Rep. Ilhan Omar found herself the target of widespread social media mockery Monday after a January clip resurfaced showing the Minnesota Democrat referring to World War II as "World War Eleven" during prepared remarks on the House floor.
The gaffe, captured in a clip dated Jan. 22, 2025, occurred while Omar was discussing congressional Democrats' push to repeal the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the same law President Trump invoked to expedite deportations of suspected Venezuelan gang members in the country illegally.
Reading from her notes, Omar told colleagues: "The last time the Alien Enemies Act was invoked, it was used to detain and deport German, Japanese, Italian immigrants during World War Eleven." She paused, then added: "Oh... two... sorry." Other congressional Democrats stood alongside her as she stumbled through the correction, the New York Post reported.
The moment might have passed quietly in January. It did not pass quietly on Monday.
The conservative account Libs of TikTok posted the clip on X with a blunt assessment: "I can't believe this dummy is in Congress." The post helped push the video back into public view months after the original remarks.
Conservative columnist Ed Morrissey reacted with disbelief. "Was this for real? I thought it might be AI," he wrote on X. The comment captured a sentiment shared by many viewers, the blunder seemed too clean to be real.
Omar's record of controversy has made her a frequent target, and this latest episode gave critics fresh material. The congresswoman has faced escalating ethics pressure over her financial disclosures in recent months, and the "World War Eleven" clip only reinforced the perception among her detractors that she is not a serious legislator.
MAGA influencer Sarah Sizzle offered a pointed jab, writing on X: "She learned history at the Quality Learing Center." The reference was to a now-shuttered Minnesota day care center caught up in a fraud scandal last year, a case that became national news and embarrassed the state.
Another user created an AI-generated mock-up of a New York Times front page blaming Trump for starting "World War Eleven", turning Omar's slip into a running joke. One more X user diagnosed the congresswoman as having "a case of the Biden's," a reference to former President Biden's well-documented verbal stumbles.
What makes the gaffe harder to brush off is the context. Omar was not ad-libbing. She was reading from prepared text. The Roman numeral "II", two, was presumably right there on the page. She read it as "eleven."
For a lawmaker seeking to make a serious constitutional argument about wartime immigration powers, the mistake undercut her own message. The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a real and consequential statute. Democrats have argued it should be repealed. But the policy debate got buried under a viral clip of a congresswoman who appeared not to recognize a Roman numeral.
The episode is also not an isolated credibility problem for Omar. An independent accountant dismantled her explanation for a massive gap in her financial disclosures, raising questions about whether her public statements on her own finances hold up under scrutiny.
Omar's office did not immediately respond to the New York Post's request for comment on the resurfaced clip.
The Minnesota Democrat has drawn sharp criticism from both sides of the aisle over the years, though for different reasons. On the right, she has long been viewed as one of the most polarizing members of Congress, a founding member of the progressive "Squad" who has courted controversy on issues from Israel to immigration.
President Trump has not been shy about singling her out. Earlier this year, he referred to Omar as "Low IQ Ilhan Omar" in a Truth Social post. The "World War Eleven" clip gave his supporters a ready-made exhibit.
Omar has also lashed out at reporters who have pressed her on a multimillion-dollar financial disclosure discrepancy, a pattern of evasion that has done little to quiet her critics.
The broader question, though, is not whether a slip of the tongue matters in isolation. Everyone misspeaks. The question is whether the gaffe fits a pattern, and whether voters in her district care. Omar ultimately amended her financial disclosure under GOP pressure, slashing her reported assets from millions to under $100,000. That kind of discrepancy invites more than a shrug.
The Alien Enemies Act debate is not trivial. The 1798 law gives the president broad authority to detain and deport nationals of hostile foreign nations during wartime or invasion. Trump's decision to invoke it against suspected Venezuelan gang members here illegally set off a legal and political fight that is still unfolding.
Democrats, including Omar, have framed the law as a relic that enables government overreach. Republicans counter that it is a necessary tool for a president dealing with dangerous illegal immigrants whom the previous administration failed to remove.
Omar was trying to make the Democratic case. She wanted to remind Americans that the act was last used during World War II to intern and deport immigrants from Axis nations, a dark chapter that civil libertarians on both sides acknowledge. But the messenger fumbled the message so badly that the policy argument vanished, replaced by a punchline.
That is a failure of basic competence. And it matters because Omar is not a backbencher without influence. She is a prominent voice in her party's progressive wing, someone who shapes the immigration debate on the left. If she cannot read "World War II" off a prepared script, it raises fair questions about the rigor she brings to the policies she champions. Her broader credibility has been challenged by GOP probes she has dismissed as political theater, but the numbers behind those probes tell their own story.
When you can't get the basics right on camera, it's hard to convince anyone you've got the hard stuff figured out behind closed doors.