CNN has dug up a slew of old social media posts from Ken Isaacs, President Trump’s top pick to run the United Nations’s International Organization for Migration. Surprise: Isaacs posted a lot of anti-Islam garbage, with a light smattering of climate change denial, and the-Clintons-kill-people conspiracy theories.
In May 2017, Isaacs shared a link to an article saying Islam was not a religion of peace and warned that during Ramadan, “Muslims fast, they also blast.”
In March 2017, Isaacs tweeted a link to a meme titled “What Countries Look Like Before And After Islam,” which included pictures of Iran and Afghanistan in the 1970s (despite Islam being the majority religion in both countries at that time), as well as a picture of white shoppers in London in 1980, juxtaposed with a picture of women wearing hijabs in 2012.
In July 2016, after a terrorist attack in Nice, France, Isaacs tweeted out “Nice #Islam is not peaceful” next to a picture from the attack of a covered dead body next to a child’s doll.
In November 2015, Isaacs tweeted, “If Islam is a peaceful religion lets see 2 million Muslims march on Nat Mall condemning jihad, terrorism, & stand for USA.” That same month he made similar comments when responding to a tweet from British author Owen Jones, who said it was wrong to equate Islam and terrorism.
That sure is a stark contrast to the man Isaacs portrays himself as in this YouTube video, where he explains why he’s the best person to run the IOM program. He is seen cheerfully working in Bangladesh (90 percent Muslim), and Sudan (97 percent Muslim), and elsewhere.
It’s unclear how much concern, exactly, Isaacs’ bigotry has actually caused the administration. As CNN notes, the State Department has “pointed to Issacs’ apology and expressed continued support for his nomination.”