2026-08-06T19:14:22.702Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/06/politics/abdul-el-sayed-islamophobia-republicans
周二，密歇根州共和党初选选民以两位数优势选出了一名已退出竞选的国会候选人，击败了 Amir Hassan——一位得到前总统唐纳德·特朗普背书、名字带有明显阿拉伯特征的前穆斯林。
周三，在拉斯维加斯一场特朗普的演讲活动上，部分与会者在提到另一个阿拉伯语名字时发出嘘声，随后内华达州共和党州长乔·隆巴多呼吁他们停止起哄。Austin Abdelnabi是一名近期在执行任务时牺牲的警察，他的兄弟曾在白宫工作。
这两起事件本都可以被当作巧合——只是孤立事件，几乎说明不了什么问题。
但本周共和党针对密歇根州新任民主党参议院候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德发起一场公然反伊斯兰的竞选活动，此时发生这些事件很难说是巧合。
过去20年来，特朗普为了政治目的玩弄甚至直接使用反伊斯兰言论。他针对巴拉克·奥巴马的“出生证明阴谋论”运动，暗示奥巴马可能是秘密穆斯林，帮助开启了特朗普的政治生涯。
但在他的第二任期内，他愈发公然炫耀偏见和仇外心理，并鼓励共和党同僚也这么做。
共和党对埃尔赛义德获得提名的反应，正体现了他们对这些丑陋政治手段的接纳。其中一些手段还略带掩饰，但大部分连表面功夫都懒得做。
全国共和党人周三迅速对这位前公共卫生官员的胜选作出回应，在一份新闻稿中反复使用他的全名——阿卜杜勒拉赫曼·穆罕默德·埃尔赛义德，随后不久又在一则广告中沿用了这一做法。
印第安纳州参议员吉姆·班克斯随后在福克斯新闻上将埃尔赛义德称为“阿卜杜勒拉赫曼”，福克斯主持人约翰·罗伯茨也如是称呼。当晚，福克斯主持人杰西·沃特斯在其节目开头播放了一段埃尔赛义德帮助观众发音“阿卜杜勒拉赫曼”的视频。
这一切都让人联想到特朗普曾反复提及奥巴马的中间名侯赛因。
诚然，共和党人确实使用了埃尔赛义德的全名。但竞选活动通常不会在竞选广告中使用候选人全名，除非他们想借此传递某种信息。在这个案例中，其意图相当明确。
阿拉巴马州参议员汤米·图伯维尔周三发帖称“阿卜杜勒拉赫曼·穆罕默德·埃尔赛义德是激进伊斯兰主义者”，甚至称他为“恐怖分子”。
参议院共和党超级政治行动委员会参议院领导基金警告称，埃尔赛义德将“释放恐怖”。
得克萨斯州参议员特德·克鲁兹周二晚在沃特斯的节目中称埃尔赛义德和纽约市市长佐赫兰·曼达尼为“伊斯兰主义者”。
“你看，共产主义者和伊斯兰主义者会形成红绿合流——他们想要实施沙里亚法，”克鲁兹声称，“他们憎恨犹太人，憎恨基督徒，憎恨资本主义，憎恨美国。”
（没有任何证据表明埃尔赛义德或曼达尼支持沙里亚法。埃尔赛义德自称是资本主义者，尽管他批评以色列，但没有证据显示他曾针对犹太人或基督徒使用仇恨言论。）
特朗普在拉斯维加斯的演讲中也多次宣称埃尔赛义德憎恨犹太人。
克鲁兹随后于周三举行听证会，聚焦所谓的穆斯林兄弟会渗透美国社会的威胁。他展示了一张以“从中东到中西部”为标题的埃尔赛义德海报，并声称民主党人“如今公然拥护在美国发动战争的恐怖组织”。
（共和党人援引了埃尔赛义德2011年的一篇专栏文章，文中他敦促美国政府支持埃及的反政府抗议者，即便革命可能让穆斯林兄弟会掌权。但特朗普政府并未正式将整个穆斯林兄弟会列为恐怖组织，仅将其部分分支列为恐怖组织。）
埃尔赛义德的共和党对手、前众议员迈克·罗杰斯，以及阿肯色州参议员汤姆·科顿均虚假地将左翼主播哈桑·皮克的言论安到这位民主党候选人头上——皮克曾陪同埃尔赛义德参与竞选活动。
“我做梦都没想到，我会与一个认为美国‘活该遭遇9·11事件’的人竞争。”罗杰斯说道。
但2019年说出“美国活该遭遇9·11事件”的是皮克本人。（他后来收回了该言论，称其“不妥”。）
科顿随后更正了自己的发帖内容。
但正如皮克事件所显示的，这里确实存在一些相关的合理争议点。
埃尔赛义德在初选期间选择与这位有争议的主播同台竞选——这甚至遭到了他的民主党对手、众议员黑利·史蒂文斯和州参议员马洛里·麦克莫罗的批评。埃尔赛义德为自己与皮克共同竞选的决定辩护，并谴责左翼“热衷于取消文化”。但如今埃尔赛义德已是民主党提名候选人，一些民主党人担忧这种合作将在大选中产生负面影响。
尽管如此，共和党人还是从这一合作行为，直接将埃尔赛义德贴上恐怖分子的标签，并利用他的穆斯林信仰将他与其他群体区隔开来，这一步迈得相当大。
但结合当前背景来看，这也毫不意外。
多年来，特朗普一直利用反伊斯兰和仇外言论，而如今这些手段变得更加露骨。
他承认曾将一些黑人占多数的国家称为“粪坑国家”，尽管在第一任期内他曾否认此事。2024年竞选期间，他散布虚假阴谋论，称俄亥俄州的海地移民在吃人养的宠物。他经常嘲讽索马里移民，称他们为“垃圾”，并表示不想让他们进入美国。他还强化了“让某些移民‘滚回原籍国’”的言论，并分享种族主义视频且拒绝道歉。
一些国会共和党人接过了这一接力棒并加以放大——在针对伊斯兰群体的问题上尤为如此。
他们曾宣称“穆斯林不属于美国社会”；将穆斯林女议员称为“恐怖分子”；表示比起穆斯林，他们更偏爱狗；告诉曼达尼“滚回第三世界”，只因他用手吃饭；还称穆斯林“在我们的社会里繁衍壮大”。
一些共和党人曾谴责其中部分言论，但从未真正进行过清算。
埃尔赛义德周三对这些战术作出回应，呼吁人们如果要使用他的全名，请正确发音。
他在接受CNN记者凯特兰·柯林斯采访时表示，共和党使用他的全名并提及他的宗教信仰，目的是“暗示我在某种程度上不够美国化”。
“我的名字不会推高你的油价，不会带我们走向战争，不会让你买不起 groceries，”他在另一场新闻发布会上说道，“你知道真正的原因是什么吗？是他们那套狗屁政策。”
目前尚不清楚这一策略是否会为共和党带来实际收益。
2024年的盖洛普民调显示，25%的美国人表示不会投票给穆斯林总统候选人。但这一比例较2015年的38%有所下降，且持该观点的人群中不成比例地以共和党人居多——而这些人无论如何都不会投票给埃尔赛义德。
与此同时，尽管民主党基础选民对以色列的态度急剧转向，但像埃尔赛义德这样直言不讳反对以色列的穆斯林候选人，可能会让一些在该问题上立场坚定的选民感到反感。政党领袖通常都不愿明确站在巴勒斯坦或以色列任何一方，这自有其道理。
但无论共和党这一策略是否有效，一个全国性政党如此公然且迅速地接纳这种手段，都堪称令人震惊的时刻。
9·11事件发生仅六天后，时任总统乔治·W·布什在华盛顿特区伊斯兰中心发表讲话，称“恐怖分子的面目并非伊斯兰教的真正信仰”，且对穆斯林的恐吓“在美国绝不会得逞”。
2008年总统竞选后期，时任参议员约翰·麦凯恩在一场市政厅活动中，试图劝阻那些暗示奥巴马可能有恐怖主义同情倾向的支持者，并驳斥称“因为他是阿拉伯人所以不可信”这种说法。
“不，女士，”麦凯恩说道，“他是一个正派的家庭男人，也是一名公民。只是在基本问题上，我碰巧与他意见相左而已。”
我们如今早已远离布什和麦凯恩所在的那个政党。
本周，在密歇根州国会共和党初选中与哈桑竞争的另一位候选人阿尔·莱莫向《纽约时报》承认，他的竞选团队曾针对哈桑发起一场明确反穆斯林的竞选活动。
莱莫表示，他不喜欢这种策略，因为他认识很多穆斯林，他们“非常友善”，但他的广告“与其说是诉诸对穆斯林的偏见，不如说是利用了这种偏见”。
显然，类似的手段还会层出不穷。
The GOP’s openly Islamophobic campaign against Abdul El-Sayed
2026-08-06T19:14:22.702Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/06/politics/abdul-el-sayed-islamophobia-republicans
On Tuesday, Republican primary voters in Michigan gave a double-digit victory to a congressional candidate who had dropped out of the race, choosing him over Amir Hassan, a President Donald Trump-backed former Muslim with an identifiably Arabic name.
On Wednesday, some people attending a Trump speech in Las Vegas booed the mention of another Arabic-sounding name before GOP Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo urged them to stop. Austin Abdelnabi was a police officer recently killed in the line of duty, and his brother once worked at the White House.
Either of these episodes could be dismissed as coincidences — as one-offs that say little about much of anything.
But it would seem little coincidence that they happened as Republicans this week launched an overtly Islamophobic campaign against the new Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed.
Trump has toyed with and even employed Islamophobia for political purposes over the past 20 years. His “birther” campaign against Barack Obama, which implied that Obama might be a secret Muslim, helped launch Trump’s political career.
But in his second term, he’s increasingly flaunted — and encouraged his party to flaunt — prejudices and xenophobia out in the open.
And the GOP’s response to El-Sayed’s nomination shows how it has embraced these ugly politics. Some of it’s thinly veiled, but much of it doesn’t even bother with subtleties.
National Republicans on Wednesday quickly greeted the former public health official’s victory by repeatedly employing his full name — Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed — in a press release and, soon after, in an ad.
Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana went on to refer to El-Sayed on Fox News as “Abdulrahman,” as did Fox host John Roberts. Fox host Jesse Watters started his show that night with a clip of El-Sayed helping people pronounce “Abdulrahman.”
It all harked back to Trump repeatedly invoking Obama’s middle name, Hussein.
It’s true that Republicans cited El-Sayed’s full name. But campaigns don’t tend to use people’s full names in campaign ads unless they’re trying to convey something. In this case, it’s pretty clear what that something is.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama on Wednesday posted that “Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is a RADICAL ISLAMIST” and even called him a “TERRORIST.”
The Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate GOP’s super PAC, warned that El-Sayed will “unleash terror”.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas late Tuesday on Watters’ show called El-Sayed and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani “Islamist[s].”
“You see the green-red convergence where the communist and the Islamists – they want Sharia law,” Cruz claimed. “They hate Jews. They hate Christians. They hate capitalism. They hate America.”
(There is no evidence that El-Sayed or Mamdani supports Sharia law. El-Sayed has described himself as a capitalist and, while he’s critical of Israel, there is no evidence he has used hateful rhetoric toward Jews or Christians.)
Trump also repeatedly said at the Las Vegas speech that El-Sayed hated Jews.
Cruz then held a hearing Wednesday focused on the alleged threat of the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating American society. He featured a poster of El-Sayed titled “From the Middle East to the Midwest” and said Democrats are “now openly embracing terrorist organizations” waging war in America.
(Republicans have pointed to a 2011 El-Sayed op-ed in which he urged the US government to support anti-government protesters in Egypt, even if a revolution could empower the Muslim Brotherhood. But the Trump administration has declined to officially label the entire Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, instead doing so only with some of its branches.)
El-Sayed’s GOP opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas both falsely attributed a comment from left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who campaigned with El-Sayed, to the Democratic candidate.
“Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11,” Rogers said.
But it was Piker who said in 2019 that the United States “deserved 9/11.” (He later walked back that comment, saying it was “inappropriate”.)
Cotton later corrected his post.
But as the Piker situation shows, there are some legitimate related issues here.
El-Sayed made a choice to campaign with the controversial streamer during the primary — which drew criticisms even from his Democratic opponents, Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. El-Sayed defended his decision to campaign with Piker and decried the left’s “penchant for cancel culture.” But with El-Sayed now the nominee, some Democrats fear what that partnership will mean in the general election.
Still, it’s a significant leap for Republicans to go from that decision to labeling El-Sayed a terrorist and using his Muslim faith to otherize him.
But it’s also not at all surprising in context.
While Trump has used Islamophobia and xenophobia for years, it’s much more blatant these days.
He’s admitted to calling some majority-Black countries “shithole” countries, after denying it during his first term. He campaigned in 2024 on a false conspiracy theory that Haitian migrants in Ohio were eating people’s pets. He’s regularly derided Somali immigrants, including by calling them “garbage” and saying he didn’t want them in the United States. He’s doubled down on rhetoric urging certain migrants to “go back” to where they came from. And he’s shared racist videos and declined to back away from them.
Some congressional Republicans have picked up that ball and run with it — particularly when it comes to Islam.
They’ve said “Muslims don’t belong in American society”; labeled Muslim congresswomen “terrorists”; expressed a preference for dogs over Muslims; told Mamdani to “go back to the Third World” because he ate rice with his hands; and said that Muslims “breed their way through our society.”
Some Republicans rebuked some of these comments, but there has been nothing in the way of a true reckoning.
El-Sayed responded to the tactics Wednesday by urging people to correctly pronounce his full name if they are going to use it.
He told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the GOP using his full name and invoking his faith is meant “to insinuate that somehow I’m less American.”
“My name is not raising your gas prices. My name is not taking us to war. My name is not the reason you can’t afford your groceries,” he said at a separate press conference. “You know what is? Their BS policies.”
It’s not clear whether this strategy will actually pay dividends for the GOP.
A Gallup poll in 2024 showed 25% of Americans said they wouldn’t vote for a Muslim presidential candidate. But that was down from 38% in 2015, and it’s been disproportionately Republicans (who likely wouldn’t vote for El-Sayed anyway) who have said that.
At the same time, even as the Democratic base has turned sharply against Israel, it’s possible having a vocally anti-Israel, Muslim nominee like El-Sayed could turn off some voters who feel strongly about that issue. Party leaders have generally resisted landing firmly on either the side of the Palestinians or the Israelis for a reason.
But regardless of the efficacy of the GOP’s strategy, it’s a pretty stunning moment to have a national political party so openly and quickly embrace it.
Just six days after 9/11, then-President George W. Bush spoke at the Islamic Center of Washington, DC, and said the “face of terror is not the true faith of Islam” and that intimidation of Muslims “will not stand in America.”
Then-Sen. John McCain at a town hall late in the 2008 presidential campaign sought to dissuade supporters who suggested Obama might have terrorist sympathies and said he couldn’t be trusted because he was “an Arab.”
“No, ma’am,” McCain said. “He’s a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”
We’re a long way from the party of Bush and McCain.
One of the other candidates who ran against Hassan in the Michigan congressional GOP primary, Al Lemmo, acknowledged to The New York Times this week that his campaign staff had run an explicitly anti-Muslim campaign against Hassan.
Lemmo said he didn’t like that strategy because he knows lots of Muslims and they’re “really nice,” but that his ads “didn’t so much appeal to bigotry against Muslims as kind of counted on it.”
There’s apparently going to be plenty more where that came from.