Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was widely criticized on social media on Tuesday after she reacted to a pro-family post by President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
The president’s daughter suggested families make the best out of their time together at home during the coronavirus pandemic, saying they should have a “living room camp out” with sandwiches, salads, and possibly s’mores.
“A fun activity that also brings family together for a meal!” the 38-year-old wrote. “Share your ideas and use the hashtag #TogetherApart.”
The social media post also included a past picture of her and her husband, Jared Kushner’s three children.
“It won’t mitigate the fear and pain,” Ivanka Trump wrote, “but it may foster some joy. Let’s come together as a community and share ideas on how to entertain our children (and each other) and create some positive memories in an otherwise frightening moment.”
But Omar used Ivanka’s posts as a way to make a political point about her father’s policies regarding the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Thinking of all the families separated forcefully by your father’s policies today,” Omar wrote. “Share your ideas on how you plan to unite them.”
The Minnesota Democrat drew many critics for her response to Ivanka’s tweet, with one person suggesting that she is not the person to be commenting on the subject of family when she recently divorced and remarried a man she was allegedly having an extramarital affair with.
“Now? During the crisis? Free immigration now? Open borders? You’ve displayed your opportunistic political virtue signaling, lack of patriotism and blatant hypocrisy once again,” another commenter wrote.
“Why do you need to be so hateful?”another responder asked Omar. “Ivanka shared a simple family suggestion and you had to be spiteful and mean. Not something a true leader would do. Awful. I’m praying for this country to heal in all ways. You should try it.”
“They separated themselves when they decided to break the law,” another wrote, referring to illegal alien families at the border. “They need to come here LEGALLY.”
The first daughter also received some kind responses in defense of her post, with one commenter tweeting how good a job she was doing “keeping everyone calm.”