The Dictatorship
What Ilhan Omar symbolized when she was attacked — and why it drives Trump crazy
Despite the hand-wringing over the male loneliness crisisincel culture and videos of masked men playing war games in Midwestern cities, the real cultural battle in America is not a war over masculinity. Right now, our country is engaged in a battle over which kind of woman has the right to exist.
Nowhere has this been clearer recently than when Rep. Ilhan Omar was attacked Tuesday night at a north Minneapolis town hall. A man suddenly rushed toward Omar, shouting and squirting a dark liquid from a syringe. As he lunged at her, Omar stepped toward him, fist raised.
For the record, the man was swiftly tackled by security. But the video of the event shows how Omar instinctively refused to back down. Faced with the option of flight, she chose to fight. In that moment, she instantly displayed more power than any Himmler-esque sizzle reel of Customs and Border Protection commander Gregory Bovino. Omar reflexively acted tougher than those ICE agents spraying chemical irritants at unarmed protesters in Minnesota.
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s very existence seems to bother the president.
With the exception of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, there are few people that President Donald Trump has gone out of his way to insult more than Ilhan Omar. Omar’s very existence seems to bother the president. He has called her “garbage” and told her to go back to her country. Around the time Omar was attacked on Tuesday, the president was addressing a rally in Clive, Iowawhere he again insulted her and called Somalia a country of crooks and pirates.
Omar bothers Trump, certainly. The president went so far as to suggest she had staged the assaultwhich is a classic misogynistic tactic — to claim the woman made it all up.
But think about why she gets under his skin. She exemplifies all that this administration cannot control: powerful, independent women.
In a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson that resurfaced during the 2024 presidential campaignthen-Sen. JD Vance called Democrats (and corporate oligarchs) “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” His sneering words imply that women who are single and childless aren’t worth consideration.
This is not merely a degrading talking point. From the moment the Trump administration took office, it has attacked the definitions of who and what women can be and the rights we are allowed to have.
The Trump administration has attacked the definitions of who and what women can be and the rights we are allowed to have.
Consider: Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” attacks transgender women by restricting definitions of gender. While the order says it seeks to “protect women,” what it actually does is hurt both cisgender women and LGBTQ people by rescinding policies put in place to mandate and ensure equalityas well as ending health programs designed to ensure equity.
The Trump administration has also aggressively gone after reproductive rights, making cuts to federal programs that protect women’s health and using other measures to restrict access to contraceptives and abortion. The result has been a devastating rollback of the right to an abortion that has left the maternal health outcomes in this country worse than ever before.
And the assault doesn’t end there. The attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts and the end of work-from-home policies have resulted in thousands of women, particularly Black women, being forced out of the workforce at a rate comparable to white women’s unemployment during the bleakest points of the Great Recession.
Trump’s international policies also hurt women. The dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development ended maternal health care programs. The Trump administration cut funding for programs that combat trafficking. Women and children account for two-thirds of global trafficking victims.
Even the aggressive fight over immigration unfolding in American cities uses women’s bodies as collateral. The conceit is to protect the “nice white” women from the violent immigrants. From the day Trump launched his first presidential campaign in 2015 with a speech in which he called Mexican men “rapists,” Trump has used the specter of white women’s bodies to justify virulently racist policies. But when these policies are established, they actually hurt women and families. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations are ripping apart families and have resulted in the detention of more than 3,800 children.
The message from this administration is clear, down to the sheath dress and heavy makeup: There is only one right way to be a woman.
In early January, the Heritage Foundation put out a paper outlining policies that would “protect the American family.” Those policies include removing funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — the formal name for food stamps — and other federal measures designed to benefit single mothers. The Heritage proposal also calls for boosting marriage and birth rates and ending no-fault divorce. When no-fault divorce was established, it resulted in a significant decrease in reports of domestic violence and rates of suicide by women. Ending it is another way of revoking women’s freedom to leave.
The message from this administration is clear, down to the sheath dress and heavy makeup: There is only one right way to be a woman. Only one right way to exist in your body. And if you don’t comply, you become a target of violence.
Renee Good learned this the hard way. Video of her death recorded by the ICE agent who shot her captures his disdain when, after firing, he calls her a “f—ing bitch.” She was queer. She was what this administration fundamentally doesn’t want women to be, and that is free.
Part of what makes the resistance to immigration raids in Minnesota so powerful is that they are organized and led by the very types of women that this administration denigrates: single mothers, women of color, cat ladies and other women who refuse to comply with the meager versions of who and what we are allowed to be. The protests have been sustained by organized gangs of so-called ANTIFA wine moms, working women and other neighbors who have mounted an effective defense, down to their whistles. For this, they’ve been sneered at by administration officials and Fox News pundits, who mockingly call them AWFLs, or Affluent White Female Liberals.
Fox News host Jesse Watters talked about this women-led rebellion in Minnesota, asserting that “sometimes women have to be protected whether they like it or not.” Actually, that sums up how the administration’s approach isn’t about protection but compliance.
The Trump administration’s policies are not making America great again but are about making women compliant again. It’s about using policy and harassment to force women into a definition of womanhood that is easier to contain. A time and place where, as a country song suggests, “You line your lips and keep ’em closed.” A reality where you raise your own babies and look away when the state attacks someone else’s.
Which brings us back to the president’s least favorite member of Congress: Omar, stepping forward at a moment of assault, her fist raised to defend herself. She presented an image of a woman who will not be bound, who will not be complicit in her own oppression. A woman who will always and forever fight back.
Lyz Lenz is the author of the book “This American Ex-Wife.”She lives in Iowa and writes the newsletter “Men Yell at Me.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, as two retiring Republicans on the panel dug in over President Donald Trump’s personal “anti-weaponization” deal with the government he runs.
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s decision to delay the committee vote that had been set for Thursday marks a setback for one of Trump’s highest-profile Cabinet nominees, at the hands of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a pair of Republicans set to leave the chamber next year.
“Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure. Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement,” the committee spokesperson said.
Blanche’s nomination to permanently head the Department of Justice needs the support of either Cornyn or Tillis to make it out of the committee to a vote by the full Senate, assuming all Democrats remain opposed.
“Why don’t you call over the Department of Justice and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon amid the hardening standoff over his demand that Blanche and the DOJ put in writing a commitment never to pursue the president’s prized “anti-weaponization” fund, and to clarify the terms of Trump’s personal deal with the Internal Revenue Service.
Tillis told MS NOW that the conversations were complicated by the need for the Justice Department to get “several parties” to agree on the language of the statement Cornyn and Tillis are seeking.
“What I’ve advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we’re not prepared to vote yes yet,” he added.
“The Department has been in regular communication with Committee members for weeks, and we look forward to continuing to work productively with Senators to address any concerns,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in response to the decision to postpone the committee vote.
Cornyn was set to meet with Blanche on Wednesday morning, but the meeting was called off after Blanche failed to meet the senator’s demand for written proposals to modify the controversial settlement agreement he brokered between Trump and the IRS. The Republican senator is set to leave Congress when his term ends in January after a bruising May primary loss to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump’s chosen candidate.
“Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office. “I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there’s a problem. I heard (Blanche) is going through quite nicely.”
Cornyn made clear to Blanche during his confirmation hearing that he will not get his support until he agrees to reopen and modify the settlement. Due to the committee’s narrow Republican majority, one GOP “no” vote is enough to sink Blanche’s nomination.
The senator has asked Blanche to provide proof that the proposed nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund established as part of the deal between Trump and the IRS is formally dead, and he has also demanded Blanche narrow the tax audit immunity provisions the settlement afforded to Trump and his family.
Blanche has publicly stated that his department has dropped the fund, but he and the DOJ have dodged requests from Cornyn and a federal judge to put that in writing.
After announcing his meeting with Blanche would not take place Wednesday morning, Cornyn told reporters that changes from Blanche “in a modified release form” would be acceptable, but that “for some reason … they simply refuse to do it,” referring to the DOJ.
Shortly after the meeting was called off, a Justice Department official told MS NOW that the department “provided a written proposal to Senator Cornyn’s staff yesterday following ongoing discussion with both the Committee and the Senator’s office.”
Cornyn said that proposal was “not responsive” to his demands because it did not address the tax audit immunity provisions in the settlement, one of his key demands.
In May, Blanche signed an addendum as part of the deal that granted Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from pending IRS tax audits. That agreement, which has been decried by former IRS officials and legal experts as unlawful self-dealing, is being contested in federal court.
Cornyn noted that Blanche testified under oath that he could meet the request during his confirmation hearing.
“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or you know, go along, but they’re mistaken,” Cornyn said when asked why he thinks the DOJ could be slow-walking his request.
Kevin Frey contributed to this report.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived this week for his tour of Washington, he may have had a mission in mind.
Netanyahu needed to overcome his newly diminished stature and waning influence over his once close friend President Donald Trump as both leaders grapple with the unpopularity of a war they started together and is escaping their control.
His meeting at the White House with Trump on Tuesday, which was closed to the press, was the first face-to-face encounter between the two allies since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack against Iran on Feb. 28.
Trump gave him a muted welcome and afterwards simply described the meeting as “very good.” “Obviously, many important subjects were discussed,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Rather than an intimate one-on-one setting, the Oval Office was full of top U.S. officials — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
But Netanyahu continued the full court press on the Trump administration.
Over the course of two days, in addition to seeing Trump and attending Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral at the Capitol, Netanyahu also met separately with Vance, Hegseth, and Rubio, White House and Israeli officials confirmed to MS NOW.
The Israeli prime minister’s slate of meetings with key U.S. national security officials comes at a pivotal moment in the Iran conflict as tensions escalate in the region and Americans increasingly sour on the war. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows 60% of American voters opposing U.S. military action against Iran and 74% against sending U.S. ground troops into Iran.
Not only does Trump face pressure as Republicans face an uphill battle to retain congressional control in this fall’s midterms, Netanyahu’s fate as prime minister is at stake in Israel’s upcoming September elections – and he can’t afford to lose Trump’s favor.
The talks largely focused on what to do next as Iran continues to menace shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliate against American bases in the region and launch attacks on Gulf allies.
According to a senior Israeli official who was granted anonymity to describe the closed-door meeting, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did not come to a final decision after discussing three paths forward: get a “good deal” focused on Iran’s nuclear program and enriched material, have no deal and instead continue the blockade and economic pressure, or take escalated military action.
But Netanyahu did not tell Trump what he should do – nor did he express a preference.
The senior Israeli official noted Netanyahu has not ruled out diplomacy – as long as it is coupled with “very strong pressures,” calling the push to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program “a contest of will and a contest of force.”
“There are ways of squeezing them and squeezing them and squeezing them and negotiating at the same time,” the official said.
Netanyahu did not present President Trump with new intelligence regarding the underground Iranian nuclear facility Pickaxe Mountain, per the senior Israeli official, noting the U.S. and Israel already are constantly sharing intelligence – and know where Iran’s highly enriched material is. “We don’t think it’s moved, and I think we have a pretty good grasp on that,” the official said.
During their meeting on Tuesday, Trump and Netanyahu discussed ways Israel and the U.S. can work together to stop Iran’s nuclear program and get the Strait of Hormuz open to maritime trade, the senior Israeli official said.
The two leaders also discussed a third goal: to continue to undermine the Iranian regime and “possibly create future conditions for a change in that area.” U.S. officials have backed away from pursuing paths that would overthrow the current leadership, but Netanyahu still believes that could happen.
“The chasm that has been created between the people and the regime is not about to be closed,” the senior Israeli official said of Netanyahu’s thinking.
Netanyahu advised Trump in February that Israeli intelligence indicated launching strikes against Iran would lead to the toppling of the Islamic Republic’s regime – and five months later, the slain ayatollah’s son retains power with a close circle of hardliners, calling into question the accuracy of Israel’s intelligence apparatus.
But the senior Israeli official said at the time, Netanyahu did not promise the Iranian people would take fate into their own hands following a coordinated attack. Rather, he chose his words carefully and said that an attack could create conditions to “advance the probability or the possibility that that would happen.”
The conditions needed for the Iranian regime to fall, “did not materialize,” the official told MS NOW, adding, “not for lack of insight, but for either operational failure or decisions that were made.”
Despite Netanyahu insisting Israel and the U.S. are on the same page, differences still remain: the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and the Saudi nuclear arrangement did not come up during Wednesday’s White House meeting, according to a second Israeli official granted anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues to spread, with an Iranian drone attacking a U.S. gas storage tanker off the coast of Egypt on Wednesday.
Trump indicated he would not let Iran’s latest action slide, telling reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. would retaliate against Iran even as he leaves room for diplomatic talks to resume.
“It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point,” Trump said. “But we’re going to hit them very hard.”
As for what it would take for Israel to join the U.S. strikes, the senior Israeli official said that if Israel is attacked by Iran, “We will respond very, very forcefully and very quickly. And I think Iran would make a great mistake.”
Julia Jester covers politics for MS NOW and is based in Washington, D.C.
International rage over FIFA’s close ties to President Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch after soccer’s governing body announced a plan to sell a significant stake to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
The president and his family have all but turned the White House into their personal piggy bank. And FIFA — which has its own sordid history of corruption — seems to have made itself a party to Trump’s self-enrichment under Gianni Infantino’s leadership, such as by paying for space inside Trump Tower in New York. (The organization has defended the office rental as a World Cup outpost.)
Soccer is seen by many as a unifying game. But Trump’s incorporation of FIFA into his political dynasty is threatening that idea.
FIFA has announced plans to sell a large minority stake in a new company that will run its main events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup, as part of a plan to triple the amount of development money it dishes out to its 211 member associations.
Under the proposals — which are subject to approval by a majority of those national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council — a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA remains the game’s global governing body and retains a majority stake in FFE.
A press release from FIFA confirmed the plans and said Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, is expected to lead the investment group that would control FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA did not clarify why Thrive Eternal was selected, and Kushner was already dabbling in sports.
But Trump basically has already given son-in-law Jared Kushner carte blanche to dictate U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East while simultaneously hatching business plans in the region. (Jared Kushner has denied any conflicts of interest.)
Joshua Kushner reportedly has been a major donor to Democrats. But, predictably, the idea of another Kushner becoming financially entwined with the World Cup — the world’s most popular sporting event — and basically being dropped into a position of global significance isn’t going over well. Several other soccer governing bodies have expressed concerns, including Europe’s UEFA.
“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said in a statement about The Athletic’s report, adding: “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also rebuked the plan, writing on X: “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough — now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”
FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!
Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a… https://t.co/knSZibuMea
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 28, 2026
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has already launched an investigation into the FIFA leader’s relationship with the Trump administration, while dozens of European lawmakers — citing concerns about “potential breaches of political neutrality” — have called for the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino. This new proposal seems unlikely to assuage those concerns.
But what it does seem likely to do is fuel global anger toward the U.S. — the kind that has been growing since Trump retook office.
And when you consider that, it’s truly remarkable how the same MAGA movement whose members whined for years about politics mixing with sports is now in lockstep with a president who seems dead-set on casting his shadow over every sports event he can.
This post on X basically sums up the foul stench around FIFA’s latest proposal.
Sepp Blatter was Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA president and oversaw the organization amid some of its many scandals. When heof all people, is warning about how Trump and Infantino’s relationship is “deeply damaging” soccer, it’s a sign of how far FIFA has descended into the gutter.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
- RFK Jr. is exploiting Shapiro’s secrecy on Pennsylvania measles deaths
- Trump’s MAGA Inc. to host first public event in battleground Michigan
- House Democrat moves to reverse Trump’s ‘Lake America’ order
- Public workers union helped sink labor nod for Lander
- Chuck Edwards defends himself ahead of censure vote: ‘Context matters’
- Will Kevin Warsh Squander a Huge Opportunity?
- The Social Security benefit cliff is here. Washington is struggling to wake up.
- The primaries testing Democratic 2028ers
- House GOP leaders under pressure to act on data centers before the midterms
- Lawmakers press Treasury to target Chinese banks over Iran
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Politics2 years agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
Politics2 years agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
Politics2 years agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
The Dictatorship12 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words