Islamophobia was not invented by Team MAGA but they’ve thrown gasoline on the fire. Muslims running as Democrats are presumed to be extremists even terrorist fellow travelers. Michigan senatorial candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed had to deal with blatant bigotry at a recent event. Here’s an extended quote that captures this moment of bigotry on parade:

“Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed criticized the implications of a question asked at a Saturday town hall concerning the Muslim Brotherhood.

At a campaign event in Michigan, El-Sayed was asked by an attendee whether he would “disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“Sure. Yeah, absolutely,” El-Sayed said. “Why are you asking the question?”

In the 4 minute clip of the exchange shared on X, El-Sayed continued to ask the implications behind the question, adding, “have you asked everybody in your life if they disavow them? So why are you asking me?”

He continued that the attendee was assuming, “because I am Muslim, that somehow, I would have some allegiance to something that is not our constitution. That’s your assumption. That’s implicit in the question.”

El-Sayed described similar questions being asked to former President John F. Kennedy regarding his faith as he served as the country’s first Catholic president and whether his allegiance would be to the Pope and the Vatican.

“And [Kennedy’s] answer,  famously, was that he was not running to be a Catholic president. He was running to be president and happened to be Catholic,” he recalled. “I’m not running to be a Muslim senator, I’m running for U.S. Senate and happen to be Muslim.”

The questioner has a name familiar to our Gret Stet readership: Thomas Teepell a former aide to MAGA Republican Senator Josh Hawley. His father Timmy was Bobby Jindal’s right hand man until PBJ became a political has been at age 45. Timmy T went on to help Hawley get elected to the senate so he could do this during the Dipshit Insurrection:

I’m on the record as an unabashed and unapologetic atheist, but I also believe in religious tolerance. I am, however, intolerant of those who try to foist their religion on others; in America they’re usually Christian. That’s the case here.

The Nepo-Teepell’s gotcha question was ably swatted away by Dr. El-Sayed. He used the right analogy: Jack Kennedy in 1960. The wingnuts of that day recycled slurs from the 1928 campaign against Al Smith. They alleged all sorts of crazy shit. My favorite was that the Pope would move into the Lincoln bedroom if Smith was elected. He lost in landslide and blamed it on religious bigotry.

There’s a huge discrepancy between how Republican and Democratic Muslims are treated by the press and public. This nifty graphic sums it up:

With a blue wave looming, Team MAGA is desperate. That’s why they’ve dusted off the Islamophobic attacks. Unlike George W Bush after 9/11, the Kaiser of Chaos enjoys whipping up intolerance when he really should apologize for appointing a quack like Dr. Oz to office.

I hereby propose that other candidates should be asked equally specious questions at their public appearances:

• Irish Catholics should be asked to disavow the IRA.
• Southern GOPers should be asked to disavow the KKK. Georgia’s Mike Collins has already failed that test.
• Baptist candidates should be asked to disavow Salome for decapitating John the B.
• Black candidates should be asked to disavow the Nation of Islam. Oops, that’s already happened.
• Haitian candidates should be asked to disavow the Duvalier dynasty.
• Hawley and Jindal should be asked to disavow the terrible Teepells.
• Donald Trump should be asked to disavow the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

That list illustrates the stupidity and futility of both religious and racial bigotry; except the last one. I’d pay to see that. Not much but I’d pay a pittance.

Religious bigotry is as dangerously stupid as racism. It has no place in our politics BUT that’s not how MAGA Republicans see it. They’ve opened the GOP’s tent flaps to bigots of all varieties. Dog whistle politics are dead replaced by overt bigotry by POTUS and his Veep. They’ve ramped up the hate speech in 2026. They should be obliged to eat the dogs that they claim are consumed by Haitians. Trump’s would be well-done and slathered in ketchup. In a word: Disgusting.

The featured image is of the 2017 Charlottesville white riot. That was when my worst fear was confirmed: This was not my father’s Republican party but a band of bigots who would have fit in with Strom Thurmond’s Dixiecrats in 1948. Oy, just oy.

As the 21st Century dawned, I thought bigotry was a beast that was caged and lived in the shadows. Open displays were rare and either apologized for or explained away. Bigotry was unacceptable among Republicans as well. 2017 was a hinge moment in our history. It was when overt bigotry became acceptable in right-wing circles. Instead of stuffing the genie back in the bottle, Team MAGA has given bigotry new life. It’s one of many things that will stain their legacy. Fuck them and the racist horse they paraded in on.

The musical last word goes to Jamiroquai:

The countdown last word goes to Harold Lloyd: