During a CNN interview, analyst Quanta Ahmed, a Muslim physician, perfectly countered the narrative that President Trump or other Republicans are Islamophobic.
After the terrible mosque shootings in New Zealand that claimed the lives of 50 worshipers, there were some people that tied the tragedy to President Donald Trump as the attacker left a manifesto in which he wrote that he committed the atrocious act in the name of white supremacy and mentioned President Trump by name.
It is because of these events, people suggested that President Trump and his rhetoric encourages the acts of the shooter and accused the president and other Republicans of spreading Islamophobia.
However, Quanta Ahmed told a different story of how Muslims around the world feel about Republican presidents like Donald Trump and former President George W. Bush.
In an interview on Saturday, she explained that President Trump is “beloved” by many Middle Eastern Muslims for his efforts to thwart the Islamic State and protect Kurdish Muslims.
“Viewers should know, this president and this administration is often castigated as Islamophobic, but I move in the Muslim world — in Egypt, in Oman, in Jordan, in Iraqi Kurdistan — where this president is beloved. This president and the Republican party, going back to George Bush, is very dearly held.” said Quanta Ahmed.
She pointed to March 16 as the 31st anniversary of the Halabja Massacre in which the Iraqis under Sadam Hussein killed between 5,000 and 7,000 Kurdish people with chemical weapons.
This extreme violence was part of the Anfal campaign which resulted in a genocide that killed as many as 180,000 Kurds.
“Today’s the anniversary of Halabja, the massacre of 180,000 Kurds at the hands of Sadam Hussein. That only changed because of a Republican president,” said Ahmed.
She continued, “It’s very important not to lose so much perspective that we start believing our entire government is Islamophobic. That’s not the case.”
Recently, the President reaffirmed his willingness to protect the Kurdish people as a key part of his slow withdrawal from Syria, saying, “We want to protect the Kurds, nevertheless. We want to protect the Kurds, but I don’t want to be in Syria forever. It’s sand. And it’s death.”
