” despite her having “an awful lot to be grateful for.”
“Ilhan Omar is living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country,” Carlson said. “A system designed to strengthen America is instead undermining it. Some of the very people we try hardest to help have come to hate us passionately.”
The Fox host suggested that the country may be “importing people” from countries “whose values are simply antithetical to ours.”
Then Carlson made a doomsday prediction about immigration destroying America.
“No country can import large numbers of people who hate it and expect to survive,” he warned. “The Romans were the last to try that with predictable results.”
“So be grateful for Ilhan Omar, annoying as she is,” Carlson continued. “She’s a living fire alarm, a warning to the rest of us: We better change our immigration system immediately or else.”
Omar, who emigrated from Somalia to the U.S. as a child, laughed at Carlson’s screed.
“Not gonna lie, it’s kinda fun watching a racist fool like this weeping about my presence in Congress,” she tweeted. “No lies will stamp out my love for this country or my resolve to make our union more perfect.”
Not gonna lie, it’s kinda fun watching a racist fool like this weeping about my presence in Congress ??
No lies will stamp out my love for this country or my resolve to make our union more perfect.
They will just have to get used to calling me Congresswoman! https://t.co/nRS13yWivK
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 10, 2019
“Anyone who values democracy and free expression should be gravely concerned when members of Congress demand that their critics be silenced,” Justin Wells, the senior executive producer of Carlson’s show, said in a statement. “Tucker will address this on tonight’s show.”
Watch Carlson below:
Tucker Carlson claims Rep. Ilhan Omar is "living proof" the current immigration system is "dangerous" pic.twitter.com/DucHjbtfVx
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 10, 2019
This story has been updated to include a comment from Wells.
