Aside from Donald Trump himself, there probably isn’t a more controversial — or divisive — figure in America today than Ilhan Omar. The diminutive Democrat from Minnesota is the joint-first Muslim woman to serve in Congress and one of the president’s favourite foils: a 37-year-old former child refugee from Somalia who burst provocatively onto the political scene in 2018 and has been setting off fireworks ever since. Love or hate her, and many do, it is impossible to overlook Omar. She won’t let you. Nor will her enemies.
To her fans, she is a brave pioneer, a war child, a voice for the voiceless, whose hijabbed presence in Congress represents all that is great about their country. “I am America’s hope and the president’s nightmare,”