Am I welcome in the “we despise you and think you should leave the country” party?

Muslim Republicans in Texas are finding out the hard way what it’s like being the member of the party that is obsessed with the spectre of “sharia law” in the United States in 2026:

It was there last week, on the first day of the party’s biennial convention held in downtown Houston, that three Muslim Republican delegates found themselves surrounded by fellow party members who believe Islam is a threat to America and Christianity. For nearly a half hour, a short woman in hijab begged state lawmakers to treat her religion with respect as her husband reminded them that Muslims widely condemn violence and consider Jesus a prophet.

The conversation was civil, if tense, but had seemingly little effect on the group of lawmakers and onlookers, many of them clad in maroon “Defend Texas, Defeat Sharia” hats. “Muhammad was not a prophet—he was a liar,” state Representative Brent Money, a conservative Christian and coleader of the Texas House’s new anti-sharia caucus, said at one point. As a Christ follower, Money continued, the most loving thing he could do “is to say that what you believe is a lie.” Nearby, another delegate was far less gracious, telling the Muslims to leave America entirely.

[…]

The scene was a microcosm of the three-day event, at which fears of Islam were front and center, and the handful of Muslim delegates there were routinely subjected to bigotries and indignities subtle and overt. Held at Houston’s sprawling George R. Brown Convention Center, the confab came as Texas Republicans ramp up their attacks on Muslims, who make up 2 percent of the state’s population, branding them a threat to Western values and arguing that Islam is not a religion but a political philosophy hell-bent on domination and conquest. 

A few hundred feet away, Mohamed Hussein sat in the back of a different room, listening to a panel on Judeo-Christian values and politics. Hosted by Rick Scarborough, a former Southern Baptist pastor who advocates for clergy to get involved in politics, the session soon shifted to the rising threat of Islam. Muslims, Scarborough falsely claimed, were commanded by the Quran to lie and deceive if it advances jihad. None could be trusted, much less patriots. “You’re going to find Muslims that aren’t being antagonistic or mean, at least not publicly,” Scarborough said. “But I guarantee, if they get power, they’ll cut your head off as believers of Christ.”

Distraught, Mohamed decided to approach Scarborough after the panel. For the next few minutes, he begged Scarborough and others to stop depicting all Muslims as violent, noting that Muslims have been the primary victims of Islamic terrorism and citing fears of anti-Muslim hate crimes—including the recent shooting that killed three at a San Diego mosque. “What do you want me to do—leave?” he asked at one point.  

“Yes,” Scarborough replied. Scarborough eventually apologized for “offending” the sobbing Hussein and prayed for him and for forgiveness. But in an interview following the interaction, he doubled down: “If you’re going to embrace the values and the teachings that you’re advocating for, there’s no place in America for you,” Scarborough told a Texas Tribune reporter who witnessed the interaction. “That’s not assimilation. That’s taking over.” (In a follow-up interview on Sunday, Scarborough told The Tribune that he regretted some of his behavior).

Around that time, delegates again gathered in the main hall to debate the party platform, a sprawling collection of priorities, issues, and declarations that the Texas GOP releases at every convention. Throughout the week, many had noted that, in 2024, the party had failed to adequately warn of the growing Islamic menace. Now it was time to rectify that.

Much more at the link. It’s grimly fascinating reading about Muslims at an anti-Muslim hate orgy hoping that their opposition to abortion rights will make people accept them, and eventually confronting the reality.

“They act like they despise all Muslims and think they’re inherently anti-American.”

“You ever think they’re not acting?”