Barbara Sprunt

Randy Fine who's had Islamophobic tweets in the past has said we need more Islamophobia not less.

Andrew Clyde of Georgia, no more Islamic immigration, denaturalize, deport, repeat.

And so there was a subset within the Republican conference who doubled down on Ogle's rhetoric.

And then there was a large amount of people in the Republican conference who didn't say anything at all.

And I asked.

They were not in the hallways this week because they were in Florida, so I couldn't ask them in person.

But I emailed every Republican office.

I think I got four notes back saying,

And two of them were sort of like bland statements about the First Amendment.

One was straightforward.

This is offensive to my Muslim friends and community and constituents.

And the other from Andy Harris said Americans are going to have to deal with radical Islamic terrorists.

I mean, he's speaking to a broader trend here when he's talking about there's this animating force in the country pushing back against Sharia law.

Sharia is a religious framework that guides Muslims' conduct.

where officials are invoking Sharia law to suggest that Muslims are trying to impose their religious practices on communities within the United States.

Sharia cannot supersede the U.S.

Constitution, but it just kind of speaks to what I see as sort of like using Sharia law as something to scare people.

And it provides kind of like a cover for bigoted language for people to say, you know, Muslims don't belong here.

It's part of a longer speech that he gave that I think we tend to forget.

And there are parts that I think are really important.