In the autumn of 2008, Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State under George W. Bush, broke from the Republican Party and endorsed the Democratic nominee for President, Barack Obama. It had been a brutal summer of electoral warfare. Rumors that Obama was Muslim swirled, becoming a significant aspect of the media coverage of his campaign. A group working with his opponent, John McCain, called people in swing states, planted doubts about Obama’s religious background, and asked how they would vote if they knew that the Democrat was supported by Hamas. McCain’s spokesperson defended the calls, but when a voter later said, in a town hall, that she couldn’t trust Obama, who was “an Arab,” McCain shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he said. Obama was a “decent family man.” The implication that “an Arab” could not possess those qualities was poisonous enough, but it was Powell who tackled the unspoken. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he acknowledged that Obama “is not a Muslim. He’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian.” Nevertheless, Powell went on, what if Obama were Muslim? “Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?”
Seventeen years later, that question has become central to New York City’s mayoral race, in which Zohran Mamdani, a thirty-four-year-old democratic socialist and a Muslim, has held a solid lead since winning the Democratic primary this past summer. There have been plenty of legitimate attacks on Mamdani’s candidacy, citing his inexperience and interrogating how he will deliver on his promises to make the city more affordable. In recent weeks, though, many critiques have been tinged with specifically anti-Muslim undertones. Ellie Cohanim, a former deputy special envoy to combat antisemitism in the first Trump Administration, posted a photo of the Twin Towers burning, on September 11, 2001, and wrote, “Never Forget. . . . Vote Andrew Cuomo & save our city”; the New York Post has run headlines that link Mamdani to terrorism, such as “WEAPONS OF HAMAS DESTRUCTION.” Cuomo himself, the former governor of New York, who is running against Mamdani as an Independent, recently made remarks about his opponent that garnered wide attention. In an interview with the conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg, Cuomo asked if anyone could “imagine Mamdani in the seat,” if there were another 9/11. When Rosenberg replied, “He’d be cheering,” Cuomo chuckled along and added, “That’s another problem.”
The comment echoed a similar declaration made during another much watched campaign. In November, 2015, Donald Trump, who was then running for President, claimed that he had seen “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating during 9/11. A month later, he called for a plan to ban Muslims from entering the country in a bid to keep it safe. After he took office, in January, 2017, the policy went into effect, and hundreds of New Yorkers descended on J.F.K. Airport to protest. Governor Cuomo, in a show of solidarity, declared, “As a New Yorker, I am a Muslim.” It was a politically useful sentiment back then.
Trump’s story was a lie, but it gave voice to long-held suspicions of so-called dual loyalty. After 9/11, authorities rounded up Muslim men across the country and detained them without charge—in some cases, for years—or deported them for minor visa violations. To avoid such fates, many Muslim families fled the U.S., leaving behind neighbors and friends. The New York City Police Department devised a Demographics Unit, whose undercover officers and informants combed through Muslim neighborhoods and hid in bookstores and mosques and restaurants in search of terrorist threats, leaving communities fearful that they were always being watched. The program continued for years and, after being challenged in court, was eventually disbanded.
