Extremism in the Mainstream

“Islam has absolutely nothing in common with Christianity, nor is it a worthy part of the brotherhood of man.”
—Vanderbilt political science professor CAROL SWAIN, a self-described evangelical Christian, in a Jan. 15 Tennessean op-ed calling for “monitoring of Islamic organizations” 

“I did leave an Israeli flag on the reception desk in my office with instructions to staff to ask representatives from the Muslim community to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws.”
—Texas State Rep. MOLLY WHITE (R), in a Jan. 29 Facebook post, describing her plan to make Muslims who visit her office take a loyalty oath

“Kayla Mueller: Dead ISIS Hostage Was Jew-Hating, Anti-Israel B----.”
—Headline of a Feb. 10 blog post by far-right commentator DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL on the murder of a 26-year-old American who had done humanitarian work for Palestinians

“As far as I’m concerned, not every Muslim is guilty, but every Muslim is suspect.”
—Delaware radio host JAKE SMITH, who was fired from WGMD-FM’s “Mike and Jake in the Morning” show on the same day as his Feb. 20 rant 

“[T]hey are really against war because they want all of that money to go to food stamps.”
—Former U.S. Rep. RON PAUL (R-Texas), as reported Feb. 24 by Buzzfeed, on why the Congressional Black Caucus is generally anti-war

“The homosexuals want to go into a woman’s bathroom so they can molest little boys.”
—“Crusading Christian” THEODORE SHOEBAT, in a confused March 3 video on his website in which he also improbably claimed that “ISIS consists of many homosexuals”

“They don’t have a right to be served in every single store.”
—Oklahoma State Sen. JOSEPH SILK (R), quoted in a March 5 New York Times story, on laws that would allow businesses to refuse service to gay couples

“I come from a town where all the blacks are getting food stamps and what I call ‘welfare crazy checks.’ They don’t work.”
—Mississippi State Rep. GENE ALDAY (R), describing his own town of Walls in a March 15 article in Jackson’s Clarion-Ledger, which then called editorially for his resignation

“What if the skinheads want to do the Pledge of Allegiance? Are we gonna do that too?”
—Far-right radio host LAURA INGRAHAM on her March 20 radio show, raging about a high school that allowed students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic