VICE News rundown: How the anti-hate vote hurt Democrats

Want the best from VICE News in your inbox? Sign up here.

Blowback continued Friday over the House’s anti-hate resolution initially intended to rebuke Rep. Ilhan Omar for comments some perceived as anti-Semitic. It was then broadened to condemn all types of hatred. At once, the resolution managed to create the appearance of division among Democrats and give Republicans a big, fat target.

The resolution caused pain among Muslim members of Congress. “I don’t want to cry about it, but it does — it hurts a lot,” said freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. “There’s still an unconscious bias and Islamophobia even within so-called politicians,” seven-term Rep. André Carson, of Indiana, told VICE News’ Matt Laslo.

It exposed 23 Republicans who voted against the measure. In addition to the outright “no” votes from some high-profile Republican lawmakers, like Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Lee Zeldin of New York, Rep. Steve King of Iowa, notorious for years of racist comments, voted “present.”

It gave Republicans an opening. Sen. John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, called it a “gift” to the Republican Party. President Donald Trump commented while he was touring tornado devastation in Alabama. “Democrats have become the anti-Israel party,” he said, citing no evidence to support his claim.

It distracted from Democrats’ agenda. It was a rare misstep for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has until now outmaneuvered the president. She tried to reclaim the narrative with HR 1 Friday, an omnibus voting rights and anti-corruption act. That’s an issue Democrats do want to talk about, especially as it gave them their majority in the first place.

Read more from VICE News’ Matt Laslo here.

Migrants might not pose the existential threat to the U.S. that President Trump would have you believe, but another crisis is brewing at the border.

It involves sewage.

Watch our segment, which originally aired on VICE News Tonight on HBO.

What happened to the Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing five years ago is one of the greatest mysteries of the 21st century.

We caught up with Blaine Gibson, a lawyer from California, who’s embarked on a solo mission to figure out what happened. “Of the 32 pieces of debris in the debris report on Malaysia 370, I am at least partly responsible for 17,” he told VICE News.

Watch our segment tonight at 7:30 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.

The judge who sentenced Paul Manafort to just four years in prison said Trump’s former campaign chairman lived an otherwise “blameless” life.

The House condemned Muslim bigotry and anti-Semitism in a resolution that was originally meant to condemn Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Chelsea Manning has been jailed for refusing to testify about WikiLeaks.

Michael Cohen is suing the Trump Organization for not paying his legal fees.

Elizabeth Warren wants to break up Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

Stormy Daniels is finally free to talk about Trump as much as she wants to.

Trump posed for a selfie with the woman who founded the spa where the New England Patriots’ owner is accused of soliciting sex.

Beijing tells tech giant Huawei not to be “victimized like a silent lamb” in its fight with the U.S.

Facebook vows to crack down on anti-vaxxers.

Venezuela suffered a nationwide blackout, and the Maduro government thinks Marco Rubio is to blame.

Norway’s government just told its $1 trillion oil fund to divest from fossil fuels. (Financial Times)

Is Rep. Ilhan Omar the future of the Democratic Party, or is it Rep. Dean Phillips, a wealthy white Democrat from a district next to Omar’s in Minnesota? (Politico Magazine)

Trump wants to expand overtime pay, but his proposal would apply to way fewer workers than Obama’s did. (HuffPost)

As the controversy over Omar’s comments grew, the only 2020 Democratic candidate to rush to her defense was Sen. Bernie Sanders. (Politico)

Happy International Women’s Day! Time to bring the celebration back to its radical roots. (Splinter)

Cover: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) rallies with fellow Democrats before voting on H.R. 1, or the People Act, on March 8, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)