Two Exemplary, Defiant Women

In the 1960 film Two Women, set in WWII Italy, Sophia Loren’s character defies Fascist authorities, black marketeers, and Italian soldiers to protect her daughter as they flee Rome. Today, we see real-world examples of two women exhibiting that same defiance, standing up to physical and political attacks.

Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar has shown both physical and political courage. Recently, she was doused with a liquid during a town hall meeting, and Donald Trump has consistently ridiculed her. She has not bowed down. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was physically assaulted in central Copenhagen in mid-2024 and has defied Donald Trump’s attempt to seize Denmark’s overseas territory, Greenland. She has steadfastly defended her country’s territorial integrity. Both Omar and Frederiksen deserve special recognition at a time when many leaders – almost all of them men – are kowtowing to Trump and his MAGA followers.

Omar has long been a target of Trump’s mockery. He has said she does “nothing but bitch,” During rallies, Trump has ridiculed Omar’s Somali heritage and religious dress (referring to her “little turban”), questioned her legitimacy, and suggested she should be removed from the country. “Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage,” Trump has said.

In response, Omar observed in an interview: “There’s this creepy obsession that he seems to have on me that just feels pretty obnoxious. I’ve never been one to dwell on the words or attacks of bullies.”

On January 27, 2026, during a town hall in Minneapolis, the threats became physical. A man sprayed an unknown substance at Omar using a syringe while she was speaking. Video footage shows that she ran immediately after the man, right arm raised, ready to swing at him, before security intervened. (Rep. Ilhan Omar Assaulted by Audience Member at Town Hall Meeting | Video | C-SPAN.org) No retreat to a safe place. No cries for help. She continued her speech, refusing medical treatment or a break despite her team’s insistence. Not only did Omar run after the man with her right arm raised, but after he was escorted out, she declared,  “We’re going to keep talking.”

The moment was revealing. Omar was attacked while calling for the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and demanding accountability from government leadership. Among other anti-Trump positions, she has publicly opposed Trump’s rollback of environmental protection and increased fossil fuel extraction in addition to challenging Trump’s push to redefine gender on federal documents to recognize only “biological sex.”

On defying Trump, Omar said, “The way in which my father would talk to me about bullies, is that oftentimes when people are trying to bully you, they see something in you that they want for themselves. They see some strength, some confidence that they lack,” she said. “And so, I’ve always remained a very proud and confident person.”

Fredericksen has also had physical threats, and also defied Trump. After the 2024 attack, she publicly downplayed her physical injuries, and expressed determination to continue on as prime minister. Four days after the attack, in an interview reported by The Guardian, she said that she was still suffering pain in her head, neck and shoulder, but the psychological shock had affected her most.

“It’s very intimidating that there’s someone who crosses the last physical limit that you have, and are allowed to have, as a human being. There is some shock and some surprise in that,” she said, adding that she was “not quite myself yet”. “I am Mette in my own core, but I am also the country’s prime minister, and therefore a position and an institution in our society that you must not actually attack…” Frederiksen emphasized that she had continued “doing my job as prime minister, and I always want to do that.”

As prime minister, she has taken positions to distance Denmark, a traditionally pro-American country, in another direction. During her tenure as the rotating president of the European Council, she pushed for a European defense independence from the United States by 2030. “Europe must immediately strengthen its own defense because the continent has been far too dependent on U.S. military support. … The old world order as we know it is over, and it will probably not come back,” she said.

Regarding Trump’s recent threats to take over Greenland physically or to buy it, Fredericksen has been unwavering. She called in troops from Britain, France, Norway and Iceland to Greenland. “European nations this week sent military personnel to the island at Denmark’s request,” Reuters reported. She resisted Trump’s threats; “It gives absolutely no sense to talk about that it would be necessary for the U.S. to take over Greenland,” she told Reuters. “I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have very clearly said that they are not for sale.”

Frederiksen directly condemned Trump for remarks he made in a Fox interview suggesting that NATO allies had avoided frontline roles in Afghanistan: “It is unacceptable that the American president questions the commitment of allied soldiers in Afghanistan,” she said.

Ilhan Omar and Mette Frederiksen have not backed down from their principles.

In contrast to the defiance shown by the two women, thirteen countries—members of the United Nations Security Council—voted for a resolution granting Donald Trump sweeping control over Gaza through a “Board of Peace” (Russia and China abstained). At least 35 countries have signed on to Trump’s selective “Board of Peace,” which expands his reach beyond Gaza and poses a direct threat to the United Nations, multilateralism, and the rule of law.

All the countries that signed on to Trump’s two Boards of Peace have backed down.

Against a backdrop of subservience, the two women stand out. They have shown what physical and political courage look like in defiance of Trump and Trumpism. They are truly exemplary.

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