Multiple Republicans in Congress post openly anti-Muslim statements

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans have increasingly expressed their anti-Muslim sentiments in the wake of the Iran war, with several far-right lawmakers posting Islamophobic statements on social media this week in the wake of recent violent attacks on U.S. soil.

The social media posts have fueled high tensions within Congress, with enraged Democrats promising disciplinary action against fellow Republicans while Republican Party leaders largely ignore the inflammatory rhetoric.

Rep. Randy Fine, Republican of Florida, who previously faced backlash for an anti-Muslim post last month, wrote on Thursday: “We need more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational.”

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said in a series of messages Thursday that no country is “freer and safer because Muslims moved there,” and he called “immigration” a “threat to national security.” Earlier this week, he wrote that “Muslims have no place in American society.”

Also Thursday, Rep. Brandon Gill, Republican of Texas, called for “more Muslims immigrating to America.”

And Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., shared a post featuring a side-by-side photo of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim.

“The enemy is within the gates,” wrote Tuberville, who was running for governor of Alabama and posted the same line in reference to Mamdani and at least one other Muslim American politician on X well before the war with Iran began.

The latest anti-Muslim statements follow the Trump administration’s war on Iran and multiple recent violent attacks in the United States, including a vehicular attack on a Detroit-area synagogue and a deadly shooting at a Virginia college on Wednesday.

The Virginia shooter was previously convicted of supporting ISIS, according to court documents, and the incident is being investigated as an act of terrorism. Army Lt. Col. Brandon A. Shah, an ROTC instructor, was killed in the attack, Gov. Abigail Spanberger said. The synagogue attack is being investigated as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community, and the Department of Homeland Security said the driver was a U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon.

Meanwhile, improvised explosive devices thrown near Mamdani’s New York residence during dueling protests last weekend are being investigated as an “ISIS-inspired” act of terrorism, according to the city’s police commissioner.

President Donald Trump blamed recent attacks on the suspects’ “genetics.”

“These are sick people, and a lot of them were admitted here. They shouldn’t have been admitted. Others are just bad. They’re bad. Something’s wrong. There’s something wrong. The genetics are not exactly—they’re not exactly your genetics,” Trump said in an interview with Brian Kilmeade that aired Friday on Fox Radio.

At a news conference Tuesday at the Republican Party’s House retreat in Florida, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was asked about anti-Muslim rhetoric from some of his members, including Fine and Ogles.

Johnson said he had “talked to these members and all members, as I always do, about our tone and our message.”

He said there was “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 added that it was “different language than I would use. But I think…it’s a serious problem.”

Sharia law derives from the Quran and the words of Muhammad; it has no power over the Constitution or state or federal laws in the United States. When a reporter asked Johnson who was imposing sharia law in America, he did not answer and left the stage.

Johnson’s office did not respond Friday to a request for comment on his party members’ latest anti-Muslim posts on social media following Thursday’s attacks.

A GOP political operative downplayed the tweets, saying messages from a handful of members did not reflect the entire 218-member House Republican Conference or the GOP’s voting base.

“The loudest and often most radical voices on both the Democratic and Republican sides tend to get the most attention, but they rarely reflect the typical views of the broader conference or the voters who make up each party’s base,” said the Republican source, who requested anonymity to freely discuss the controversy. “The center of gravity of American politics is much calmer than the debate you see online.”

Johnson and his leaders have shown no interest in punishing Fine, Ogles and others for their anti-Muslim comments, while Democrats have pressed for repercussions. It’s a departure from 2019, when then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and his leadership team launched conservative then-Rep. Brandon. Iowa Republican Steve King withdrew from all of his committees after questioning why white supremacy and white nationalism were considered “offensive.”

The House GOP’s campaign arm also disavowed King and stopped supporting him. He was later defeated in a Republican primary.

Democrats are expressing outrage at their colleagues’ anti-Muslim rhetoric and are preparing possible retaliatory measures, although they are unlikely without support from the Republican Party.

“Randy Fine’s vile racism should have already been subject to censure. I’ve asked before and I’m asking again: @SpeakerJohnson, will you reprimand Rep. Fine? Strip him of his committee assignments? Anything? Or does the Republican caucus tolerate racism?” Rep. Yassamin Ansari, Democrat of Arizona, the first Iranian-American Democrat elected to Congress, responded to Fine on X Thursday evening.

Fine responded that “Islam is not a race” and told Ansari to “get a brain.”

Rep. Shri Thanedar, Democrat of Michigan, introduced a resolution to censure Ogles and expel him from the House Homeland Security Committee. It’s unclear whether Thanedar will force a floor vote on the measure.

In response to Thanedar’s censorship resolution, Ogles told NBC News: “Telling the truth and facts about Islam is protected speech. »

Several Democratic lawmakers in Congress are Muslim, including Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has faced a high volume of racist attacks and violent threats since taking office. Most recently, she was attacked at a Minneapolis town hall, although the suspect’s motivation is unclear.

Jewish lawmakers have also faced violent threats and anti-Semitism. On Thursday, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, released a voicemail he received in which the caller says Miller is a “Jewish asshole” and that he hopes an Arab “cuts your head off.”

“Every day as a Jewish member of Congress is another day I receive these types of threats,” Miller wrote in a post sharing the voicemail. “For those who ask, ‘Why isn’t anyone holding town hall meetings?’…these are the people who are waiting for a planned event.”