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Ilhan Omar responds to Trump's State of the Union with 'This is America' dance

There were several responses to the preident's speech, but none quite like this

Sarah Harvard
New York
Wednesday 06 February 2019 23:35 GMT
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Former refugee Ilhan Omar becomes the first Somali-American state legislator to win US House primary

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, the first woman to wear the hijab in Congress, delivered a quirky response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address with a nod to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and immigrants in a video of her dancing.

The freshman congresswoman, representing Minnesota’s fifth district, posted a video of herself dancing to Childish Gambino’s “This is America”, a popular song condemning the treatment of marginalised communities in the country, with text on the clip reading: “My message to Trump.”

In the video, Ms Omar was decked out in colors of the American flag: red, white and blue. Like her fellow Democratic congresswomen, she wore a white shirt in honour of the suffragettes, women’s rights and equality, paired with a red shirt and blue headscarf.

The video was posted on Twitter with the following caption: “When I hear Individual 1 spout hate about immigrants.”

“Individual 1” is how the president is referred to in the filings from Mr Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election, and whether the Trump campaign meddled or colluded with Moscow.

Soon after posting the video online, Ms Omar followed up with another tweet lambasting Mr Trump’s State of the Union address.

“The most pedestrian speech we have ever heard,” Ms Omar, a Somali refugee, said in the tweeted video. “It didn’t sounds like a presidential speech. It also didn’t address any of the critical issues we have.”

She added that the president’s speech “was a parade of American heroes, that he sort of used to manipulate the American people”.

Throughout his speech, Mr Trump attacked Mr Mueller and the special counsel investigation. He referred to the latter as “ridiculous partisan investigations” as a hindrance to acknowledging the so-called “economic miracle” occuring in the US.

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In promotion of his notorious $5.6bn wall proposal on the US-Mexico border, one in which resulted in the longest government shutdown in American history, the president called for unity among Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

“We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future,” he added. “The decision is ours to make.”

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