Congresswoman Ilhan Omar attacked at a town hall...

 

Bystanders restraining the suspect. AP. 

A man was arrested after spraying Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with an unknown substance at a Minneapolis town hall. AP. The man was tackled by members of the crowd who were watching Omar talk about ICE. The man sprayed something onto her with a syringe. Omar was not injured in the attack and continued her speech. The man was charged with 3rd degree assault. The incident was condemned by politicians of both parties. 

NEW ANGLE: A man sitting in the front row of Rep. Ilhan Omar's town hall was tackled after he appeared to spray her with an unknown substance. pic.twitter.com/rqKbOUp1Do

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 28, 2026

My Comment:

I obviously condemn this attack. I generally think that Ilhan Omar is the worst member of congress, she's likely corrupt and she has no business being in this country. In a sane world she wouldn't have ever been allowed to visit the country, let alone become a congresswoman. 

Of course that doesn't mean that this should have happened. I don't support violence against elected officials and even though I despise Omar, I do not wish to have any harm to come to her. Attacking anyone for using speech, even if it's speech I find totally reprehensible, is beyond the pale. It was true for Charlie Kirk and it's true for Ilhan Omar. 

I also think that it's going to give Omar some sympathy that she would otherwise not deserve. It's going to be harder to criticize her now because some moron decided to attack her. And it doesn't even matter why she was attacked, people will blame Republicans for it regardless. Not that you are going to find any real Republicans that would support attacking a member of congress, but it won't matter regardless. Even the AP article was attempting to blame Donald Trump for the attack. 

I was also kind of impressed with Omar. She didn't seem afraid of the attack and even walked forward as he was getting tackled. Though I dislike Omar, I can admit that I do think it was admirable that she did not show any fear and that she continued her event. I said when Trump got shot he got up and said "fight" that he showed actual courage and though the situation here is different, I do have to give Omar credit for showing the same virtue. She absolutely should be credited for not backing down during this attack. 

How serious was this incident? I am not sure. We don't know what kind of fluid was actually used by the attacker. She wasn't harmed, just sprayed with a foul-smelling liquid. That does count as assault, but I do wonder if his original plan wasn't to inject her with something. Given the video though, it seems unlikely. Regardless of his intent, this attack is not something to laugh off in any case, even if there was no real threat of harm, it was still assault on a member of congress. 

As for the suspect, reports have him as a local anti-Omar crank. Every political group has it's crazies and this one does seem like he was on the right, ostensibly. Nobody on the right is really going to support this, but you can't control the actions of every crazy out there. I have zero sympathy for this guy and I would not have been upset at all if Omar's team or the police had used lethal force on him. As it stands now, I hope the book is thrown at him and he faces as many charges as possible. Indeed, he seems to have been overcharged as well, this doesn't meet the legal definition of 3rd degree assault, but he got charged with it regardless.