The GOP Purges Omar

If Schiff and Swalwell had to go down, could Omar be far behind?

Democrats have described the House Republicans’ denial of committee seats to the three Democratic congresspeople as acts of revenge.  And of course, revenge was a big motive—petty revenge for the removal from committees of two Republicans—Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Paul Gosar—in the previous Congress. Never mind that Taylor-Greene and Gosar are two of the nastiest hate mongers in Congress, recognized as such even by some of their Republican colleagues, eleven of whom joined in the vote to deny Greene her committee seats.  But it’s not just revenge; it’s also punishment. Punishment for Schiff and Swalwell’s roles in the impeachment of Donald Trump and investigation of his January 6 culpability.

Omar, on the other hand, had no major part in the investigations of Trump’s crimes.   She was punished for being herself, a natural target of MAGA loathing--a black immigrant woman who is so nervy as to wear her alien Muslim headgear on the floor of the US Congress.  And, of course, punishment for being an outspoken critic of Israel, a country dear to the hearts of the Christian right.     

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised at the solidity of the Democrats’ support for Omar, despite her stance on Israel, despite the spurious charges of antisemitism (which I have debunked here and here and here) repeatedly hurled at her. I have no inside information, but I suspect that Hakeem Jeffries had some work to do to hold his caucus firmly united on this potentially sensitive vote, which, The Times reports, “…was also a bid by Mr. McCarthy to curry favor with pro-Israel groups and evangelical voters and to drive a wedge among Democrats, many of whom had condemned Ms. Omar’s statements about Israel.” The House Democrats will face a lot of challenges in the couple of years ahead in confronting the radical right fever swamp which is the House GOP caucus.  This is a good start.    

PS. When I wrote this post I had somehow missed this excellent piece by Peter Beinart on Omar’s exceptional work on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Also worth reading is Beinart’s broader discussion here of American Black critics of US foreign policy.