MSNBC host Jen Psaki has faced criticism for claiming on her show, "Inside with Jen Psaki," that the GOP is attempting to recruit Muslims to be anti-transgender.
Psaki suggested that the Republican Party is using a playbook similar to the one they used to split off Southern Whites from the Democratic Party. However, activists from the Islamic community have disputed this claim, arguing that it is a matter of religious freedom rather than politics.
Ismail Royer, the Director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team for the Religious Freedom Institute, expressed his concern, stating that the left is trying to scare Muslims into accepting their agenda by portraying them as lacking agency or intelligence. He emphasized that Muslims have weighed the options and rejected the indoctrination being offered.
Psaki listed reasons why she believed Muslims should be wary of the GOP, including past instances of Republicans designating Muslim Americans as public enemy number one and perpetuating fears about the fabricated threat of Sharia law.
Similar claims were made on MSNBC's "All in with Chris Hayes" by guest Wajahat Ali, who warned against falling for GOP tactics. However, the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Muslim civil rights organization, disputed the notion that Muslims are being used as part of the GOP's playbook.
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the national deputy director at CAIR, emphasized that Muslims have been independently standing up for their religious rights and should not be dismissed as mere pawns of the right.
