🔻DDTTIDF🔻

Mehdi Hasan slams Republicans for their Islamophobic attacks on Abdul El-Sayed, "A man who was born and raised here, running for office in this country, is somehow tied to terrorist groups, is disloyal, doesn't have allegiance to American" "It's really disgusting and dangerous" "It's insane, that every Muslim who runs for office is suddenly tarred as an extremist' "The idea that Abdul El-Sayed is a jihadist or an extremist - he dances to Taylor Swift songs" "He's more pro LGBTQ rights than I'm sure your Republican guest is" My view: Mehdi Hasan is right to call out the Republican attacks on Abdul El-Sayed. When a Muslim candidate runs for office, the debate can quickly shift from what he believes and what he would do to insinuations about whether he belongs, where his loyalties lie and whether his faith makes him a threat. That is a double standard. Candidates should be judged by their actions, their policies and the evidence — the same standards applied to everyone else. A Muslim politician should not have to pass an extra test of patriotism simply because of his name or religion. And these attacks do more than target one candidate. They tell Muslim Americans that public service may come with suspicion attached, no matter how clearly they have shown who they are. That kind of rhetoric narrows who is allowed to be seen as fully American — and it poisons political debate by replacing scrutiny with prejudice. Hasan is right: this is disgusting, and it is dangerous