 So we already know who Ilhana Omar supports for president in 2020 of course is Bernie Sanders She endorsed him her endorsement video is absolutely inspiring and beautiful But in an interview with Mehdi Hassan of the Intercept She spilled a little bit of tea on the other 2020 Democratic Party primary contenders and I wanted to share her take because I agree with mostly everything she says here and She really is proving to be one of my favorite members of Congress So as Charlie Nash of Mediaite writes Representative Ilhan Omar through shade at 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Representative Tulsi Gabbard South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former vice president Joe Biden During an interview with the Intercepts Mehdi Hassan in which she said it would be tragic if the Democrats had to choose between Biden or Buttigieg and a rapid-fire section of the interview Hassan asked Hillary or Tulsi referring to Hillary Clinton or Tulsi Gabbard to which Omar shot back none That is the right answer Hassan replied to audience laughter and applause in response to the next question Joe Biden or Pete Buttigieg Omar again claimed none But if you had to pick one if one of them is the candidate for your party Who would you rather it be? questioned Hassan prompting Omar to remark so you're saying if something tragic happens and they ended up being the nominee After being repeatedly asked for an answer Omar concluded. I don't know. It's hard. None comes to my head Later on after being asked to choose between Senator Lindsey Graham or Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell Omar replied I don't know and said the questions are difficult to answer because it's hard to choose between people who you have no respect for damn She has no chill So the one thing where I slightly disagree with her is when it comes to Tulsi Gabbard and Hillary Clinton I do think that's a pretty easy choice Tulsi Gabbard And I say this as someone who no longer supports Tulsi Gabbard, right? I went into the primary very optimistic and naive Supporting Tulsi Gabbard. I bought a shirt. I bought a pin I donated to help get her on the debate stage, but with time she started to shift to the right She came out against Medicare for all. She voted, you know against BDS So I you know, I'm just over Tulsi Gabbard at this point But I still would choose her over Hillary Clinton any day of the week, but moving on to Joe Biden and Pete What a judge This actually is pretty tough and for her to say this would be tragic if one of them were the nominee I totally agree because I believe that if one of them were the nominee Donald Trump gets a second term Period end of story and I went into this primary thinking Joe Biden was the worst option I'm starting to shift a little bit. I think that Pete Buttigieg might actually be worse than Joe Biden. I Mean Joe Biden at this point. He's just flailing, you know, it seems like he can't collect his thoughts He clearly shouldn't be running and I just kind of feel bad from a human standpoint Even though I can't stand him, but Pete Buttigieg, he's so smug. He's arrogant. He's the latest There's something about him that I just know will turn out voters. It's that elitism, right? This smug sense of superiority that he has it's the same thing that turned me off about Hillary Clinton And if he is the nominee, which I don't think he will be but if you were to win I mean Donald Trump is going to curb stop him in the general Because Donald Trump is gonna do his same fake populist appeal Pete Buttigieg is going to try to be overly wonky and talk about how he speaks 52 languages and Voters aren't going to come out and support him in the Democratic Party Because he is campaigning against the issues that we support Medicare for all. He is a new neoliberal in different clothing He's not he's not gonna fly. So if you really want to beat Donald Trump You've got to have a populist change candidate who can galvanize the Democratic Party voting base get them out It's not Pete Buttigieg. It's not Joe Biden so If I had to choose between them, I'm kind of with her where I would be conflicted now when it comes to you know The choice of Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell, of course This is kind of a bizarre hypothetical because that wouldn't actually happen But if I had to choose I would be torn again too because on one hand Lindsey Graham in the past have has had his moments where he Was somewhat reasonable, right? But he also supports basically every single war ever Mitch McConnell is just a tyrant So I mean these are horrible hypothetical situations that I don't want to think about because they likely will never come to fruition But in this primary if it were to come to Biden and Buddha judge, which is a possibility But it's unlikely that it really would be terrible So I'm glad that you know Ilhan Omar isn't biting her tongue because what a lot of Democrats do is they'll say well You know, I endorse candidate X although I will say that look at all the wonderful candidates that we have and compare them to the Republicans the Republicans. They're the true enemies Yeah, there there are enemies, right? But so are some of these Democrats I mean Pete Buttigieg is actively driving down support for Medicare for all the lies that he is telling about Medicare for all is working That's someone who's not my ally in any way shape or form. That's my enemy. That's someone who we have to Defeat and vociferously argue against now I couldn't find the video portion of this podcast You can find the full audio version. I'll link to that down below But I do want to play a clip where Ilhan Omar talks about a candidate that she does support Bernie Sanders And she explains why she's supporting him over Elizabeth Warren and what she says is absolutely Brilliant. It's a very interesting event in the last few days Both of you Ilhan and Michael came out and endorsed Bernie Sanders Let me ask each of you then to kick off Why Bernie Sanders and especially for the progressive listening here in the room and at home why Bernie Sanders and not Elizabeth Warren Ilhan? For me, you know, I'm one of those people who it's inspired by the movement Bernie build That's what initially inspired me to run for office Bernie is someone that I share incredible values with And as you know, we have been doing a lot of work together We introduced our student debt cancellation together and this week we introduced another revolutionary Bill together to make sure that there are universal school meals For for all of our kids, you know, when I think about Bernie I think about someone who's not building who's building a movement and not just running for president There was an America that I dreamed about there's an America that I think we deserve and Bernie is the only one who shares that vision For the America we all want. He's building a movement and not just running for president That right there really is a key distinction because I don't want a normal president to be elected, right? You can be progressive. You can check all the boxes but I really need you to acknowledge right now that We have to get the change needed to save the country and you can't do that with normal Legislative processes, right? You can't just propose a bill and cross your fingers and hope that it passes That's not gonna be conducive to you being successful as president We need someone who's going to be organizer in chief Bernie Sanders very explicitly is saying I have a strategy To galvanize the American people and get them to turn out to where if we can't pass a policy That the American people supports they show up in DC. They camp out in their state legislatures We get this past using sheer force of will using the American people that really is what distinguishes, you know Bernie from Warren in any other election year In a post Bernie presidency, I think Warren would be a fine choice But we need someone who's going to be a revolutionary He's going to get us on that trajectory of social democracy and actually give us a real political revolution in the way that FDR and Ronald Reagan did now I don't support Ronald Reagan's policies, but you can't deny that what he accomplished was effectively a political revolution because he changed discourse, right? He moved it away from the new deal and he kind of established this new political consensus to where it was So popular being a right-wing trickle-down economics promoter was so popular It became the status quo to where even if you were a Democrat, you couldn't challenge that You had to be a third-way Democrat like Bill Clinton, right and run to the right That's what FDR made Republicans do but on the left and that's what Reagan made Democrats do but on the right. We need Bernie to do what FDR accomplished So yeah, everything that Ilhan Omar says here very interesting the tea that she spilled on 2020 It's good stuff, you know, I'm not necessarily Only focused on the horse race But it is interesting to be an entertaining to a degree and to hear her say that it is fascinating because I respect her and You know, I like hearing Where she stands on these issues and what she thinks about the candidates because she is someone who I respect