Both US parties frame Islamism as a new totalitarian enemy

Evidence

As Kundnani notes, Hitchens shared with Berman the view that “as soon as the West had won its historic battle against communism, a new totalitarianism—Islamism—emerged as a political force. The West, it is argued, is morally obliged to expunge this totalitarian threat both in the Islamic world and among its own Muslim communities.” Thus, although the liberal imperialists use more subtle language, they ultimately end up making a similar argument to the neocons (see, for instance, Podhoretz’s World War 4: The Long Struggle against Islamofascism) and the Islamophobic warriors. Daniel Pipes has similarly argued that “what Nazism or fascism was to World War II and Marxist/Leninism was to the Cold War, militant Islam is to this war [the War on Terror].” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 570 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

While the Republican Party, particularly with Trump’s ascent, became the party of blatant and explicit political Islamophobia, the Democratic Party under President Obama stood as the party of expanding structural Islamophobic policy and programming. The latter, mirroring Obama’s masterful speech at the mosque in Baltimore, used benign and gracious language toward Muslims to enlist them as informants in programming that invites great dangers into Muslim American communities. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 327 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

We need to realize that Islam itself is not simply a religion, it’s a totalitarian way of life. It is a legal system, the law of Sharia; it’s a financial system, it’s a moral code, it’s a political system, it’s a military system. Islam should not be protected by the First Amendment, especially when one knows that those who obey the diktat of the Koran are duty bound to destroy our Constitution and to replace it with Sharia law. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 741 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Neoconservatives campaigned to replace the Soviet enemy with Islamism — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 414; Both neocons and realists deploy an Islamic threat frame serving shared US dominance — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 744; Liberal imperialists and neocons both frame Islamism as the new totalitarianism requiring Western expungement — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 570 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Liberal imperialists and neocons both frame Islamism as the new totalitarianism requiring Western expungement #corroborates (1.00) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 570
• Democratic and Republican parties practice different but complementary forms of Islamophobia #corroborates (0.85) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 327
• US evangelicals frame Islam as a totalitarian system beyond First Amendment protection #expands (0.82) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 741
• Neocons and Israel, not the whole establishment, first pushed Islamism as the new enemy #qualifies (0.80)
• Neoconservatives and Israel pushed Islamism as the post-Soviet enemy #qualifies (0.80)
• Political Islam framing is debated among US foreign policy elites of both parties #qualifies (0.78)
• US policy factions on Islamism differed in strategy, not hegemonic goals #expands (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 416
• Liberal security politics amplified right-wing Islamophobia’s reach and power #expands (0.75)