The man arrested for charging at Rep. Ilhan Omar and spraying her with a foul-smelling orange liquid at a Minneapolis town hall on Tuesday is a Trump superfan who called the congresswoman a “terrorist” and openly despises her—much like the president himself.
Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, was booked into Hennepin County Jail for third-degree assault after lunging at Omar while she called for the abolishment of ICE. According to the New York Post, which spoke to his neighbor, Kazmierczak regularly shares pro-Trump imagery on Facebook, including photos from Trump’s Turning Point USA appearances and an image of Trump embracing the widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
THE DETAILS: Neighbor Brian Kelley told the Post that Kazmierczak is a “pretty conservative guy” who “doesn’t like Omar.” More chillingly, Kazmierczak apparently warned his neighbor about his plans—and that he expected consequences.
“He said, ‘I’m going to this Omar thing.’ I’m like, Omar what? He said, ‘This town hall thing.’ And he said, ‘I might get arrested,'” Kelley recalled. He asked Kelley to watch his dog.
Kelley said he figured it was “nonsense” and that Kazmierczak “wasn’t going to do anything stupid.” He was wrong. “I figured when he said he was going to go to the town hall, he’d stand up and say something stupid. I can’t imagine him assaulting or spraying somebody.”
OF COURSE: When asked about the attack, President Trump showed zero empathy and instead floated a conspiracy theory that Omar staged the whole thing herself. “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her,” Trump told an ABC reporter, adding, “I hope I don’t have to bother” watching the footage.
This from the same man who had attacked Omar just hours earlier during a speech in Iowa. Trump regularly targets the Minnesota congresswoman, often fixating on the fact that she was born in Somalia. “She comes from a country that’s a disaster,” Trump said Tuesday. “It’s probably… it’s not even a country. They’re good at one thing: pirates.”
WHY IT MATTERS: The attack on Omar didn’t happen in a vacuum. It came after years of Trump demonizing her—calling her a “fraud,” mocking her country of origin, and painting her as un-American. Kazmierczak appears to have absorbed that message completely. His Facebook activity, his stated hatred of Omar, and his premeditated plan to confront her all point to someone radicalized by the same rhetoric Trump spews daily.
Omar, for her part, refused to be intimidated. She continued her speech after the attack and later posted on X: “I’m ok. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win.”
That’s the response of someone who understands exactly what she’s up against—and who refuses to give MAGA violence the power it craves.