Yesterday, I joked on Twitter that, in light of her anti-Semitic remarks, it was amazing Rep. Ilhan Omar hadn’t been made a co-chair of the Women’s March. Since then two of the Women’s March co-chairs have spoken up in her defense. This is despite the fact that Rep. Omar apologized after Speaker Pelosi and a group of Democratic leaders issued a statement condemning her remarks. Linda Sarsour was the first to rush to Omar’s defense. She published a statement on Facebook which read in part:

It is absolutely outrageous for us not to see the hypocrisy of Kevin McCarthy and others like him who are targeting Ilhan who themselves have engaged in actual antisemitic tropes and some worse. Antisemites will not be held up as the moral authority on antisemitism. I will not be silent in the face of attacks, harassment and targeted policing of speech from a Black Muslim woman elected official, our sister Ilhan Omar in the name of combatting antisemitism. We can stand up for Ilhan knowing her record and what she stands for and also combat antisemitism.

Notice she seems to be blaming this entirely on Kevin McCarthy. Today, Tamika Mallory, who has faced her own anti-Semitic controversy for her support of Louis Farrakhan, joined in the defense of Rep. Omar on Twitter:

Trump has the nerve to be telling anyone to resign. He is a racist, abuser, colluding with foreign countries, alleged corruption, stripping LGBTQIA ppl of rights, caging babies, targeting the undocumented, banning Muslims. He needs to take several seats & look in the DAMN MIRROR. — Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) February 12, 2019

She’s referring to a statement Trump made today: “I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.” (video below)

Women of color are held to unreachable standards and scrutinized in a way no one else is. People have said and done way worst. We are also not given benefit of the doubt. Just based on who we are, people assume ill will. This is NOT okay. There’s racism at play. — Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) February 12, 2019

She doesn’t like Trump and also, Rep. Omar is being treated unfairly because of racism:

I will stand with Ilhan, they will not break us. No matter what they try to do we will stand bolder, stronger and more determined. #StandWithIlhan #IstandwithLinda — Tamika D. Mallory (@TamikaDMallory) February 12, 2019

The idea that Trump has been given a pass on all of the things she mentions is pretty absurd. Was there no one talking about separating kids from parents at the border? I seem to recall that made the news. Is there no discussion of the alleged collusion with Russia? I feel like the existence of a Special Counsel investigation for nearly two years already suggests this has been addressed. So why can’t we talk about Rep. Omar’s anti-Semitic remarks? As always with today’s left, the answer is that it’s racist.

Mallory’s broadside is aimed squarely at Trump but her suggestion that criticism of Omar is racist would have to also apply to all the Democrats—Pelosi, Hoyer, Clyburn, etc. who rebuked her remarks. Rep. Omar wouldn’t have apologized because Trump wanted her to do so. She apologized because Pelosi demanded it. So is Mallory calling Pelosi a racist?

This is the game that the Women’s March leaders have been playing for months with regard to their own anti-Semitism problem. The hardest hits against the current co-chairs came from a) a couple of progressive actresses (Alyssa Milano and Debra Messing), b) the progressive woman who created the Women’s March, and c) progressive reporters who published a story critical of the co-chairs at Tablet magazine. And yet, despite all of the criticism coming squarely from the left, the knee-jerk reaction of the co-chairs has been to claim this is being fomented by the right.

One of the progressive reporters who was involved in some of the criticism of the Women’s March as anti-Semitic found this absurd and wrote, “Why are they blaming the right when the criticism is coming from Jewish and LGBTQ liberals?” It’s a good question.

Whatever the answer was then, they’re doing the same thing now. The criticism of Rep. Omar isn’t limited to Trump or Kevin McCarthy at this point. If you want to call Rep. Pelosi a racist don’t let me stand in your way, but don’t pretend the problem with Omar’s comments can’t be seen by anyone within her own party.

For her part, AOC is walking a fine line. She’s not condemning Omar’s comments directly but she’s suggesting she was right to apologize and congratulating her for doing so:

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1095398514866180096

That isn’t sitting well with a lot of AOC’s usual fans. She’s not getting ratioed but quite a few people seem concerned she’s selling out. Here’s the clip of Trump calling for Rep. Omar to resign from Congress or step down from her committee assignments: