Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville is defending a social media post he shared naming Muslims as “the enemy... inside the gates” and comparing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to the terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks.
Tuberville’s post included an image of Mamdani hosting an Iftar meal, which marks the end of the daily Ramadan fast, alongside a photo of the twin towers burning. “Less than 25 years apart,” the caption on the reposted photo reads.
The backlash came immediately from Democrats, who blasted the post as vicious and racist, with many demanding he delete it immediately.
“This is mindless hate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X. “Islamophobic hate like this is fundamentally un-American and we must confront and overcome it whenever it rears its ugly head.”
The Alabama senator was not deterred. He went back online and shot back at a Politico headline that said he suggested Muslims are “the enemy.”
“I didn’t ‘suggest’ Islamists are the enemy. I said it plainly,” Tuberville wrote on X.
The haranguing didn’t stop there. Tuberville turned his ire at former President Biden, accusing him of allowing “Thousands of radical Islamic terrorists into this country.”
Mamdani called the MAGA Senator’s remarks “bigotry,” according to NPR.
He also replied to Tuberville’s original tweet, writing “Let there be as much outrage from politicians in Washington when kids go hungry as there is when I break bread with New Yorkers.”
This is just the latest instance of a GOP lawmaker doling out hatred against Muslims online. On March 9, Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles said on X that “Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.”
Congressman Randy Fine of Florida had a similarly inflammatory message. “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” he said.
On Friday, Axios reported that Democrats were now moving to censure both Fine and Ogles over their comments.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has offered something short of a condemnation of his colleagues. “The language that people use is different than the language that I would use,” he said.
This is not the first time Mamdani has been the target of anti-Muslim hate. New York radio host Sid Rosenberg called Mamdani an “America hating, Jew hating, Radical Islam cockroach running our once beautiful city.”
Rosenberg later issued an apology.
Tuberville appears unlikely to follow suit. In all, Tuberville’s official account posted or retweeted more than 6 times on the topic of Islam within 24 hours, pinning the original post about Mamdani to his profile.
The 71-year-old has been accused of bigotry before. In 2023, he was asked by an Alabama radio station whether he believes White nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military. “I call them Americans,” he said.
The senator later backtracked on his comments.
