周二，密歇根州共和党初选选民，把两位数的选票优势投给了一名已经退选的国会候选人，让他战胜了得到特朗普背书、拥有阿拉伯裔姓名的前穆斯林候选人阿米尔・哈桑。
周三，在拉斯维加斯一场特朗普的演讲现场，当主持人念出另一个阿拉伯风格的人名时，台下部分民众发出嘘声，内华达州共和党州长乔・伦巴多不得不出面制止。这名被提及的人是奥斯汀・阿卜杜勒纳比，一名近期因公殉职的警察，他的兄弟曾经在白宫任职。
这两件事，单独看都可以被解读为巧合，当作孤立事件，看不出什么深层问题。
但两件事接连发生，就很难说是巧合。本周，共和党正对密歇根州新任民主党联邦参议员候选人阿卜杜勒・埃尔‑赛义德，发起一场带有明显反伊斯兰色彩的竞选攻势。
过去二十年间，特朗普为获取政治利益，屡次玩弄甚至主动煽动反伊斯兰情绪。当年他针对奥巴马发起的 “出生地质疑” 运动，暗指奥巴马私下是穆斯林，也正是这场运动，开启了特朗普的政治生涯。
而在他的第二个总统任期，他愈发公开宣扬偏见与排外思想，还鼓动本党效仿。
共和党对待埃尔‑赛义德获得提名这件事，就充分体现该党已经接纳了这套丑陋的政治手段。部分攻击还稍加掩饰，但更多言论已经完全不加遮掩。
埃尔‑赛义德曾经担任公共卫生官员，他初选获胜之后，共和党全国方面周三很快就在新闻稿、后续竞选广告里，反复使用他的完整全名 —— 阿卜杜勒拉赫曼・穆罕默德・埃尔‑赛义德。
印第安纳州联邦参议员吉姆・班克斯在福克斯新闻节目中，直接称呼他 “阿卜杜勒拉赫曼”，福克斯主持人约翰・罗伯茨也这么叫。当晚，福克斯主持人杰西・沃特斯节目开场，就播放了一段埃尔‑赛义德教别人念 “阿卜杜勒拉赫曼” 这个名字的片段。
这一幕，让人想起当年特朗普反复念奥巴马中间名 “侯赛因” 的操作。
诚然，政客在报道中会出现全名，但竞选广告一般不会刻意使用候选人完整全名，除非想要传递某种暗示。这一次，背后的用意十分明显。
阿拉巴马州联邦参议员汤米・塔伯维尔周三发文称：“阿卜杜勒拉赫曼・穆罕默德・埃尔‑赛义德是激进伊斯兰主义者”，甚至直接给他扣上 “恐怖分子” 的帽子。
共和党参议院超级政治行动委员会 “参议院领导基金” 发出警告，声称埃尔‑赛义德上台之后会 “释放恐怖威胁”。
德克萨斯州联邦参议员特德・克鲁兹周二晚间登上沃特斯的节目，把埃尔‑赛义德与纽约市长佐兰・马姆达尼称作 “伊斯兰主义者”。
“大家可以看到，红与绿两股势力合流，共产主义者和伊斯兰主义者勾结在一起，他们想要推行伊斯兰教法。” 克鲁兹宣称，“他们憎恨犹太人，憎恨基督徒，憎恨资本主义，憎恨美国。”
（没有证据表明埃尔‑赛义德、马姆达尼支持伊斯兰教法。埃尔‑赛义德自称信奉资本主义；他确实对以色列持批评立场，但没有证据显示他发表过仇视犹太人和基督徒的言论。）
特朗普在拉斯维加斯的演讲中，也多次声称埃尔‑赛义德憎恨犹太人。
周三，克鲁兹专门主持听证会，议题是所谓穆斯林兄弟会渗透美国社会的威胁。听证会上摆放埃尔‑赛义德的海报，标题写着 “从中东走向美国中西部”，克鲁兹还称，民主党如今 “公开接纳在美国制造动乱的恐怖组织”。
（共和党引用埃尔‑赛义德 2011 年一篇专栏文章。文中埃尔‑赛义德呼吁美国政府支持埃及国内反政府抗议民众，即便革命会让穆斯林兄弟会获得权力。但特朗普政府并未将整个穆斯林兄弟会整体列为恐怖组织，仅仅将其部分分支机构认定为恐怖实体。）
埃尔‑赛义德的共和党对手、前众议员迈克・罗杰斯，以及阿肯色州联邦参议员汤姆・科顿，把左翼网络主播哈桑・皮克的言论，强行安到埃尔‑赛义德头上，而皮克只是曾为埃尔‑赛义德助选。
“我万万没有想到，我的竞选对手竟然会认为美国遭遇 9・11 袭击是咎由自取。” 罗杰斯说。
但这番话实际出自皮克 2019 年的发言，他当时称美国 “活该遭遇 9・11”，后来他收回言论，承认这番话 “很不妥当”。科顿之后删除更正了自己的相关推文。
但皮克这件事也说明，这件事当中确实存在值得讨论的现实争议。
初选期间，埃尔‑赛义德选择和争议主播皮克一同参加竞选活动，就连民主党党内对手众议员黑莉・史蒂文斯、州参议员马洛里・麦克莫罗，都对此提出批评。埃尔‑赛义德为自己的选择辩护，还批评左翼社会盛行 “取消文化”。如今埃尔‑赛义德拿到提名，部分民主党人担忧，这段合作关系会在大选当中成为对手攻击的把柄。
即便如此，共和党直接从这件事跳跃到给埃尔‑赛义德贴上恐怖分子标签，拿他的穆斯林身份把他塑造成 “外来异己”，依然是严重的歪曲。
放在当下大环境来看，出现这种操作，其实并不意外。
特朗普多年来一直在利用反伊斯兰、排外的叙事，如今这套手段变得更加赤裸裸。第一任期他矢口否认，第二任期却亲口承认，自己曾经把部分黑人占多数的国家称作 “粪坑国家”。2024 大选，他传播虚假阴谋论，声称俄亥俄州的海地移民偷吃当地居民家养宠物。他经常羞辱索马里移民，把他们叫作 “垃圾”，宣称不希望这类人留在美国。他反复叫嚣，要求部分移民 “滚回自己的母国”，还转发种族主义视频，并且拒绝撤回。
国会当中部分共和党议员，紧随特朗普的脚步，尤其在涉及穆斯林相关议题上，表现尤为突出。
他们公开声称 “穆斯林不属于美国社会”，把穆斯林女议员叫作 “恐怖分子”；公开表示比起穆斯林，自己更愿意亲近狗；因为马姆达尼用手抓米饭吃饭，就叫他 “滚回第三世界”；还宣扬穆斯林靠多生孩子侵占美国社会。
虽然有部分共和党人对这类言论提出批评，但党内始终没有真正严肃的反思与清算。
面对对手的攻击手段，埃尔‑赛义德周三作出回应：如果共和党人非要念他的全名，那就请把名字念对。
他告诉 CNN 记者凯特兰・柯林斯，共和党反复使用他的全名、拿他的信仰大做文章，目的就是 “暗示我算不上真正的美国人”。
他在另一场记者会上表示：“我的名字不会推高油价，不会把国家拖入战争，也不是老百姓买不起食品的原因。真正的罪魁祸首，是他们那些糟糕透顶的政策。”
目前还无法判断这套竞选策略，能不能给共和党带来选票收益。
盖洛普 2024 年民调显示，25% 的美国民众表示，不会投票给穆斯林出身的总统候选人。不过该比例相较 2015 年的 38% 已经下降；持这种观点的，大多本就是共和党选民，本来就不会投埃尔‑赛义德。
与此同时，虽然民主党基层对以色列的态度明显转向，但埃尔‑赛义德这种公开批评以色列的穆斯林候选人，也有可能劝退一部分对此议题十分看重的选民。民主党高层之所以长期避免彻底倒向巴勒斯坦或者以色列其中一方，正是出于这层考量。
无论这套竞选手段实际效果如何，一个全国性大党，如此迅速、如此公开地使用这类攻击手段，本身就令人震惊。
9・11 事件过去仅仅六天，时任总统小布什就在华盛顿伊斯兰中心发表讲话，明确表示 “恐怖主义的面目，不等同于伊斯兰教真正的信仰”，还宣告美国绝不允许国内出现恐吓穆斯林的行为。
2008 总统大选，时任参议员约翰・麦凯恩在一场市政厅活动上，有支持者声称奥巴马是阿拉伯人，怀疑他同情恐怖分子。麦凯恩当场劝阻这名支持者：“女士，不是这样。他是品行端正的公民，只是我们在核心议题上政见不同。”
如今的共和党，已经距离小布什、麦凯恩时代的立场相去甚远。
密歇根州共和党国会初选当中，另一名候选人阿尔・莱莫本周向《纽约时报》承认，自己竞选团队针对对手哈桑，确实开展过赤裸裸的反穆斯林竞选宣传。
莱莫说，他本人并不认同这套策略，他认识很多穆斯林，认为他们 “都非常友善”。但他投放的竞选广告，虽没有直接煽动仇视穆斯林，却在刻意利用社会上已有的偏见来博取选票。
种种迹象表明，类似的政治操作，未来还会不断上演。
The GOP’s ugly response to Abdul El-Sayed
On Tuesday， Republican primary voters in Michigan gave a double-digit victory to a congressional candidate who had dropped out of the race， choosing him overAmir Hassan， a President Donald Trump-backed former Muslim with an identifiably Arabic name．
On Wednesday， some people attending a Trump speech in Las Vegasbooed the mention of another Arabic-sounding namebefore GOP Nevada Gov． Joe Lombardo urged them to stop． Austin Abdelnabi was a police officer recently killed in the line of duty， and his brother once worked at theWhite House．
Either of these episodes could be dismissed as coincidences — as one-offs that say little about much of anything．
But it would seem little coincidence that they happened as Republicans this week launched an overtly Islamophobic campaign against the new Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan， Abdul El-Sayed．
Trump has toyed with and even employed Islamophobia for political purposes over the past 20 years． His “birther” campaign against Barack Obama， which implied that Obama might be a secret Muslim， helped launch Trump’s political career．
But in his second term， he’s increasingly flaunted — and encouraged his party to flaunt — prejudices and xenophobia out in the open．
And the GOP’s response to El-Sayed’s nomination shows how it has embraced these ugly politics． Some of it’s thinly veiled， but much of it doesn’t even bother with subtleties．
National Republicans on Wednesday quickly greeted the former public health official’s victory by repeatedly employing his full name — Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed — in a press release and， soon after， inan ad．
Sen． Jim Banks of Indiana went on to refer to El-Sayed on Fox Newsas “Abdulrahman，”asdid Fox host John Roberts． Fox host Jesse Watters started his show that night with a clip of El-Sayed helping people pronounce “Abdulrahman．”
It all harked back to Trump repeatedly invoking Obama’s middle name， Hussein．
It’s true that Republicans cited El-Sayed’s full name． But campaigns don’t tend to use people’s full names in campaign ads unless they’re trying to convey something． In this case， it’s pretty clear what that something is．
Sen． Tommy Tuberville of Alabama on Wednesday posted that “Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is a RADICAL ISLAMIST” andeven called him a “TERRORIST．”
The Senate Leadership Fund， the Senate GOP’s super PAC， warned that El-Sayed will “unleash terror．”
Sen． Ted Cruz of Texas late Tuesday on Watters’ show called El-Sayed and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani “Islamist［s］．”
“You see the green-red convergence where the communist and the Islamists – they want Sharia law，” Cruz claimed． “They hate Jews． They hate Christians． They hate capitalism． They hate America．”
（There is no evidence that El-Sayed or Mamdani supports Sharia law． El-Sayed has described himself as a capitalist and， while he’s critical of Israel， there is no evidence he has used hateful rhetoric toward Jews or Christians．）
Trump also repeatedly said at the Las Vegas speech that El-Sayed hated Jews．
Cruz then held a hearing Wednesday focused on the alleged threat of the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating American society． He featured a poster of El-Sayed titled “From the Middle East to the Midwest” and said Democrats are “now openly embracing terrorist organizationswaging war in America．”
（Republicans have pointed toa 2011 El-Sayed op-edin which he urged the US government to support anti-government protesters in Egypt， even if a revolution could empower the Muslim Brotherhood． But the Trump administration has declined to officially label the entire Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization， instead doing so only with some of its branches．）
El-Sayed’s GOP opponent， former Rep． Mike Rogers， and Sen． Tom Cotton of Arkansas both falsely attributed a comment from left-wing streamer Hasan Piker， who campaigned with El-Sayed， to the Democratic candidate．
“Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9／11，” Rogers said．
But it was Piker who said in 2019 that the United States “deserved 9／11．” （He later walked back that comment， saying it was “inappropriate．”）
Cotton latercorrected his post．
But as the Piker situation shows， there are some legitimate related issues here．
El-Sayed made a choice to campaign withthe controversial streamerduring the primary — which drew criticisms even from his Democratic opponents， Rep． Haley Stevens and state Sen． Mallory McMorrow． El-Sayeddefended his decision to campaignwith Piker and decried the left’s “penchant for cancel culture．” But with El-Sayed now the nominee， some Democrats fear what that partnership will mean in the general election．
Still， it’s a significant leap for Republicans to go from that decision to labeling El-Sayed a terrorist and using his Muslim faith to otherize him．
But it’s also not at all surprising in context．
While Trump has used Islamophobia and xenophobia for years， it’smuch more blatant these days．
He’s admitted to calling some majority-Black countries “shithole” countries， after denying it during his first term． He campaigned in 2024 on a false conspiracy theory that Haitian migrants in Ohio were eating people’s pets． He’s regularly derided Somali immigrants， including by calling them “garbage” and saying he didn’t want them in the United States． He’s doubled down on rhetoric urging certain migrants to “go back” to where they came from． And he’sshared racist videosand declined to back away from them．
Some congressional Republicans havepicked up that ball and run with it— particularly when it comes to Islam．
They’ve said “Muslims don’t belong in American society”； labeled Muslim congresswomen “terrorists”； expressed a preference for dogs over Muslims； told Mamdani to “go back to the Third World” because he ate rice with his hands； and said that Muslims “breed their way through our society．”
Some Republicans rebuked some of these comments， but there has been nothing in the way of a true reckoning．
El-Sayed responded to the tactics Wednesday by urging people to correctly pronounce his full name if they are going to use it．
He told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the GOP using his full name and invoking his faith is meant “to insinuate that somehow I’m less American．”
“My name is not raising your gas prices． My name is not taking us to war． My name is not the reason you can’t afford your groceries，” hesaid at a separate press conference． “You know what is？ Their BS policies．”
It’s not clear whether this strategy will actually pay dividends for the GOP．
AGallup poll in 2024showed 25% of Americans said they wouldn’t vote for a Muslim presidential candidate． But that was downfrom 38% in 2015， and it’s been disproportionately Republicans （who likely wouldn’t vote for El-Sayed anyway） who have said that．
At the same time， even as the Democratic base has turned sharply against Israel， it’s possible having a vocally anti-Israel， Muslim nominee like El-Sayed could turn off some voters who feel strongly about that issue． Party leaders have generally resisted landing firmly on either the side of the Palestinians or the Israelis for a reason．
But regardless of the efficacy of the GOP’s strategy， it’s a pretty stunning moment to have a national political party so openly and quickly embrace it．
Just six days after 9／11， then-President George W． Bush spoke at the Islamic Center of Washington， DC， and said the “face of terror is not the true faith of Islam” and that intimidation of Muslims “will not stand in America．”
Then-Sen． John McCain at a town hall late in the 2008 presidential campaign sought to dissuade supporters who suggested Obama might have terrorist sympathies and said he couldn’t be trusted because he was “an Arab．”
“No， ma’am，” McCainsaid． “He’s a decent family man ［and］ citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues．”
We’re a long way from the party of Bush and McCain．
One of the other candidates who ran against Hassan in the Michigan congressional GOP primary， Al Lemmo， acknowledgedto The New York Timesthis week that his campaign staff had run an explicitly anti-Muslim campaign against Hassan．
Lemmo said he didn’t like that strategy because he knows lots of Muslims and they’re “really nice，” but that his ads “didn’t so much appeal to bigotry against Muslims as kind of counted on it．”
There’s apparently going to be plenty more where that came from．
