GOP Senator Draws Fire for Linking Muslim Mayor to 9/11 in Controversial Post
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) ignited a firestorm of criticism Thursday with a provocative social media post that many deemed anti-Muslim.
On X, Tuberville shared a message from the account @EndWokeness, juxtaposing an image of the September 11, 2001 attacks with a photo of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani participating in a Ramadan iftar celebration. The post ominously stated, “Less than 25 years apart.”
“The enemy is inside the gates,” Tuberville added, implying that Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, was somehow linked to this notion of an internal threat.
This isn’t the first time Tuberville has made such remarks. Following news that Mamdani would take his oath of office on the Quran, Tuberville previously declared, “The enemy was inside the gates.”
Lawmakers swiftly condemned Tuberville's comments. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) criticized the senator's Islamophobia, while Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) urged him to retract his statement. “This type of Islamophobia is disgraceful and unbecoming of a senator. Delete it immediately and apologize,” she wrote on X.
Schumer echoed this sentiment, stating, “This is mindless hate. Islamophobic hate like this is fundamentally un-American and we must confront and overcome it whenever it rears its ugly head.”
Other prominent figures, including Representatives Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), also voiced their disapproval of Tuberville’s remarks.
In response, Mamdani criticized Republicans for focusing on his iftar rather than pressing policy issues. “Let there be as much outrage from politicians in Washington when kids go hungry as there is when I break bread with New Yorkers,” he stated on X.
Tuberville, however, stood firm, refusing to apologize or retract his statement. “Calling Radical Islam out for being a CULT doesn’t make you an ‘Islamophobe,’” he asserted in a follow-up post, emphasizing his unwillingness to be “silenced” and his disregard for political correctness.
A spokesperson for Tuberville did not respond to requests for comment regarding the backlash.
This incident adds to a troubling trend of anti-Muslim rhetoric among Republican lawmakers. Earlier this week, Representative Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) stated that “Muslims don’t belong in American society,” a comment that received minimal pushback from GOP leadership. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) merely remarked that the “language that people use is different language than I would use.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office also did not respond to inquiries about Tuberville’s controversial post.
A.Britton O’Shields, a staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, criticized Tuberville’s approach: “[He] relies on near-weekly racist and bigoted social media posts to stay in the headlines and distract the people of Alabama.” O’Shields further noted that critics have likened Tuberville to former Alabama Governor George Wallace, suggesting he is proving them right with his divisive rhetoric.
