Donald Trump’s Islamophobia

Someone take this geriatric’s phone away

By: Austin Abbring

August 10, 2026

It is truly disturbing how desensitized we have all become to the blatant anti-Muslim racism we have endured from the president. I miss the days when this did not just feel like another Tuesday. There are not enough trees to supplement the amount of books, or semiconductors to produce enough laptops to document all of the horrific, Islamophobic slandering right-wing pundits, media, and politicians have regurgitated over the course of at least the last two decades. 

The sitting president of our country, Donald Trump, posted on social media, comparing his relationship with First Lady Melania to that of Abdul El-Sayed’s wife, Sarah, and warning his audience of the “very different Americas” exemplified by Trump and El-Sayed.

Screenshot of Donald Trump’s Truth Social Post about Abdul El-Sayed

 I am not sure this is the game Donald Trump wants to play. Does Trump suggest America's best would be several marriages where the man cheats on his wife, has little involvement with his children, leers at and sexually fantasizes about his daughter, and meets his current wife through the billionaire pedophile ring connected to Jeffrey Epstein? One where he cheats on his wife with an adult film actress when their newborn son is at home? One where he covers it up by falsifying business records, is found guilty, and is a convicted felon 34 times over? One where the man is an adjudicated sexual abuser? Does that exemplify good Christian faith? I lean more favorably on the “terrifying Muslim relationship” El-Sayed and his wife have displayed. One where the couple met in college in 2006 and have built a loving marriage centered on loyalty and, in my estimation, a stable household for their children. Seems out of touch to me because El-Sayed’s wife is wearing Muslim garb. What was I thinking? 

I would say it is a little out of touch for most people to dress to the nines for a gala when juxtaposed with an image of El-Sayed and his wife sitting in a diner booth in casual clothing. Take a poll of one thousand people and see what is more commonplace. These Islamophobic posts blended with Red Scare tactics are exhausting and boring. The Republican Party will have to do better before November. 

When every single Democratic nominee or legislator is a “communist-marxist-socialist-leftist”, those words start to lose their muster. Especially when every one of those words means something different, is not interchangeable, and the platform is about single-payer healthcare, childcare, and livable wages. The Red Scare somewhat worked in the 1940’s through 60’s when capitalism, in large part, was working for people. The average worker flourished. The common man could support a family on a single income, own a home and a vehicle, take said family on vacation a couple of times a year, and still have enough left over for some sort of retirement fund or mutual fund. In large part, that does not exist today. The men of that age did not have to worry about serious systemic changes or the rapid corporatization unfolding in the background, as they were busy working and able to live more dignified lives than we do today, as their employment was keeping them satisfied with security, wage growth, and retirement. Capitalism has been failing the working class for at least half a century now. Also, keep in mind, the capitalism I speak of from the 40’s and 50’s was geared towards white men. This is pre-civil rights for the black population; women and minorities were even more second-class citizens than they are now, and immigrant labor, particularly undocumented immigrant labor, was also widely abused. They did not get to flourish in this system. I am just speaking broadly here to point out the failure of our economic system today, primarily as a function of the Republican Party in the 1980’s, in the wake of Reaganomics, and the establishment of corporate PACs in the 1970’s.  

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Sorry for the sidetrack. I know Trump did not have a staffer create this meme (if you want to call it that), because it contains a grammatical error. Which is another thing I miss: a president who can correctly formulate a sentence and actually get through a speech. There are many things I criticize Barack Obama for, but at least he sounded presidential. Maybe we will get there again someday.

This flagrant Islamophobia is, in a massive list of dangers posed by Trump, a massive concern. There is a reason that Islamophobia is worse today than immediately following 9/11. There has been a systematic framing around Muslims that has been meticulous and incredibly dangerous, primarily by the Republican Party, but there are Democrats certainly guilty of this as well. The framing around the religion, the culture, and the conflation of violence, terrorism, and extremism by our media, along with the rhetoric by both political parties, has created this ecosystem which has continued to become more calculated over the last two decades. 

The anti-Muslim racism has become much more organized, and Donald Trump has finally allowed the racism to emerge and triumph in this far-right movement that the Republican Party has fully embraced. Which, incidentally, is what the Republican Party has been building towards for many decades now. It is no coincidence that hate crimes against Muslims increased by nearly 70% in 2015 alone throughout his campaign. The Islamophobia only worsened during his first presidency, marked by the Muslim travel ban and anti-Muslim and anti-Islam rhetoric, with his social media posts conflating violence and claiming that “Islam hates us”.

That divisive and inflammatory rhetoric has never left Donald Trump. He is consistently racist towards Congressmembers Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. On numerous occasions, he has told these members of Congress to “go back and fix the shithole countries they come from”. Tlaib was born and raised in Michigan, and Omar fled to the U.S. as a child to escape civil war in Somalia. Trump has also incited chants at rallies of “Send her back!” (in relation to Ilhan Omar) and mocked her attire by calling her hijab a turban. Donald Trump’s Islamophobia does not reside within our borders exclusively either. His rhetoric has inspired far-right groups internationally, primarily in Europe. Politicians in France, Germany, Hungary, and the Netherlands have all been echoing his racial tropes about Muslim people. Some of the politicians in these countries have called for similar travel bans as Trump’s as well as immigration and asylum-seeking bans. Words have meaning. Our president’s disgusting demagogic language has heightened a dangerous sentiment here in the U.S. and globally, and it must end. This should never be normalized. Every single one of these people - pundits, mainstream media, influencers, lawmakers, and cabinet members - espousing vitriol must be held accountable.