Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican known for her staunch conservative credentials, reportedly offered unexpected praise this week for one of her most progressive colleagues — Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — recalling a moment overseas when Omar stepped in to defend President Donald Trump.
Luna recounted the episode during an appearance on the “PBD Podcast,” describing a congressional delegation trip to Europe in April for the House Democracy Partnership Institute. She and Omar were seated alongside Reps. Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Vern Buchanan of Florida when, Luna said, a Belgian representative took a swipe at the U.S. legislative branch.
According to Luna, the European official told the visiting lawmakers that “Congress isn’t respected by your own president,” prompting her to quickly push back. The criticism struck at the core of a broader international narrative, often perpetuated during Trump’s presidency, about American institutions in disarray.
Luna said she engaged in what she described as a verbal “sparring match” — until Omar unexpectedly intervened.
“This, like, blew me away,” Luna said. She recalled Omar turning to the Belgian official and declaring: “You might not like what our president is doing and you might not agree with our foreign policy, but when we’re here, you will respect our president.”
“She was talking about Trump,” Luna added, still sounding surprised.
The moment stands in sharp contrast to Omar’s frequently hostile relationship with the former president. Trump has in the past suggested the Somali-born lawmaker should be deported, and many Republicans have made Omar a political foil, criticizing her ideological stances as well as her immigrant background. Yet when confronted with a foreign official’s condescension, Omar reportedly stood firm on the principle that American leaders — regardless of political disputes at home — deserve respect abroad.
“There’s always this push and pull in politics, and politics is messy, but I didn’t expect that being on a delegation with a foreign government,” Luna said. She called Omar’s stance “pleasantly surprising,” noting the importance of a unified front in diplomatic settings, particularly in dealings with the European Union.
Luna emphasized that she and Omar do not often interact except through shared work on the Syria Caucus. She did credit her Democratic colleague for co-sponsoring a bill to repeal the Patriot Act — a proposal with strong appeal among civil-liberties advocates on both the right and left.
Still, Luna was candid about the limits of bipartisan goodwill. When asked whether she trusts Omar, she replied, “I don’t agree with her, and politics is not about trust.”
“It’s about, and you don’t ever want to make friends in politics, especially this game, because ultimately you realize that it’s a very transactional field,” she said. “But in that instance, I appreciated that she provided a united front to … the jerk.”
In an era marked by partisan division and deep ideological rifts, the moment serves as a reminder that, when faced with criticism from abroad, members of Congress — even those with little in common — can agree on at least one shared belief: respect for the American presidency should never be optional.
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