A conservative commentator’s attacks on the Muslim faith were quickly tamped down by fellow panelists on “CNN This Morning.”
The panel was discussing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s false claim this week that modern Arab Muslims don’t produce science and literature like they had in the past or win prestigious awards, and anti-trans activist Terry Schilling agreed despite host Audie Cornish providing specific examples of award-winning Arab Muslims in recent years.
“I think it’s a mistake to categorize this as a race thing,” Schilling said. “This is about worldview, and we can’t deny that Islam is a worldview. It is a political ideology, it’s a religion. There’s a lot of things come to it, and I will point out something –”
Cornish cut in to say that Schilling was missing the point.
“But what we can deny is that 500 million Arabs in the world don’t produce literature,” she said. “Well, look, that is insane. That is not remotely [true] – you want to talk about ideology, you want to go after Islam, I understand, I understand where you are trying to go. What I don’t understand is saying half a billion people haven’t produced anything.”
“Well, they’re not producing our quality of literature,” Schilling argued.
“They are!” Cornish exclaimed. “It is the national book award for fiction.”
Schilling stammered before landing on his line of attack.
“So what have they produced?” he said. “Look, this is getting, okay, here’s the problem, stagnant societies. When Christians vote together as a bloc, it’s attacked and derided as Christian nationalism. But apparently it’s only okay to do that if you’re Islamic and part of the Muslim faith. It’s a total double standard, and I will just say Islam is not. How is it that Islam is the same coalition –”
Cornish interrupted to point out that Kennedy was speaking specifically about Arabs, and fellow panelist Antjuan Seawright took a whack at his argument.
“Terry, you are losing your argument by the second,” Seawright said. “Look, the bottom line is this is consistent and a pattern of behavior by Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. They moisturize and bathe in racism and bigotry. This is another layer of that. Why do you think Donald Trump takes to the podium and calls Abdul [El-Sayed] out of his name intentionally, and tries to raise this?”
The Hill’s Julia Manchester then tried to place Kennedy’s remarks in context.
“He is in Michigan, a state where we have seen the Arab American vote very clearly have an impact,” Manchester said. “He is pushing those voters away. We’re not, I’m not saying that those Arab Americans in Michigan were going to vote for [Republican] Mike Rogers, but he is not adding people to the coalition there.”
Cornish rolled a clip of a Black Democrat in Michigan who said that he’s had to explain to fellow autoworkers that El-Sayed was an American citizen who was born in their state, and Seawright piled on the racist attacks that Schilling was amplifying.
“These people are sick – it’s terrible, it’s frustrating, and it’s sick for you to say Abdul does not belong in Michigan or not Michigan-adjacent, because he’s an American,” Seawright said, “and I think – let me say this – he’s an American and he should be able to enjoy the American experiment. What they’re trying to do is get a response and an anger out of a certain group of people who believe that Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen, had a fake certificate.”
“They washed and bathed and moisturized in racism, bigotry, and they want to divide this country,” he added. “America is not like this because Donald Trump’s president. Donald Trump is president, because America is like this. They know this, and they’re trying to tap into the MAGA base to activate those voters who are arguably going to stay home.”
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