Speaker’s Corner: Donald Trump and the attack of the Muslims – Rafik Ayaz
Rafik Ayaz writes for Media Diversified – full time Dysxlexic and part time Muslim commentator and founder of #VeggieMuslimForum
He tweets @1Rafz
Who remembers when Dr Ben Carson was the kinder face of Islamophobia in the Republican race for 2016? Good times.
Instead like an annoying spray tan mark on your pristine white towel or the accumulation of hair in your plug-hole; Donald Trump is not going away and is on track to become the Republican nominee.
Not only is Trump here to stay, so are the far-right Evangelical talking points he has helped mainstream.
So what can be so awful that it unites Paul Ryan, Republican House Chair, Owen Jones, The London Mayor, Boris Johnson, London Met Police and Jeb Bush amongst many in a worldwide alliance of Anti-Trumpists?
Whatever it is you know now is a good time to hunker down in the bunker when Dick Cheney the ‘fifth’ horseman of the Apocalypse, friend of the Middle East and shooter in the face of a colleague with a shot gun says Trump is too extreme with his latest comments.
Yes but what has he said?
Well Donald Trump, the burning twitter outrage and meme generator, wants to ban all Muslims from coming to America. Not just Islamists, or ISIS, but all Muslims including American Muslims who might happen to be out of the country at the time of his presidency.
This plan is so crazy it makes me hanker for simpler times, when Trump was only suggesting things like internment camps for Muslims in the US.
Sane minded folk will interject and say his policy of banning all Muslims at the US border will never work because as Richard Dawkins constantly reminds us like a sherry swilling pub bore “Islam is not a race.”
True, Islam is not a race and as such would make airport securities job in picking out Muslims-Chaff from the wholesome Christian-wheat difficult if not impossible (not all Muslims helpfully dress up like the baddies from Homeland).
So how can we negate constitutionally mandated rights afforded to all Americans, including Muslims?
Well I’d start by ignoring the likes of Foreign Policy Analyst, Faris Ali Khan, on Sky News, saying you can attribute Trumps joined up thinking in regards to Muslims to the Centre for Security Policy, an organisation that the Southern Poverty Law Centre has cited as a virulent Anti-Muslim hate group.
But if your heart is still set on anti-Muslim fuelled paranoia as promoted by the likes of Pam Geller, you should apply the following Religious tests:
Foreskin Test: If it’s ribbed they’re Muslim and must be stopped at the border. Because everyone knows circumcised equals ISIS.
What about Muslim women?
Nando’s Test: Upon arrival to the US from Muslamistan. Muslim women would be asked to choose between Lemon & Herb or Extra Hot for their chicken. If they opt for Extra Hot they are Muslim and you should be denied entry.
Or
Trump Apartment Test: Muslims are credit checked at airport arrivals. If they can afford a Trump Condo in Dubai or Turkey, then they are let into the US. If not, they’re branded Muslim and kicked out.
Because every billionaire Republican presidential candidate knows Black Amex wielding Muslims are better than black flag wielding Muslims.
These tests may sound ludicrous, but as Donald Trump says “We have to be tough, we have to be smart, we have to be vigilant.” He was talking about Islamist-extremism, but in late 2015, ‘extremism’ and ‘Muslim’ have become increasingly interchangeable terms.
So why are Trumps opinion polls on his suitability to be a candidate for President in charge of the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world not going down? Media backlash against Trump’s latest brain fart have been universal, well, apart from Melanie Phillips in The Times.
Because Trump is no ordinary politician, but a show man and more importantly, appeals to a demographic within America which resides in a far-right echo chamber. This group has become increasingly antagonistic, if not openly hostile to American Muslims over the past decade and a half. So when Trump says things like warrantless surveillance of Muslims is a good idea, it becomes a ratings winner with this demographic.
Trump has hit the sweet spot with the Evangelical Christian and Far right voters in the States White-ISIS or CR-ISIS for short.
CRISIS is the puritanical cult of the GOP that has made Republicans like Rand Paul seem moderate. It is also why increasingly Republican candidates have lurched to the far right, to appease this vocal minority.
It has to be said CRISIS adherents are not only fearful of Muslims but also Mexicans, African Americans and women who want autonomy of their own ovaries and in Trump they have found a candidate who speaks for them. Just like Al-Baghdadi does for a certain demographic of Muslims; in Trump, CRISIS has found a leader to rally around and support.
For CRISIS, Donald Trump is the only candidate who can protect from the triple threat of a pregnant-Mexican-Muslim.
Donald Trump is not the cause of CRISIS or anti-Muslim hate; he is merely espousing views that have become increasingly acceptable within American society.
Ask yourself this, do you see any Republican candidate for president posing for a selfie inside a Mosque in 2015. Like George Bush did as President after 9/11?
No, I didn’t think so.
That is because Islamophobia fuelled by an industry that spends vast sums annually to demonise Islam and Muslims in general, and has made suspicion of Muslims the norm. You can’t even blame just the right wing media; it has become homogenised across the spectrum covering Muslims in an ever more sensationalist manner.
Some commentators have said a Trump candidacy is the death throes of white supremacy, before it fades into history. But I am less optimistic, especially living in Europe, where the right has been making electoral gains cumulating in a win for Le Pen party in France recently.
So why did the UK care so much about Trump this week?
Well, Trump has said there are parts of London that the Metropolitan Police officers are scared to enter because of Islamic extremism. A claim denied by Metropolitan Police and Boris Johnson, Mayor of London.
There has been #TrumpFacts #MassiveMuslimProblem where Brits have rallied together to mock claims made by Trump about London.
But that is not all, the United Kingdom has responded to this slur by Donald Trump in the most British manner possible. It has started a petition in Parliament to talk about banning Trump from coming over here (over 400k signatures).
However, most hot takes by the British media on how the crazy Trump is symptomatic of all that is wrong with American politics miss the point, because we have our very own pound shop Trump: UKIP’s Nigel Farage, the serial election losing, but mainstreamer of the same anti-immigrant and Islamophobic rhetoric that Trump spouts in America. We also have the likes of Douglas Murray, a man who stood up and made a speech about how conditions for Muslims must be made tough across Europe.
In the case of Murray, his organisation Henry Jackson Society has just been cited as fuelling anti-Muslim hate by Hope Not Hate in The Guardian.
It is also important to add both Farage and Murray feature regularly as guests on various BBC platforms to espouse their bigoted anti-Muslim rhetoric.
What can the rest of the world do about the impending ISIS rivalling presidency of Trump, the walking Daily Mail comment section, given life to run for the most important job in the world, reverse-caliph or anti-caliph, if you will? What can we do about the rising tide of far right parties in Europe which will rally around Donald Trump?
Well, we need to talk about how a UN intervention or a strategic missile strike of GOP headquarters and Trump towers may not sound so farfetched. At this point that surely could be the only way to stop this OOmpah Loompah of hate from sitting in the Oval Office (It’s a joke Theresa May).
I bid you adieu, as I’m going to my safe place, with my tin foil hat on, to ride out this storm of hatred.