Anti-Muslim rhetoric rises among Republicans with little pushback from
GOP leadership
[March 14, 2026]
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Anti-Muslim rhetoric from some Republicans in Congress
intensified this week against the backdrop of the Iran war, with
multiple lawmakers — including one who said “Muslims don’t belong in
American society” — drawing condemnation from Democrats for their
remarks but little pushback from GOP leaders.
The derogatory language has been percolating among Republican officials
for months, often prominent when criticizing New York Mayor Zohran
Mamdani, who is Muslim. But against the backdrop of the Iran war, a
country with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, and attacks at a
synagogue in Michigan and a college in Virginia, the tone sharpened this
week.
“The enemy is inside our gates,” Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville wrote
Thursday in response to a photo of Mamdani sitting on the ground during
an iftar dinner at New York City Hall. The photo was juxtaposed with a
picture of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Hours later, Tuberville doubled down: “To be clear, I didn’t ‘suggest’
Islamists are the enemy. I said it plainly.”
The rhetoric intensified Friday as GOP lawmakers responded to the
attacks in Michigan and Virginia by urging a halt to all immigration
into the United States. Some singled out Muslims specifically.
For many Muslims, it's a political moment that carries echoes from the
early 2000s, when the 9/11 attacks and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars
generated hostility toward Muslim communities in the United States,
often accompanied by discrimination and racist violence.
“When members of Congress speak, it’s not just words,” said Iman Awad,
the national director for policy and advocacy for the Muslim American
advocacy group Emgage Action. “It shapes public perception. It
legitimizes prejudice.”
GOP rhetoric targeting Muslims spreads online
Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles in his social media post stated flatly that
Muslims don't belong in the United States. He stood behind it after
criticism mounted, later writing that “paperwork doesn’t magically make
you American” and that “Muslims are unable to assimilate; they all have
to go back.”
Asked about Ogles’ post on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he
had spoken to members “about our tone and our message and what we say.”
He said Ogles used “different language than I would use,” but added that
he believes the issue raised by the comments is “serious.”
“There’s a lot of energy in the country, and a lot of popular sentiment
that the demand to impose Sharia law in America is a serious problem,"
Johnson said. "That’s what animates this.”
Sharia is a religious framework that guides many Muslims’ moral and
spiritual conduct. References to “Sharia law” have often been invoked by
officials to suggest Muslims are attempting to impose religious
practices on communities in the United States.
Many Republicans point to a Muslim-centered planned community near
Dallas as proof of “Sharia law” — though the developers have denied the
allegations and said they are being targeted because they are Muslim.
With Johnson not condemning Ogles’ remarks — or to recent comments from
Florida Rep. Randy Fine that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not
a difficult one” — the anti-Muslim rhetoric grew louder. After the photo
circulated of Mamdani at the iftar dinner, several Republicans responded
with critical posts.
Democrats broadly condemned the GOP messages. Chuck Schumer, the leader
of Senate Democrats, called Tuberville's post “mindless hate.”
“Islamophobic hate like this is fundamentally un-American and we must
confront and overcome it whenever it rears its ugly head,” Schumer said.
Mamdani — in response to Tuberville's post that “the enemy is inside our
gates" — said: "Let there be as much outrage from politicians in
Washington when kids go hungry as there is when I break bread with New
Yorkers.”
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FILE - Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., arrives for a meeting with Speaker
of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., at the Capitol in Washington, Dec.
20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Attacks in Michigan and Virginia spark another wave of rhetoric
Federal officials identified a man who rammed his vehicle into a
hallway at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, this
week as a naturalized citizen born in Lebanon. Officials have said
that the man had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in
his native Lebanon last week, just after sunset as they were having
their fast-breaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan
In Virginia, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh opened fire in a classroom at Old
Dominion University before ROTC students subdued and killed him.
Court documents showed that he had previously served time for
attempting to aid the Islamic State and was released less than two
years ago.
Some Republican lawmakers claimed vindication for their views.
Others pushed for legislation. Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, the House
GOP’s whip, said “the security of our nation hinges on our ability
to denaturalize and deport terrorists.”
West Virginia Rep. Riley Moore said he would introduce a bill to
denaturalize and deport any naturalized citizen who “commits an act
of terrorism, plots to commit an act of terrorism, joins a terrorist
organization or otherwise aids and abets terrorism against the
American people.”
Similar rhetoric and policy pushes have surfaced before and drawn
controversy. Last year, protesters connected to demonstrations over
the Israel-Hamas war were arrested and targeted by authorities,
including former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil,
a Palestinian activist the government has sought to detain and
deport.
GOP leadership offers little pushback
Middle East conflicts bringing domestic tensions is nothing new.
With the war in Gaza, both Muslim and Jewish communities have faced
faith-based discrimination and attacks.
Mamdani said the posts invoking the 9/11 attacks are problematic not
just because of the words, but because of "the actions that often
accompany them.”
“I think too of the smaller indignities, the indignities that many
New Yorkers face, but that Muslims are expected to face in silence,”
Mamdani said. “Of the exhaustion of having to explain yourself to
those who are not interested in understanding. Of the men who
introduce themselves by their given name only to be called Muhammad
for years on end.”
The stark silence from Republican leaders, including President
Donald Trump, reflects a broader change in the party. After the
Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, Republican President George W. Bush
visited the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., to explicitly warn
against Muslim discrimination.
“America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and
Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country,”
Bush said during the visit, adding: “They need to be treated with
respect. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat
each other with respect.”
“Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take
out their anger don’t represent the best of America, they represent
the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of
behavior,” Bush said.
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