https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/5ccf5037-995c-4a9a-af4b-e932ed200410 Soumaya Ghannoushi, a British Tunisian writer and expert in Middle East politics, says Donald Trump’s attack on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, calling her and her supporters “garbage,” marks a new descent into political depravity in the United States. She writes that Omar embodies everything Trump fears: “the hijab, Africa, migration, Muslimness, womanhood, autonomy,” turning a routine political attack into a broader assault on millions of Americans. Ghannoushi argues that Trump’s rhetoric is not impulsive but ideological, part of a system that degrades Muslims, migrants, Black and brown communities, and treats Islamophobia as a racial weapon. She notes that this environment has produced candidates who boast about wanting to “kick out dirty Muslims,” reflecting what she calls the full bloom of the Trumpian ecosystem: loud, illiterate, shameless. She says that Trump is not inventing new hatreds but laundering old ones, replicating the historical language used to strip Black Americans and other minorities of their humanity. His contempt for Muslims, she says, evaporates only when confronted with “oil, arms and obscene wealth.” Ghannoushi concludes that the America Trump seeks to erase is already here, multiracial, multi-faith, irreversible. The real conflict is between two Americas: one clinging to a mythologised white past, and another that is plural, visible and unstoppable. What hangs in the balance, she says, is whether the United States will continue to bow to Trump’s resentments or finally accept the country it has already become. Support stories that matter. Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0fZh5SBxxMNYdg0VzRFkg/join Catch previous episodes of MEE LIVE, our biweekly news programme exploring the stories shaping our world through breaking coverage, expert analysis, and hard-hitting interviews. Originally airing Tuesdays & Thursdays at 12pm ET | 5pm BST Got a story tip or question? Reach us at MEELive@middleeasteye.org Subscribe to our channel: http://ow.ly/AVlW30n1OWH Subscribe to MEE Telegram channel to stay up to date: https://t.me/MiddleEastEye_TG Middle East Eye Website: https://middleeasteye.net Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@middleeasteye Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/MiddleEastEye Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/MiddleEastEye Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MiddleEastEye Thu, 09 Apr 2026 01:34:42 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://tankie.tube https://tankie.tube/lazy-static/avatars/3ba3ff73-a8b6-49c9-add8-9653ef090c7f.webp https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/5ccf5037-995c-4a9a-af4b-e932ed200410 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://tankie.tube/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.