Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) inexperienced chief of staff is now being blamed for her consistent string of anti-Semitic remarks since she got into office.
Huffington Post and New York Magazine reporter Yashar Ali tweeted Saturday morning that two of Omar’s congressional supporters are now laying the blame for her negative press at the feet of her former legislative assistant turned chief of staff, Connor McNutt.
“Two of Rep. Omar’s supporters in the House told me this AM they are concerned she has an inexperienced chief of staff. Her chief is Connor McNutt who was her legislative assistant while she was serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives,” Ali wrote.
McNutt did not immediately return a Daily Wire request for comment.
McNutt was “born and raised” in Southern Minnesota, according to his Twitter profile. He worked for Omar as a legislative assistant while she was in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He was paid $18,961 between July 13, 2018 and December 19, 2018 for his work on her congressional campaign, according to Open Secrets.
Ali further wrote on Twitter that it was “quite the leap” for a legislative aide to be promoted to chief of staff.
“To go from being a leg aide in a state legislature to a chief of staff for a famous member of congress is quite the leap. Rep Omar’s supporters in the House told me they wish she had a chief with more experience (doesn’t have to be in DC) to help her navigate the ups/downs,” Ali tweeted.
But Omar is also a freshmen, and while she is the first African-born black woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and one of the first Muslims elected, she might have remained quietly under the radar if not for her blatantly anti-Semitic remarks. How a more experienced chief of staff would have kept her from publicly saying such things is unknown.
Should he have taken control of her Twitter account and not allowed her to tweet on her own? Should he have barred her from talking to the media? Does her communications director play some role in this?
I would say “maybe” to all three, but politicians who love using social media can be difficult to control. In many instances, social media helps them appear more human (we all remember Sen. Chuck Grassley’s “assume dear dead” tweets, right?) but other times we can only watch in horror as the politician spews verbal nonsense into the ether (see: Many of Donald Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tweets).
So, while McNutt may be inexperienced as a chief of staff, it seems unfair to blame him for the negative press Omar has gotten. She is the one making continuous anti-Semitic comments, suggesting Republicans are controlled by Jewish organizations, or that too many American Jews have “dual loyalty” to Israel. She is the one reciting anti-Semitic tropes.
She’s also 37 years old and is being treated like a child.
Unless there’s proof that McNutt is telling her to say these things, it’s hard to blame him for her words.