Far-right US leaders’ religious extremism boosts Islamophobia

Since the escalation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in 2023, the US far right has been exploiting the chance to spread Islamophobia even further. And a new report suggests that prominent US figures have been increasingly using the rhetoric of Christian extremism to do so, particularly around the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran.

‘Overtly religious’ framing and genocidal dehumanisation

The Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH) has reported that:

Since the start of 2026, harmful content targeting Muslims across social media platforms has escalated at an alarming pace.

It said this has further built on the “deeply hostile climate” that far-right, pro-Israel forces have nurtured since 2023. And it noted that the unprovoked US-Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February “accelerated this trend sharply”.

The CSOH also identified that far-right US leaders in both the government and military have leaned into “overtly religious” framing surrounding the war.

Analysing X posts from 1 January to 5 March, the CSOH noted “a sharp spike” in Islamophobic posts starting on 28 February. Between then and 5 March, it recorded 25,348 such posts. Including reposts, this number shoots up to 279,417.

With leaders’ language fuelling “suspicion, hostility, and violence” against Muslims, the CSOH stated, people online used:

dehumanizing language, referring to Muslims as “rats,” “pests,” “vermin,” and “parasites.” Such language has historically preceded and enabled the most extreme forms of violence against targeted communities.

This, it said, is:

a significant indicator of escalation risk.

A new study found more than 25,000 anti‑Muslim posts on social media since the war with Iran began, signalling a surge in Islamophobic rhetoric in the US and raising concerns about growing online hostility toward Muslim communities.

Al Jazeera's Nour Hegazy explains. pic.twitter.com/Is2gFGtGD7

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 13, 2026

Dehumanisation of a group fuels genocidal rhetoric and actions, as it has in Israel around the settler-colonial power’s decimation of Gaza.

The CSOH also recorded the use of words like “infestation”, along with calls for ‘extermination’, “internment camps”, Muslim bans and expulsion, and the targeting of places of worship.

Rising Islamophobia under Trump’s far-right regime

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) civil rights group has also released a new report. This noted that 2025, the first year of Donald Trump’s second administration, saw the highest number of complaints about anti-Muslim discrimination in three decades. Al Jazeera explained that this was due to factors like:

• The rollback of “civil rights operations at the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Education”.
• White House “efforts to punish schools and students for their participation in pro-Palestinian protests and activities”.
• Trump’s statements “attacking Muslim-majority groups living in the US, including Somalis and Afghans”.

The report on Islamophobia highlighted that:

anti-Muslim narratives more clearly resurfaced in 2025, particularly the notion that the religious principles followed by Muslims are inherently threatening and anti-American

CAIR’s research and advocacy director Corey Sawyer said:

In 2025, what we saw in the United States was a group of powerful public officials assert that freedom comes with conditions… You have to speak their approved lines. You have to worship in ways in which they approve. You should trace your ancestry to places that they approve of. And you should think the thoughts that they approve.

And he emphasised that:

Protecting your right to be different and your right to dissent isn’t a favour to any one community… That’s the operating system of a free country.

Under Joe Biden, Democrats let Israel’s fascists get away with dehumanising Palestinians and committing genocide against them in Gaza. Now, as Donald Trump’s far-right regime has actively joined Israel’s destructive rampage throughout the Middle East, that dehumanisation is targeting bigger and bigger groups of people.

The US establishment is showing the world its true face. And if citizens of the country want to rescue what’s good there, they must seriously challenge the ongoing spread of dehumanising and hateful rhetoric. Because only bad things will come if the US continues on this path.

Featured image via NYSBA