MuslimsReportStuff: Trump Gets Trolled on Twitter over Islamophobia Debate Question
By Caitlin Dickson
Muslim Americans took to Twitter in droves Sunday night and into Monday morning to mock Donald Trump’s suggestion that Muslims are to blame for Islamophobia in the United States.
Despite acknowledging the existence of Islamophobia, which he called “a shame,” the Republican presidential nominee argued that it’s up to Muslims to combat it.
“Whether we like it or not, there is a problem,” said Trump, whose anti-Muslim campaign rhetoric, including a proposed ban on Muslim immigration to the US, has been accused of fueling a nationwide rise in Islamophobia . “We have to be sure that Muslims come in and report when they see something going on. When they see hatred going on, they have to report it.”
Within minutes, Trump had gotten what he asked for.
“I’m a Muslim, and I would like to report a crazy man threatening a woman on a stage in Missouri,” tweeted author and Brooklyn College professor MoustafaBayoumi, referring to Trump’s noticeable hovering behind Democratic rival Hillary Clinton throughout much of the debate.
By Monday morning, Bayoumi’s quip had been retweeted more than 70,000 times and had spawned #MuslimsReportStuff, one of the top trending hashtags on Twitter.
Many of the tweets mocked Trump directly.
Others were more absurd.
It was hardly the first time Trump has accused Muslim Americans of failing to thwart potential terrorist attacks by reporting suspicious activity, despite evidence from the FBI and other law enforcement officials to the contrary.
In the wake of the deadly mass shooting at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub by an American Muslim this past June, FBI Director James Comey publicly refuted a statement made by Trump that “For some reason, the Muslim community does not report people like this.”
“They do not want people committing violence, either in their community or in the name of their faith, and so some of our most productive relationships are with people who see things and tell us things who happen to be Muslim,” Comey countered. “It’s at the heart of the FBI’s effectiveness to have good relationships with these folks.”
Still, Trump elaborated on his response Sunday night by repeating the unsubstantiated claim that “many people saw” bombs all over the home of the San Bernardino, Calif., shooters.
After the debate, GorbahHamed, the American-born Muslim woman who asked the Islamophobia question, told the Huffington Post that Trump’s response “wasn’t an answer, actually, it was kind of like an accusation.”
“I’m trying to be hopeful,” Hamed said. “I just hope that Muslims like me are represented well and not made out to be the bad guy.”
