As Republicans face increasing pressure to hold Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) accountable for conspiratorial and bigoted remarks she’s made in the last several years, the Republican Party and its right-wing media allies are turning to a familiar deflection tactic by demonizing and attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), along with other progressive members of Congress.

As a right-wing commentator, before she was elected to Congress, Greene suggested a Jewish-created space laser was responsible for wildfires in California, cast doubts on the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and Marjorie Douglas High School, supported the idea of assassinating Democratic leaders, and endorsed a QAnon-linked conspiracy theory that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a satanic child murderer. Following reports on these conspiracy theories, Democrats moved to strip Greene from her committee assignments after it became clear Republicans were unwilling to take action against her.

Republicans and their right-wing media allies have turned to the familiar strategy of deflecting, trying to redirect attention away from Greene and toward Omar and other progressive Democrats, most of whom are women and/or people of color. Several Republicans have introduced an amendment to strip Omar of her committee assignments in response to the effort to hold Greene accountable.

The bulk of GOP criticisms refer to comments Omar made about Israel in 2019, which were criticized by some as anti-Semitic. Omar swiftly apologized for her comments. Still, her critical stance toward Israel gave rise to disingenuous attacks against her by right-wing media figures. The bad-faith attacks continued even while the Republican Party repeatedly covered for right-wing anti-Semitism, which has led to violent anti-Semitic attacks in recent years. Omar is also a regular target of death threats and she became a perpetual right-wing villain.

This comparison between Greene and Omar is also particularly egregious in the context of anti-Muslim and violent rhetoric Greene has spewed toward Omar and other members of Congress. In February 2019, Greene went to the Capitol to insist that Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) -- a Palestinian American -- were not legitimate members of Congress as they had sworn their oaths on the Quran, and she demanded they retake their oaths on the Bible. Greene claimed that she wanted to tell Omar and Tlaib that they “really should go back to the Middle East if they support Sharia.” Greene has also promoted anti-Muslim propaganda in Facebook videos that surfaced in August 2020. And in September, Greene posted a Facebook ad featuring an image of herself holding a gun next to three members of the “squad” -- Omar, Tlaib, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Omar has responded to the Republican effort to “whitewash [Greene’s] incitement of violence,” calling it a “desperate smear rooted in racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia.”

Predictably, right-wing media and figures have attacked Omar and other members of Congress in an effort to deflect from Greene’s extreme rhetoric: 

• The Washington Examiner boosted the Republican effort against Omar, publishing a piece titled “If Marjorie Taylor Greene is punished, Ilhan Omar should be too, some House Republicans say.”
• Breitbart posted a headline saying “Republicans look to drop Rep. Ilhan Omar from committee assignments” because of her “anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.” 
• Fox host Tucker Carlson complained that the media are “telling us the greatest threat to our country is someone who just arrived in Congress like 20 minutes ago and has barely even voted,” asking, “Why are they saying that? Maybe there is a reason.” Fox senior political analyst Brit Hume compared Greene’s comments to those made by Omar and Ocasio-Cortez, complaining that Ocasio-Cortez “most recently decided that Ted Cruz had attempted to murder her,” referencing the congresswoman's comments calling out Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) role in the January 6 Capitol siege.

• A Daily Wire article on the Republican effort against Omar said that she has an “extensive history in trafficking in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and tropes” that are “similar to what was promoted in Nazi Germany.”
• RedState published an article titled: “Republicans Need to Stop Falling for Media’s ‘Condemn the Politician’ Games.” The article argued that Democrats “glossed over” Omar’s, Ocasio-Cortez’s, Tlaib’s, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s (D-MA) “anti-Semitic statements, with little pushback from the same media outlets that continue” to question Republicans about Greene. 
• On Twitter, RealClearInvestigations’ Mark Hemingway wrote that Greene’s rhetoric is “crazy and indefensible, but [Ilhan] Omar is on the foreign relations committee despite anti-Semitism. … It would be nice if Democrats were accountable, too.” 
• Right-wing propagandist Ben Shapiro complained about the media’s reporting on Greene:

• Right Wing News’ John Hawkins tweeted that Greene is “definitely a loon” but she isn’t “demonstrably less fit for office” than Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, or Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA). He added, “Congress is loaded with people that don't deserve to be there. I just shrug at this point.” 
• Conservative talk radio host Jason Rantz tweeted,  “The same Democrats who are condemning Marjorie Taylor Greene the loudest are the ones silent on anti-Semitism from Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.” 
• National Review’s David Harsanyi complained that “it's not enough to call [Greene] a nut and ignore her, you must wring your hands every day.” In comparison, he went on to write that “the Biden administration has taken [Ocasio-Cortez's] legislation as their energy policy model” and the Democrats “wrote a resolution protecting the anti-Semite Omar.” 
• Anti-Muslim activist and founder of ACT for America Brigitte Gabriel tweeted:

• Gabriel also tweeted that if Waters, Omar, Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) “can be on committees, then Marjorie Taylor Greene can be on committees.” 
• Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer tweeted that he “won’t defend” Greene, but if Democrats remove her from her committees, “it makes sense” for the Republicans “to remove Maxine Waters from her committees for advocating violence” the next time they take control of Congress.
• On Fox’s America Reports, Fox News contributor and The Hill columnist Joe Concha cited Fleischer’s argument that Waters “should also be dealt with” if Greene is removed from committees. 
• America’s Newsroom co-anchor Bill Hemmer introduced a segment on Greene and Omar by saying, “Let's pick up on the Ilhan Omar tit-for-tat.” Hemmer argued that while Greene “might be weird and kooky,” Omar “is seen as racist.” Guest Josh Holmes, former chief-of-staff for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), argued that Republicans are the only “party that is taking acknowledgement” of extremism within their party, while Pelosi does “absolutely nothing about Ilhan Omar and, in fact, embrace[s] her and put[s] her on plum committee assignments.”

• On Fox News’ The Faulkner Focus, American Conservative Union’s Matt Schlapp called the Democratic push to strip Greene of her committee assignments “all part of this cancel culture.” The on-screen chyron during this exchange read, “Double Standard on Remarks Made by GOP vs Dems.” 
• The Federalist’s Chad Felix Greene named over a dozen Democrats in arguing that Democrats don’t have the credibility to “[lecture] us about the dangers of wild, reckless political rhetoric."
• A Federalist article argued that expelling Greene from Congress -- an option that the Democrats have not introduced -- would set a “dangerous precedent,” drawing a comparison between Omar’s and Greene’s “ill-advised comments.” 
• On his radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity complained that Omar is on the foreign affairs committee, saying, “There's one standard for Republicans, conservatives, and another standard for Democrats.”