Weigel

Bachmann, Gohmert, and the Usual Suspects Want Us to Back the Egyptian Military

Making the most of her time left in Congress.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Over the last week, a group of House conservatives have toured the Arab world and issued statements about what they’ve learned. The upshot: They’ve learned anew just how feckless Barack Obama is. Rep. Steve Stockman, reporting from Cairo, expressed dismay that “the largest Muslim country in the region has not been asked to participate or even consulted regarding possible United States action against Syria.”

So here in D.C., half the GOP is asking Obama to sever foreign aid to Egypt. Over there, Republicans were praising the regimes, like Egypt, that kept the radicals down. Here, via the Des Moines Register, is the video that Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Steve King, and Rep. Louie Gohmert cut, promising to “stand for the military in Egypt.” Quoth King: “The American people do not stand for the Muslim Brotherhood.”

The bit getting new attention comes, naturally, from Bachmann.

We have seen the threat that the Muslim Brotherhood has posed here, for the people in Egypt. We have seen the threat that the Muslim Brotherhood has posed around the world. We stand against this great evil. We are not for them. We remember who caused 9/11 in America. We remember who it was that killed 3,000 brave Americans. We have not forgotten. We know that you have dealt with that enemy as well.

In the NYT, David Kirkpatrick calls this Bachmann “wrongly drawing a link” between the Muslim Brotherhood and 9/11. I don’t think that’s quite what she was saying—she’s dog-whistling about the Muslim Brotherhood’s connections to American groups that funded radicalism, as exposed in the Holy Land trial.