The bigoted rhetoric against Muslim American politicians is backfiring.
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rhetoric → backfire → politicians
Muslims are embroiled in yet another war, but this one isn’t in the Middle East, Southeast Asia or another predominantly Islamic region.
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one → embroil → East
Or anywhere else in the U.S. where a politician with a name like Abdul El-Sayed, Zohran Mamdani or Ilhan Omar have run for office — and won
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politician → run → office
Since his victory in August, the right’s main strategy to beat him this fall is a familiar one: paint El-Sayed, the Muslim son of Egyptian immigrants, as an anti-American extremist.
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strategy → beat → extremist
Vice President JD Vance recently told a crowd that “there’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil,” suggesting that Democratic nominee represents a divisive ideology.
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nominee → tell → ideology
Rep. Nancy Mace warned of a larger problem when she said that “every single Muslim holding public office in America” is “a threat to both national security and our republic.”
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Muslim → warn → security
Sen. Tommy Tuberville flat-out called El-Sayed a “terrorist.”
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Tuberville → call → Sayed
“The message is that these candidates are a civilizational threat that is going to destroy American society and Western civilization from within,” says Salam Al-Marayati, president and co-founder of the nonprofit Muslim Public Affairs Council.
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Marayati → go → Council
“You saw that a lot when Mamdani was elected.”
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Mamdani → see → that
And given that he was elected, the Islamophobia playbook may need an overhaul.
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playbook → give → overhaul
New York City Mayor Mamdani and El-Sayed are among the more than 255 Muslim elected officials serving across 26 states and at nearly every level of government, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
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Mamdani → elect → Relations
That number includes a historical high of four Muslim Americans in Congress.
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number → include → Congress
But as their political power has grown, so too has the bigoted rhetoric about the dangers of electing a Muslim to office.
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rhetoric → grow → office
CBS News, now under the leadership of conservative Editor in Chief Bari Weiss, caught flak this week for publishing a story with the headline: “Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s deleted tweets on Sept. 11 attacks invite scrutiny of past remarks.”
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tweets → catch → remarks
Criticisms of the piece were immediate, including commentary in the Atlantic that called the story a political dog whistle for using a tenuous connection to align El-Sayed’s name with the phrase “9/11 attacks.”
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that → include → phrase
The pandemic-era posts from El-Sayed did not celebrate the tragedy or the terrorists who perpetrated the attacks.
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who → celebrate → attacks
He instead compared the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks to the growing COVID-19 death toll in the U.S., and called for a strong response against the virus as there was to the 9/11 attacks.
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He → compare → attacks
In the second tweet, El-Sayed wrote that more Americans had died from COVID than in the 9/11 attacks, so he hoped “that means we’ll spend the next ten years fighting a war for public health & against poverty … like we launched a global #WaronTerror after 9/11.
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we → write → 9/11
We could save lives rather than take them.”
Hardly the smoking gun that puts him in an Afghan cave, scheming with Osama bin Laden.
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that → save → Laden
The tweets were deleted along with all of Al-Sayed’s other posts dated before July 2023.
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tweets → delete → July
His campaign said he did so to prevent “old posts from being taken out of context.”
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he → say → context
Similar tactics were used against Mamdani in his run for mayor.
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tactics → use → mayor
After a particularly rousing speech leading up to his 2025 win, the New York Times noted that “…Republican elected officials and right-wing media figures [are] accusing him of promoting Islamic law, supporting terrorism and posing a threat to the safety of New Yorkers, especially Jews.”
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officials → lead → Yorkers
Before Mamdani, Somali American Rep. Omar (D-Minn.) was the subject of “Send her back” chants at Trump rallies.
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Omar → send → rallies
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) publicly referred to Omar as a member of the “Jihad Squad.”
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Boebert → refer → Squad
Nevertheless, Omar became the first African refugee to become a member of Congress when she assumed office in January 2019.
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she → become → January
“What we have found out from previous elections is that candidates like Abdul Sayed are speaking to the masses,” says Al-Marayati.
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Marayati → find → masses
“They’re not speaking to the Democratic and Republican establishment who believe in this hierarchical structure where you only have a few in control, whether it’s corporate influence or lobbies or a certain race and religion that are on top and the rest of us are merely visitors who should just be thankful for getting the crumbs from the economy.
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who → speak → economy
[El-Sayed and Mamdani] are returning to the vision of a pluralistic democracy.
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Sayed → return → democracy
The latest efforts to derail El-Sayed’s campaign include weaponizing his association with leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.
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efforts → derail → Piker
Piker, who earlier this year appeared on the campaign trail with El-Sayed, is a major influence among progressives and a boogeyman to establishment Republicans and Democrats alike.
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who → appear → Republicans
The right can’t stop talking about his sharp criticisms of MAGA leadership, disdain for U.S. foreign policy, and his pro-Palestinian stance.
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right → stop → policy
The left is terrified of being associated with Piker.
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left → associate → Piker
Now the candidate is pressed daily to answer for things said by Piker stretching as far back as 2019, when the influencer commented that “America deserved 9/11” (a quote that was incorrectly attributed to El-Sayed).
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that → press → Sayed
El-Sayed has denounced the statement as “stupid,” and Piker has walked back his words.
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Piker → denounce → words
But the unyielding scrutiny over dubious associations doesn’t cut both ways.
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scrutiny → cut → ways
A member of Roger’s faith advisory team, Sewell in August co-organized and led a “Christian Crusader March” and anti-Islam protest in Dearborn alongside far-right activist and pardoned Jan. 6 participant Jake Lang.
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Sewell → co → Lang
Campaigns that leverage hate and fear against Muslim candidates and elected officials are nothing new, but they appear to be less effective with each passing election season.
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they → leverage → season
It’s possible more and more voters see through the prejudiced subterfuge, but it’s more likely that folks simply need a change.
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folks → ’ → change
“The real threat that Abdul Sayed represents is that he is knocking down that hierarchical structure, and that’s why you have the attacks on him of being a radical, being a terror sympathizer, being a threat to civilization,” says Al-Marayati.
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Marayati → represent → civilization
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
