Fox News’ Laura Ingraham has claimed “the America that we know and love doesn’t exist anymore” due to immigration, mocked a 17-year-old survivor of a school shooting, smeared an alleged survivor of attempted rape, retweeted a prominent neo-Nazi, and referred to President Donald Trump’s abusive family separation policy as “essentially summer camp” in just 15 months on the conservative network.

However, Ingraham’s history of offensive and ridiculous remarks extends well beyond her time as a Fox host.

During her 17 years as a host on a nationally-syndicated nationally-syndicated radio show Ingraham blamed terrorism on “multiculturalism,” parroted Trump’s racist and Islamophobic rhetoric on refugees, and suggested the U.S. government should shoot undocumented immigrants.

She also played the sound of a gunshot to “celebrate” the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, claimed Jewish people aren’t “minorities because they’re so successful,” predicted “we’re just going to all wear Depends” instead of sharing bathrooms with transgender people, attacked Telemundo and Univision as “Hispanic-centric networks,” and said the feminist movement “has set women back” because “the most powerful thing a woman can do is give birth, that is it.”


On Thursday’s episode of her show — which became a podcast earlier this month — Ingraham mocked the accent of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who couldn’t speak English when she came to the U.S. at the age of 12 after living in a refugee camp during Somalia’s civil war.

Ingraham claimed that one of the first Muslim women ever elected to Congress “sounds like Rizzo on Grease” and “doesn’t sound like Minnesota.”

The right-wing host then did an apparent impression of the Minnesota Democrat, saying “I demand that you open the wall” in audio posted by Media Matters.

Omar has faced numerous conservative smears since joining Congress. Following an appearance on CNN earlier this week, multiple prominent right-wing media personalities — including CNN’s S.E. Cupp and the National Review’s Rich Lowry — baselessly accused Omar of engaging in homophobic rhetoric about Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).


After Omar was named to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, Republican leadership claimed Democrats had promoted “a member who has a documented history of making anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks.”

House GOP leaders call on Democrats to denounce Rep. Ilhan Omar's anti-Semitic rhetoric following her elevation to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. https://t.co/nSpYrdQBKf pic.twitter.com/wInZDr4HLW — House Republicans (@HouseGOP) January 17, 2019

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) accused Democrats of “empowering” anti-Semitism.

Rep. Omar who supports BDS has said, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” Instead of the Dems supporting Israel & combatting BDS & anti-Semitism on college campuses & elsewhere, they’re now empowering it. https://t.co/PQOvXG70eD — Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) January 17, 2019

Despite the attempts to turn the first Somali-American member of Congress into a conservative boogeyman, Omar has consistently stated that even though she supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, she does not believe it is the best way to reach a two-state solution, which she also supports.


At any rate, criticizing the policies of Israel’s government is obviously not equivalent to discriminating against an entire religion, especially since the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are not supported by many Jewish people, both in his country and abroad.

Twenty-five states — including Democratic strongholds like California and New York — have passed laws condemning the BDS movement or sanctioning officials from doing official business with its supporters despite concerns over the constitutionality of such efforts.

Omar hasn’t acknowledged Ingraham’s remarks as of publishing, but the newly-elected House Democrat has continued to use Twitter to push back against conservative smears while in Congress.