Zohran Mamdani & the politics of "good" vs. "bad" Muslims

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

Before, during, and after Zohran Mamdani became the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, Republicans and Democrats were both leaning into decades old Islamophobic tropes to delegitimize his candidacy. Meanwhile, young progressives are reclaiming those tropes.

Why is Islamophobia politically salient today, and why are both sides of the aisle using it to achieve their own political goals? To answer this, Brittany is joined by Tazeen Ali, a professor of religion and politics at Washington University, and Nathan Lean, professor of religion at North Carolina State University.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The House of Representatives has approved a White House request to claw back two years of previously approved funding for public media.
0:08.0	The recisions package now moves on to the Senate.
0:11.2	This move poses a serious threat to local stations and public media as we know it.
0:16.6	Please take a stand for public media today at goacpr.org.
0:22.6	Thank you.
0:26.5	Hello, hello.
0:28.1	I'm Brittany Luce and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR,
0:31.8	a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.
0:45.4	Thank you. culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. So I'm going to start off by saying something very uncontroversial.
0:50.2	The New York City mayoral race has become a national story.
0:53.8	I know, I know you think I'm biased because I'm literally sitting in my apartment in New York City mayoral race has become a national story. I know, I know you think I'm biased because I'm literally sitting in my apartment in New York
0:58.3	City while I say this.
0:59.9	I get on the subway and bam, there's Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani on a campaign ad.
1:06.0	Geolocation aside, I know it's a national story because politicians from all across the country are,
1:12.8	um, we'll say, weighing in on Mom Donnie's recent primary win. And here's where things start to get
1:19.9	controversial. After Mom Donnie's win, Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green reposted an image of the Statue of Liberty covered in a burqa.
1:35.3	South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace posted an image of Mamdani in Accurta and said,
1:41.8	After 9-11, we said never forget.
1:45.1	I think sadly we have forgotten.
1:47.3	End quote.
1:48.7	Texas, Republican Congressman Brandon Gill,
1:51.3	commented on a video of Mamdani eating rice with his hands and said,
	...

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