Three days ago, in response to Ghazala Hashmi being sworn in (on a Quran) as Virginia’s Lt. Governor – the first Muslim woman to be elected statewide in U.S. history – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) posted an unhinged, virulently Islamophobic comment (see screenshot, below) on Twitter (“The enemy is inside the gates”). So obviously, it should go without saying that this type of blatant anti-Muslim bigotry is disgusting, unacceptable and unAmerican. As Sen. Tim Kaine writes, in response:
“Ghazala Hashmi is my friend, was my state Senator and now is my Lieutenant Governor. (Also a scholar of American poetry.) Tommy has never met her. But he brands her an ‘enemy.’ Because she’s an immigrant? A Muslim? A woman? A poet? Or more likely . . . because he thinks trashing this accomplished and patriotic American will make Alabamians rally to his campaign for Governor. Wow—he really thinks poorly of his voters . . .”
Sad to say, though, Tuberville knows his voters VERY well – I mean, these are the same voters who ousted the superb Doug Jones and replaced him with this mouth-breathing troglodyte, with 60% of the vote (ovewhelmingly white people, btw) no less. So, this is the thing; those voters could have rebuked Tuberville by NOT ELECTING HIM, but apparently they liked (and still like?) what they saw in him. Same thing with the tens of millions of Americans who voted once, twice, or even three times for Trump. And yes, we can blame the political media for sucking, which it overwhelming does, but in the end, if these far-right-extremist bigots, imbeciles, lunatics, etc. had nobody willing to buy what they’re selling, they’d just be some random old man ranting on the street corner, without any power to do anything, as opposed to being a U.S. Senator – or even president – with TREMENDOUS power to do harm. Ugh.
By the way, as of Tuesday morning – three days after Tuberville’s noxious tweet – has a SINGLE Virginia Republican condemned Tuberville’s ugly rhetoric and/or defended Ghazala Hashmi? If not, can we assume that those Virginia Republicans agree with Tuberville’s appalling anti-Muslim bigotry and/or that they’re too afraid of their own voters to speak up? Either way, it’s really, really not good…
P.S. Of course, during the 2025 LG campaign, Hashmi’s far-right-Republican opponent, John Reid, repeatedly demonized her based on her religion, and basically there was “crickets” from Virginia Republicans…
