Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s response to Republican colleague Rep. Dan Crenshaw (Texas) drew the ire of conservatives for telling the former Navy SEAL he should “go do something” about terrorism.
Crenshaw had initially commented that Omar was the “First member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as ‘some people who did something,’” which he called “unbelievable.”
Quick to defend her friend, the New York lawmaker accused Crenshaw of taking Omar’s remarks out of context and attacked him for not co-sponsoring the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund.
“You refuse to cosponsor the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund, yet have the audacity to drum resentment towards Ilhan w/completely out-of-context quotes,” she said. “In 2018, right-wing extremists were behind almost ALL US domestic terrorist killings. Why don’t you go do something about that?”
As you can imagine, many on Twitter did not take kindly to AOC bashing a decorated war veteran this way:
AOC is attacking Dan Crenshaw for not fighting for 9/11 victims
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) April 11, 2019
Crenshaw is a decorated war hero, who, as a Navy SEAL, lost his eye fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and earned 2 Bronze Stars (one with Valor), the Purple Heart, and the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor pic.twitter.com/HHa7Ay4WDj
AOC implying @DanCrenshawTX, who served combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan (where he lost an EYE) in the wake of 9/11, hasn’t done enough for the victims of September 11 terrorist attack is astounding, though not shocking. pic.twitter.com/iWAn1v4FiJ
— Natalie Johnson (@nataliejohnsonn) April 11, 2019
There is no context in which @IlhanMN description of 9/11 as “some people did something” is anything but disgraceful. Defending her is shameful, especially for a representative from NY. https://t.co/15jGij29Ya
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) April 11, 2019
Rep. Crenshaw is a Navy SEAL who:
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) April 11, 2019
• Served in Afghanistan
• Lost his eye in an IED attack
• Was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart
In short, he's a hero.
And here's AOC tone-deafly asking what he's done to fight terrorism. https://t.co/vkkLn3vDxN
Dan Crenshaw fought in Afghanistan after 9/11, leaving blood — and an eye — on the battlefield, and here @AOC is lecturing him about not caring about 9/11 b/c he isn’t cosponsoring a spending bill. https://t.co/QzvIRXcExZ
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 11, 2019
For the record, here's Omar's comment in greater context, which does nothing to make what she said better.
“Here’s the truth. For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it. CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. So you can’t just say that today someone is looking at me strange and that I am trying to make myself look pleasant. You have to say that this person is looking at me strange, I am not comfortable with it, and I am going to talk to them and ask them why. Because that is the right you have.”
Editor's note: A reader has pointed out that Omar incorrectly claimed CAIR was founded after 9/11. It was established in 1994, according to CAIR's website.