State And Local Republican Officials Have Been Bashing Muslims. We Counted.
Buzzfeed News’s Hannah Allam and Talal Ansari report that state and local Republican officials in 49 states have publicly attacked Islam with rhetoric and proposed legislation since 2015, facing few consequences. “In some states, the incident was a one-off from a local official in a rural, conservative district,” Allam and Ansari write, “But many others had multiple senior leaders attacking Islam in repeated incidents dating back years, with no punishment from either political parties or voters.” They add, “The anti-Muslim rhetoric in virtually every state reflects the general coarsening of political speech in the anything-goes era of President Donald Trump, who’s lashed out at Mexicans, Muslims, African Americans, women, and other targets.”