Why Do Elected Leaders Get Away With Anti-Muslim Hate?

At a Staten Island dinner party in September, Rep. Lauren Boebert looked more like an insult comic than a member of Congress. Speaking to a laughing crowd, Boebert told a made-up story about running into Rep. Ilhan Omar in an elevator and smirking, "Well, looky there, it's the Jihad Squad," before telling a fellow staffer in mock reassurance, "she doesn't have a backpack … so we're good." This wasn't the only time Boebert told an audience a version of this bigoted fairy tale. Similar comments surfaced from an event over the Thanksgiving holiday. Now, Congress and the Republican Party have been thrust into a debate about anti-Muslim hate in politics that has been decades in the making.