Moustafa Bayoumi – It’s not just Trump – the US is gripped by anti-Muslim hysteria

The New York Times reported last week that climate change is forcing environmental researchers to seek cold-water refuges for imperiled salmon. This raises an obvious question for Republican candidates in the US presidential race: how do we ensure no Muslim salmon are swimming among the pink refugees? Clearly, we need a religious test for lox. The idea is absurd, of course. Climate change doesn’t exist.

The Republican party is drowning in its own stupidity, and threatening the rest of us – especially Muslim Americans – with it. Donald Trump, or Vanilla Isis, as I prefer to call him, recently proposed temporarily barring Muslims from entering the United States. The rebukes were swift, but as many as 66% of likely Republican voters favour such a ban, according to a Rasmussen poll.

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