Michael Bloomberg Has a Long History of Islamophobia

From his surveillance program on New York mosques to his vocal support for Republican Islamophobes, Bloomberg’s record shows he is just as much a danger to American Muslims as Trump.

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Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg arrives for the tenth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 25, 2020.Logan Cyrus / AFP / Getty


The Trump presidency has ushered in a wave of unabashed Islamophobia. From his campaign assertion that “Islam hates us,” to his implementation of a Muslim ban, hate crimes against American Muslims have skyrocketed since Donald Trump came arrived at the White House. And despite the early promises to dial back American aggression in the Middle East, it didn’t take long for Trump to reveal himself as a threat to Muslims abroad.

Michael Bloomberg says that he’s entered the presidential race to counter Trump’s divisive rhetoric. He wants to unify the country, he says, by reincorporating minority communities that have been marginalized by Trump’s attacks.

But in many respects, Bloomberg’s record on racism is just as bad as Trump’s, and his fourteen years as mayor of New York provide many of the details. While his anti-black stop-and-frisk program has in recent weeks faced some criticism, Bloomberg’s record of Islamophobia has thus far evaded scrutiny. A glance at that record reveals that Bloomberg offers no meaningful alternative to Trump’s divisiveness. On the contrary, Michael Bloomberg is just another billionaire Islamophobe.

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