A resurfaced video of Rep. Ilhan Omar misreading "World War II" as "World War Eleven" during a Capitol Hill news conference has drawn fresh ridicule after podcaster Joe Rogan played the clip for millions of listeners and asked the obvious question: How does a sitting member of Congress not know how Roman numerals work?
Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Somali American elected to Congress, made the error last year during opening remarks at a Democratic press conference introducing the Neighbors Not Enemies Act. The bill, which did not pass, was aimed at opposing President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement, specifically his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.
In the clip, Omar declared that 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 eventually realized the mistake and corrected herself, but the damage was done. The footage went viral, and Fox News Digital reported that Rogan brought it up during a conversation with comedian Brian Simpson on his podcast.
Rogan walked Simpson through the gaffe before cueing his producer to pull up the video. As he described it on the show:
"So she's reading off this script, and you know how people write World War II, and they use, like, I-I for II? She reads it as 'World War Eleven.'"
After the clip played, Rogan added: "How could you say 'World War 11?' Like, you know, there haven't been 9 other wars you forgot about?" He also exclaimed, "She's a congresswoman!", a line that captured the disbelief shared by many viewers online.
Rogan noted that he hadn't previously seen the portion of the video where Omar caught her own mistake. "I didn't know she caught it. I never saw that. They always cut it off before she caught it," he said. He also acknowledged that English is not Omar's first language, calling the moment "kinda adorable", a lighter touch than some of the commentary that followed.
Simpson, for his part, seemed less amused than exhausted. "This is a congressperson?" he asked. Then: "Well, that's politics, bro. Politics is f***ing brutal, man. I don't understand why anybody would want to go into it."
Rogan pressed the point, asking Simpson whether he had ever made a similar mistake while reading from a prepared text. "But have you ever [done that while] reading off a written speech?" he asked, drawing a distinction between a casual slip and a formal address on Capitol Hill.
The clip's resurgence triggered a wave of reactions on X and other platforms. Conservative activist Chloe Cole posted: "Absolutely in awe of this clip of Ilhan Omar calling World War II 'World War Eleven.'" She added, "Truly quality learing. We're learing like we've never leared before", a reference to a broader pattern of mockery that has followed Omar online.
Conservative podcast host Matt Walsh was sharper. He wrote on X: "God forbid we ever have World War 3, Ilhan Omar will think we're on World War One Hundred Eleven."
Walsh also posted a longer critique: "Consider the astronomical levels of stupidity on display here. Ilhan Omar doesn't know how to read Roman numerals AND she thinks there have been 11 world wars." He went further, writing, "Either one of those would be reasonable justification to remove her from office and send her back to Somalia. But both?" Fox News Digital reached out to Omar for comment but did not receive an immediate reply.
The popular conservative account "I Meme Therefore I Am" joined in, posting: "She must have gotten her education in the Quality Learing Center", a reference to one of the Minneapolis daycare centers allegedly engaged in fraud, a controversy that has dogged Omar's political standing in Minnesota.
The mockery marks a shift in tone for Rogan, who has previously defended the Minnesota congresswoman. In a 2023 episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience," Rogan argued that Omar's infamous "all about the Benjamins" remark, which led to her removal from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was about money in politics, not antisemitism. "It's just about money, she's just talking about money," Rogan said at the time. "That's not an anti-Semitic statement, I don't think that is," he added, as the New York Post reported.
That defense itself drew backlash. Critics, including comedian David Baddiel and Jewish commentators, said Rogan was repeating a harmful antisemitic trope about Jews and money. The Washington Examiner argued that Rogan's remarks only intensified the controversy around both him and Omar.
Rogan has described himself as politically homeless, willing to take shots at figures on both sides. His willingness to defend Omar in one moment and mock her in another reflects a style that resists easy partisan categorization, though his audience skews heavily toward viewers who have little patience for the kind of error Omar made on Capitol Hill.
Lost in the laughter is the substance of what Omar was trying to say. The Neighbors Not Enemies Act was introduced by Democrats to push back against President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act in immigration enforcement. Omar's opening remarks were meant to draw a historical parallel to the internment-era detention of German, Japanese, and Italian immigrants during World War II.
The bill did not pass. And the moment that was supposed to frame a serious policy argument instead became a punchline, one that has now reached an audience of millions through Rogan's show.
Rogan has repeatedly challenged Democratic narratives on his podcast, and this episode was no different. The question he posed to Simpson, whether anyone could make that kind of mistake while reading a prepared speech, cut to the heart of the criticism. This wasn't an off-the-cuff remark caught on a hot mic. Omar was standing at a podium, reading from a script, at a news conference she helped organize.
Everyone misspells a word. Everyone stumbles over a line. But there is a difference between a verbal trip and reading "II" as "Eleven" in front of cameras while making a historical argument about wartime policy. The error suggests Omar either did not review her own remarks or did not recognize one of the most basic notations in Western history.
Neither explanation inspires confidence. And the fact that the clip resurfaced months later, still potent enough to dominate social media and earn a full segment on the most-listened-to podcast in the country, tells you something about how the public measures its elected officials.
Omar's office has not responded to requests for comment. The silence is its own kind of answer.
Americans send people to Congress to read bills, draft laws, and make arguments about war and peace. The least they can expect is that those representatives know which war they're talking about.
