The War on Terror emboldened populists to scapegoat Muslims and seize power

Evidence

The War on Terror birthed new wars and resurrected old ones, emboldening governments to scapegoat their Muslim populations for any political or economic woe, real or fabricated, that troubled their regimes. The Islamophobia reared by the War on Terror blazed a new path for populist movements and the demagogues who led them. They led anti-Muslim campaigns and planted the flag of a “clash of civilizations” atop their nation’s political terrain to stir hysteria, turned their ire and guns on Muslims, and then seized power. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 292

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s guiding question about shared logic across national populist demagogues; pairs with readings on populist nationalism.
• SEED: Angle: tracing the specific populist leaders (Modi, Macron-era figures, Muhammadiyah-adjacent voices) who weaponized this ‘clash of civilizations’ flag after 2001.