That assault on Omar marked the second time in a week that a member of Congress was attacked. During a private party at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah on Jan. 23, Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost of Florida was punched in the face, allegedly by Christian Joel Young, who reportedly said, “We are going to deport you and your kind,” and then yelled a racial slur at Frost.
In a closer-to-normal time, we’d have a president who would quickly condemn such acts to bolster unity and douse fears. Instead President Trump is feeding what’s become a pyre of political violence.
A short time before Omar was allegedly attacked by Kazmierczak, described in numerous reports as a Trump supporter who railed against Black people and Democrats in social media posts, Trump went after Omar, a longtime and frequent target of his hate.
As he berated immigrants during a rally in Iowa, Trump said that those who come to America “have to show they can love our country. They have to be proud — not like Ilhan Omar.”
On cue, the crowd vigorously jeered Omar’s name. That she was attacked on the same night is probably a coincidence. But it’s not an accident that a reputed Trump supporter would attempt to hurt a congresswoman whom Trump has repeatedly demonized.
First elected to Congress in 2018, Omar ticks many of the boxes that draw Trump’s most venomous ire. She was born in Somalia. She is a Muslim. She’s a Black woman, an outspoken Trump critic who is unintimidated by his racist and anti-immigrant invective.
Omar is Trump’s favorite target in his attacks against Minnesota’s Somali population, the largest of any state. Like Omar, the vast majority of Somalis in this country are US citizens.
Speaking to a reporter, Trump claimed — without evidence — that Omar “probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”
At a news conference the day after the attack, Omar said, “Blame is very interesting, but facts are more important, and what the facts have shown since I’ve gotten into elected office is that every time the president of the United States has chosen to use hateful rhetoric to talk about me and the community that I represent, my death threats skyrocket.”
Omar is not alone in her concerns about the incessant rise of political violence.
Minnesota, invaded by federal immigration agents in an act of political retribution by Trump, is still reeling from the assassinations of Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, last June. John Hoffman, a state senator, and his wife, Yvette, were shot and wounded, allegedly by the same gunman, identified as Vance Boelter.
Trump offered no condolences to the families or to Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. But last month on his social media site, the president promoted unfounded far-right conspiracies falsely linking Walz to the shootings.
The Hortmans’ children asked Trump to remove the post. He has not.
When Trump survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally in 2024, there were news stories about how his brush with death left him chastened. In a Politico article that has grown more grimly laughable with time, Trump was described by allies as “serene” and even taking on “humility, in a biblical sense,” after his experience.
If that was ever true at all, it wasn’t for long. Trump only scorns violence when it suits his purposes to do so. After Charlie Kirk, a far-right podcaster, was killed last September, Trump denounced incendiary political rhetoric — but blamed only the “radical left” for inciting violence, even though most domestic terrorism is committed by far-right acolytes.
He called Kirk’s death the result of people denigrating those they disagree with “in the most hateful and despicable way possible.” But that’s what Trump has always done to his perceived political enemies, including anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota, whom his administration has branded as domestic terrorists.
At his Iowa rally, Trump implored his followers to vote in November’s midterms and warned that if Democrats regain congressional control, “it would lead to very bad things.”
Trump may not be speaking only about Democratic policies or even his possible impeachment. The last time he was president and lost an election, Trump incited one of the worst acts of domestic terrorism in this nation’s history — the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at renee.graham@globe.com.