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Trump asks Ilhan Omar how her 'country' is doing, she hits back saying he runs America like an '8-year-old'

The Minnesota lawmaker, who was born in Somalia, came to the US in the 1990s and became an American citizen in 2000

President Donald Trump on Tuesday, September 22, tore into Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar in retaliation to her criticism of the US administration and mocked her over her country of origin. Addressing an enthusiastic crowd in Pittsburgh, the president asked the lawmaker how her country of birth — Somalia — was doing.

"She's telling us how to run our country. How did you do where you came from? How was your country doing?" Trump asked. The attacks were a part of a broader attack against the "Squad" — a group of four first-term Congresswomen of color including Omar. Last Friday, September 18, the president attacked Omar at a rally in her home state saying if his presidential rival Joe Biden won the election, he would set off a "flood" of Somali refugees and others from the "worst" places on Earth into their state. Trump also accused Omar of being anti-Semitic because of her critical views on Israel.  

Trump asked Squad members to 'go back' to their countries

The 37-year-old Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and migrated to the US as a child in the mid-1990s and became an American citizen in 2000 when she was a teenager. Last year, as Trump attacked the Squad and asked them to "go back" to their countries of origin (three of them were born in the US though), he faced severe backlash in return.

In fact, his critics pointed out that the president’s own spouse — First Lady Melania Trump who was born in Slovenia (a part of former Yugoslavia) — became an American citizen in 2006 and has been so for a lesser period compared to the Minnesota lawmaker. 

Omar, who is also set for a re-election bid in the fifth district like Trump, responded to Trump's words at the rally with a tweet: "Firstly, this is my country & I am a member of the House that impeached you. Secondly, I fled civil war when I was 8. An 8-year-old doesn’t run a country even though you run our country like one." Many defended her on the social media platform and called Trump's remarks "racist".

Omar, who recently called Trump a "racist tyrant" in an interview, has always been at loggerheads with the latter along with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a lawmaker from New York and also a member of the Squad.

Trump targeted Ocasio-Cortez aka AOC at Tuesday's rally as well saying the latter is "not a good student" or a "good anything, but she's got a good line of crap". "We don't need socialists and we don't need communists telling us how to run our country," he said.

While Trump said that Omar will help him win Minnesota in this year's election, pre-poll surveys have shown that the battle is more than challenging for the GOP. Biden is leading the incumbent by 10 percentage points in an average of polls from the North Star State which the Republicans last won in a presidential election in 1972. In 2016, Trump lost to Hillary Clinton in the state by less than two points. 

Omar, on the other hand, is expected to win her second term in the solid blue district she represents which also includes Minneapolis.