House Democrat Ilhan Omar (Mn.) disparaged American soldiers in a furious speech condemning cuts to foreign aid spending.
The Somalian-born lawmaker invoked her background as a war refugee in a speech targeting the Trump administration's drastic reforms to USAID, which spends billions of tax dollars on humanitarian relief each year.
Democrats rallied outside the USAID office in Washington D.C. on Monday to accuse Trump of sparking a "constitutional crisis", with Omar comparing the president to a dictator.
"We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one. And here we are. This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like when you gut the Constitution, and you install yourself as the sole power. That is how dictators are made."
The political diatribe turned personal, as Omar confessed to being "exceptionally upset" about cuts to programs that benefited her family in the past.
"I lived in a refugee camp for four years as a child surviving civil war. It is the essential programs that USAID provided that kept my family and I fed and safe. It is the resources that so many people around the world rely on, and it is our soft power," she said.
Furthermore, Omar claimed that USAID humanizes American power abroad, as she turned to criticizing America's military presence in foreign countries.
"Oftentimes people interact with our country through the military. That does not create love for us, and it certainly does not keep us safe," she said.
"When the world interacts with Americans through programs that provide essential need, they get to see the heart and compassion of the American people."
The Trump administration has placed nearly all of USAID's workers on leave as the State Department begins a takeover of the agency, which critics have described as a slush fund for leftist causes around the globe.
Defenders of USAID say it buys goodwill and "soft power" for America abroad, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio, now the acting director of USAID, says the agency is out of control and needs to be brought into alignment with core national interests.
Meanwhile, some pragmatic people on the left have warned that Democrats are making a tactical error by engaging in this fight. After all, foreign aid spending isn't exactly popular outside of Washington D.C.
With her continued, tone-deaf criticism of America, Omar certainly isn't helping to make the case for USAID and its staff.
