GOP Congressman Vies for Most Racist Thing Said in Recent Memory: “Muslims Don’t Belong in American Society”

It used to be that the anti-Islamic racism of elected U.S. officials such as members of Congress had to be couched in qualifiers. They would say, for instance, that they were condemning Islamic militants, or radicals, or terrorist sympathizers as they nevertheless smeared and spread suspicion of every single Muslim in the United States, be they temporary visitor or U.S. citizen. Those days are gone: We’ve now entered the period where emboldened MAGA members of Congress, playing on Elon Musk’s CSAM-generating Nazi hub, are simply stating out loud that no Muslim person should be in the United States for any reason, including U.S. citizens. Just ask U.S. Rep Andy Ogles of Tennessee, who this morning on Twitter posted as much without a care in the world, claiming that Muslims “don’t belong in American society,” nor does anyone who isn’t a white Christian, given the “pluralism is a lie” follow-up. Rather than link directly to Twitter, I’ll simply embed the offending, unbelievably racist tweet here:

In any sane world, this kind of statement would be grounds for immediate dismissal from Congress, the place where Ogles ostensibly represents those who live in his district–including the estimated 40,000-70,000 Islamic residents of Tennessee. Of course, in the world we live in, we’ll probably be lucky if any of the reporters on Capitol Hill even manage to get Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to acknowledge that Ogles posted this at all, and if he does acknowledge it, it will be in the form of a shrug and some further racist musings. It’s nothing new for Ogles, certainly: He’s the sponsor of a bill called the “Halt Immigration from Countries with Inadequate Verification Capabilities Act,” specifically and racially targeting only countries with predominantly Muslim populations.

“I don’t know how many Muslims are in this guy’s district,” said Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California in response. “I know there are tens of thousands in mine. They are parents. Entrepreneurs. Police officers. The firefighter-paramedic giving CPR to save your life. They are us. They are American. This tweet is NOT American.”

In this case, Ogles was seemingly responding to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim, following an incident over the weekend in which dueling protests outside of the mayor’s home led to scuffles and an attempted mass killing via what seemed to be improvised explosive devices. In a statement afterward, Mamdani condemned both white nationalist Jake Lang, and suspects Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, who are alleged to have thrown several devices during the chaos that thankfully did not detonate. Balat and Kayumi were both arrested and will no doubt be prosecuted, with Mamdani saying that the incident was not only “criminal” but “reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.” Despite this, however, Ogles and co. have chosen to portray Mamdani as being somehow sympathetic to the would-be bombers, even though the city will soon be prosecuting them, because they can’t miss out on an opportunity for more anti-Islamic racism. On Twitter, Ogles would go on to suggest that Muslims–who make up 25% of the global population, by the way–should restrict themselves to the “57 Islamic countries” of the world.

Despite this absolutely breathtaking display of racism, however, Ogles may still be running a close second for the title of “most racist thing said on Twitter in the last month by a sitting Congressman,” thanks to Florida Rep. Randy Fine. In response to a satirical post in which a Muslim resident of NYC joked about dogs being unclean in Islamic tradition, in reference to local NYC jokes about dog waste during the city’s recent snowstorm, Fines replied by saying “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

Again, a truly mind-blowingly racist sentiment to come right out and blast to the world, but perfectly fitting for the current Twitter aesthetic. Yet again in this incident, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson avoided making any public comment or acknowledgement, illustrating the way that members of Congress can effectively at this point say whatever racist thing they want in public–the GOP hold on the chamber is so narrow that they can’t even afford to punish their own members, even when they admit to deadly affairs. House Democrats, meanwhile, were left ineffectually promising quasi-punishment such as censure, with Mr. Tough Guy and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries saying that Mike Johnson needs to “get your members under control, because if you don’t we will.” I’ll believe it when I see it!

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) nicely summed up the general shockingness of this level of overt racism, saying it was “genuinely one of the most disgusting statements I have ever seen issued by an American official,” and that “it should not stop shocking us that the Republican Party openly embraces this. Fine should be censured & stripped of committees. To ignore this is to accept and normalize it.”

“Should be” is one thing; the power to actually do any of it is another. Here’s hoping that the Democratic members of Congress are keeping a ledger for after they likely take back the House in November. Statements like this should cost literally anyone their political career, whether they were uttered last week, last year or last decade. It’s a shame that we’re not lucky enough to be able to force Ogles or Fine to say those words while facing down a room of their Muslim constituents. Somehow, I doubt they’d be so brave then.

Hakeem Jeffries on Randy Fine: "Mike Johnson has spent a lot of time talking about decorum. Get your members under control. Because if you don't, we will."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) Feb 18, 2026 at 1:12 PM