GREAT NEWS! Republicans have joined our decades old campaign against the Islamization of America
And the far-left wokesters are losing their Islam-sympathizing little minds over it. According to the ultra far-left publication, Mother Jones, Republican so-called “Islamophobia” has reached shocking new levels, and party leaders don’t seem to have a problem with it.
Mother JonesIf you have the good fortune of not spending time on Elon Musk’s X, it is hard to grasp just how blatant the anti-Muslim hate coming from GOP lawmakers—and tolerated by their leaders—has become. Take Rep. Andy Ogles, the Tennessee Republican who declared last month that “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” Since that post, Ogles has shared anti-Muslim content on X more than 100 times.
Ogles is not alone, either. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) wrote on X in February that, “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” He added this month: “We need more Islamophobia, not less.” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), meanwhile, recently shared photos of the 9/11 terror attacks alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani with the caption, “The enemy is inside the gates.”
In response, Republicans leaders have done little. House Speaker Mike Johnson said last month that he talked to his members about “our tone and our message,” while noting that he would use different language. At the same time, he’s tried to explain away the anti-Muslim rhetoric by saying that there is a “lot of popular sentiment that the demand to impose Sharia law in America is a serious problem.”
Johnson took a stronger line later in March when he said in relation to Fine that “we should never disclaim whole groups of people.” He added, “Obviously, we love Muslim people.” But he has imposed no real consequences thus far. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said that he does not like claims that Muslims do not belong in the United States or that they are the “enemy.” Despite that, he has not criticized Tuberville directly.
On its own, it is not surprising to see right-wing members of Congress targeting Muslims. Donald Trump built his political career on it. During his first presidential campaign, a Muslim ban was one of his signature campaign proposals. When an attendee at one of his rallies claimed President Obama was a Muslim born outside the United States in 2015, Trump—an early proponent of the birther conspiracy theory—did nothing to correct him. What stands out now is how aggressive and common the bigotry has become.
At last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, Bo French, a Republican running to be Texas Railroad Commissioner declared, “The problem is, we call it Sharia [law], but the problem is actually Islam.” In Congress, a recently launched “Sharia-Free America Caucus” now has 60 members, including Fine and Ogles. Another member, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), who is the son-in-law of right-wing commentator Dinesh D’Souza, has written that “Islam is incompatible with our culture and our governing system.” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) called last month for banning “Islamic immigration,” as well denaturalizing and deporting people who are already US citizens.
The legislators attacking Muslims in the most aggressive terms today have also been loyal supporters of Israel in a party that is increasingly divided over support for the nation, particularly since the start of the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran. Their Islamophobia directs animus at a more familiar Republican scapegoat at a time when people on the far-right are flirting with, or openly embracing, antisemitism. It also affords lawmakers like Ogles a chance to generate outrage without major risk to reelection. In the modern GOP, attacking Israel still carries serious political risk; going after Muslims does not.
When I profiled Ogles last year, he was not well known for his views on Muslims, thousands of whom are his own constituents. Instead, he was most notable for a George Santos-like proclivity for apparent fabrication, as well as a recent FBI investigation into what he later admitted was a non-existent personal loan he reported to his 2022 campaign. (Prosecutors looking into his campaign finance practices were withdrawn from the case soon after Ogles proposed amending the Constitution so that Trump could run for a third term.)
Ogles’ attacks on Muslims started attracting significant attention last June when he called for Mamdani, whom he dubbed “little muhammad,” to be stripped of US citizenship and deported. Perhaps inspired by the outrage that generated, Ogles has posted about Muslims, who make up only about 1 percent of American adults, more than any other topic in recent weeks. Last month, he shared the same grotesque anti-Muslim meme at least 10 times in a single day.
Ogles does not post much about Israel, despite a strong record in support of it. Fine, who lists his pronouns on X as “Hebrew/Hammer,” distinguishes himself by both attacking Muslims and defending Israeli aggression in disturbing terms. As Jewish Currents has noted, Fine was asked on social media in 2021 about how he slept at night in a post that included what appeared to be an image of a dead Palestinian child. “Quite well, actually!” he replied, “Thanks for the pic!” More recently, he wrote during the war in Gaza, “Tell your fellow Muslim terrorists to release the hostages and surrender. Until then, #StarveAway.”
Recent survey data shows that Republicans, unlike Democrats and independents, remain far more sympathetic to Israelis than Palestinians. They are also much more likely to have negative opinions of Muslims. But surveys also point to major generational gaps. A poll conducted in November by YouGov for the Institute for Middle East Understanding, an advocacy group supportive of Palestinians, found that Republican seniors sympathized more with Israelis than Palestinians by a 67-point margin. (Only 2 percent favored Palestinians.) Among Republicans under 30, the gap in favor of Israelis dropped to 19 points.
That was before the war in Iran, which has prompted unprecedented dissentfrom right-wing media figures with large audiences of young Republicans. Tucker Carlson has been one of the loudest voices in that camp. He has also made a point of pushing back against attacks on Muslims. (The former Fox News host has blamed Republicans’ concern with “radical Islam” on “the Israeli government and its many defenders and informal employees in the United States.”)
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