A Muslim family was nearly wiped out in London, Ontario, last week when four of them were struck and killed by a motorist who authorities claim intentionally targeted the family.
Only the family’s 9-year-old boy survived what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau describes as a “terrorist attack, motivated by hatred.”
And do you know whom MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan and Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali blame for the killings?
The Republican Party and former President Donald Trump. Their reach and influence apparently know no bounds.
“[Y]et another tragic reminder that Islamophobia is a murderous ideology,” Hasan said. “Not just a bunch of offensive, or bigoted words, not just a cynical political device used by Republicans to rile up their base, it leads to violence. And yet these days, thanks partly to a certain former president and reality TV star, it’s mainstream.”
He added, “Islamophobia matters. Islamophobia kills. Hate speech is a real thing with real-world consequences. And if you think otherwise, if you think this is all some sort of defensive exercise in liberal woke excuse-making, maybe you should go talk to a 9-year-old orphan in Canada.”
Never mind there’s nothing to show Trump or the GOP played a role in the London, Ontario, attack. Never mind there’s nothing to show they influenced the suspected killer. Never mind the fact the attack didn’t even take place on U.S. soil. No time for nuance. There are political points to be scored!
Hasan then brought in Ali, a professionally angry person, who naturally tied the incident in Canada to Trump and the Republican Party.
“You had President Trump who said that we, Muslims, were a problem in need of a solution,” Ali said. “And the solution they came up with is the Muslim ban until he can figure out what the hell is going on, right?”
For the last time, there was no “Muslim ban.” This line is an old leftover from the pile of Trump-era falsehoods created and promoted by a less-than-incredulous press.
“[Trump] said, ‘I think Islam hates us,’ right?” Ali said. “We see literally [Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota] being the boogeyman, the trifecta, a black woman who wears Hijab, who’s a Muslim, and was a refugee being seen as a boogieman and based on her religion, and the fact that she wears hijab she is constantly vilified and attacked.”
Omar is criticized, not attacked, for being an anti-Semite and a demagogue. The majority of her critics don’t take issue with her faith. They don’t care that she wears a hijab or that she is a woman of color. They take issue with her anti-Semitism, her far-Left, loony-tune political beliefs, and her constant vilifying of anyone who’s not to the Left of Karl Marx.
“So,” Ali continued, “if you’re a Muslim and you’re watching this, you say, ‘Wow, there is an entire right-wing movement and a party that sees me as a problem in need of a solution.’ What is that solution? Oh, anti-sharia bills, oh, a Muslim ban, oh, look, some talking points that influence violent extremists who decide to drive into an innocent family in Canada to kill them because by seeing them and seeing a woman in a hijab, they see them as a threat.”
“And so it terrifies us,” he added. “Why would it not?”
The former president’s non-existent “Muslim ban” influenced the motorist charged in the slaying of a Muslim family in Ontario?
I understand the desire by left-wing agitators to “get” their political opponents. Nevertheless, let’s maybe not use the occasion of a slaughtered family to play on that particular hobbyhorse.
