Ilhan Omar says Trump is ‘losing his memory’ after he confuses her with Rashida Tlaib

A progressive congresswoman mocked Donald Trump for “losing his memory” after he apparently confused her with another Muslim member of Congress during his visit to her home state on Saturday.

Trump and his new running mate JD Vance held their first joint campaign rally of the 2024 season in Minnesota on Saturday, a state the former president lost to Democrats in both 2020 and 2016. During Trump’s speech in St Cloud, he attacked his new presumptive opponent Kamala Harris, endorsed by Joe Biden after the president announced his decision to step aside last Sunday, and also swiped at a local target: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a progressive and member of the “Squad” who has been outspoken in her opposition to Maga Republicanism.

But in his remarks, Trump wrongly referred to Omar as the congresswoman who “went to a speech when I was first running” and “started screaming”.

“This lunatic was in the audience,” he said, after naming Omar. “She started screaming…It’s the same crazy person I watch every night. She’s nuts.”

Trump: Ilhan Omar. She went to a speech when I was first running. This lunatic was in the audience. She started screaming… It’s the same crazy person I watch every night. She’s nuts pic.twitter.com/qnB9qa8VyU

Omar, however, was not the soon-to-be-congresswoman who disrupted one of Trump’s speeches in 2016. That was Rashida Tlaib, Omar’s fellow “Squad” member and a representative for neighboring Michigan’s 12th district. Tlaib was revealed in 2019 to have been one of the protesters who interrupted Trump’s speech to the Detroit Economic Club. At the time, she was working as a public interest attorney.

In video tweeted by an Australian columnist, Tlaib can be seen being led away by security as the president speaks