Zohran Mamdani's Win is Bringing a Renaissance of Republican Islamophobia.

Move over, Queer People and Immigrants, Islamophobia is back on the GOP Menu!Over the past couple of years, Republicans have spent so much time in breathless histrionics over supposedly predatory transgender folks lurking in our public bathroom stalls and alleged drug-peddling Mexican gang members picking our strawberries, it’s been easy to forget how prevalent their Islamophobia is and always has been. Zohran Mamdani’s surprising New York City Democratic mayoral primary win has been a sickening reminder that Republicans have hated Muslims for a long time, and are ready to put that ugliness back into heavy rotation.Our felonious President, in between bombing foreign countries without Congressional approval in order to soothe his damaged ego following a poorly-attended birthday party, fired off a midday rage tweet from a White House toilet calling Mamdani a “Communist lunatic.” Always the skilled multitasker, Trump also managed to cram in an asinine racial epithet toward Jewish Democrat Chuck Schumer.Not to be outdone, Tennessee Republican Representative and prolific persecutor of Palestine Andy Ogles officially called for Mamdani’s deportation… for “reasons.”And South Carolina’s stalwart bigot, Nancy Mace, took a much-needed break from prowling the restrooms of America to link Mamdani to the deadliest foreign terrorist attack on US soil.And while the excitement surrounding Zohran Mamdani’s campaign and the conversations around his bold, progressive platform rooted in taxes for the wealthy, affordable groceries, well-funded public schools, improved public transportation, and protections against corporate greed is certainly making establishment Democrats extremely uneasy, it’s ushering in what is sure to be an open season of Republican Muslim hatred—and the rest of us need to be prepared to forcefully shove it back to the Evangelical hell is sprang from.MAGA rank-and-file voters aren’t exactly known for their cultural literacy or attention to detail when it comes to the Middle East. They don’t know Muslims from Sikhs, can’t differentiate a keffiyeh from a hijab, and have no desire to distinguish Islam’s Koran from the Vedas of Hinduism. As unwarranted prejudice always does, Conservative rage against a people group simply needs to feel righteous to its practitioners. As we saw in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and so many times in recent days, anyone with olive skin, headwear that isn’t a truck stop Trump hat, and any cultural cues that register as “terrorist” to them, are sufficient moral grounds to violently persecute people.What this all means, is that we are very likely to see a rise in dangerous and vicious anti-Muslim rhetoric perpetuated by self-identified “love your neighbor Christians,” who have repeatedly made it clear that this qualifier only holds so long as their neighbor isn’t black, queer, immigrant, Atheist, or Asian-American.Just as the LGBTQ and migrant communities have been manufactured into waking nightmare boogeymen for Conservative voters who lack critical thinking skills and working empathy, I’m afraid that we are about to experience a fierce Renaissance of blind hatred against Muslims and anyone who appears in the eyes of Fox News viewers to meet the outward criteria to be branded “Middle Eastern” terrorists and made to feel unsafe and unwelcome here.And so the onus is on all of us to be more educated on the cultural, ethnic, and religious distinctions between our brothers and sisters of Middle Eastern heritage, to know all our neighbors well, to be fiercely intolerant of blind hatred and uniformed phobia wherever it shows up, and to ensure that Zohran Mamdani and every human being, whether a political candidate or private citizen is afforded respect and treated with the dignity they deserve.The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe