Trump’s Islamophobia was opportunistic rather than ideological conviction

Evidence

Trump was never an ideologue. He was always an opportunist, willing to meld his views and manufacture a platform that would deliver him profit, whether political or financial. Fifteen years of the War on Terror primed a growing segment of the American people to hate Muslims, and Trump fed that hatred with oratory raw meat at every campaign stop and stump speech. When he claimed office, he fully wed his administration to the War on Terror’s core objectives and language, pushing the message that won him the presidency and further fueled the new crusades that were unfolding before he claimed that seat: that Islam is an enemy that must be vanquished at any cost. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 305

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• XREF: Distinguishing market-driven from conviction-driven Islamophobia matters for the comparative global account the reader seeks.

Related

• Trump exploited rather than created anti-Muslim sentiment built by fifteen years of war (similarity 0.90)
• The War on Terror conditioned voters to demand explicitly Islamophobic leadership (similarity 0.84)
• War on Terror conditioning produced the demand Trump satisfied (similarity 0.83)
• Trump marked a new phase where rhetorical Islamophobia aligned openly with policy (similarity 0.82)
• Obama’s inclusive rhetoric coexisted with surveillance that later licensed Trump’s explicit Islamophobia (similarity 0.82)
• Obama’s surveillance state mainstreamed Islamophobia that enabled Trump’s victory (similarity 0.81)
• Trump’s anti-Muslim measures continue rather than depart from prior policy (similarity 0.80)
• Islamophobic power can deploy oppositional tactics to advance Muslim marginalization (similarity 0.79)
• The Trump administration elevated Islamophobic figures who shared his conspiracy beliefs. (similarity 0.79)
• Islamophobic campaign rhetoric is traded for votes and converted into policy (similarity 0.79)
• Trumpism’s Islamophobic ideology predates Trump’s presidency, rooted in birtherism (similarity 0.79)
• Tarrant’s manifesto borrowed Trump’s own language about Muslims (similarity 0.79)
• Trumpism predates Trump and will outlast his presidency (similarity 0.79)
• Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric and policy directly emboldened white supremacist attacks (similarity 0.79)
• Explicit Islamophobia has become an effective electoral strategy (similarity 0.79)