Mehmet Oz could be on the verge of making history by becoming the first Muslim American to win the nomination of a major party for the United States Senate — we won’t know until the final results are in. But although that should be a source of joy and celebration for me and others in the Muslim American community, it’s anything but.
It’s hard to argue that Oz, the son of Turkish immigrants who are proud Muslims, doesn’t know that anti-Muslim bigotry is wrong, especially when it comes from a politician.
Oz’s possible electoral success in fact triggers disgust and contempt — and not because he is a Republican. The source of this derision comes from his hypocrisy.
Last month, I wrote for MSNBC about how, despite Trump’s history of hate for Muslims, from calling for a “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” to dangerous lies that Muslim Americans in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 terrorists (and worse), there was Oz in the closing months of Trump’s 2016 campaign, welcoming Trump as his special guest on his show. There, Oz showcased the warm fuzzy side of a well-documented bigot for the daytime television audience.
In that 45-minute episode, Oz playfully joked with Trump, took questions from the audience, and vouched for Trump’s health. What Oz did not raise was the fact that Trump’s hate-filled comments directed at Muslims had done more than just gin up fear and mistrust; they played a role in inciting a massive spike in hate crimes against our community in 2016.
It’s hard to argue that Oz, the son of Turkish immigrants who are proud Muslims, doesn’t know that anti-Muslim bigotry is wrong, especially when it comes from a politician. This was even harder to argue when we saw, in the closing days of his current campaign, Oz slam one of his GOP opponents, Kathy Barnette, after media reports surfaced of her long history of anti-Muslim tweets. An outraged Oz told the Associated Press that Barnette’s anti-Muslim bigotry was “disqualifying,” saying, “It’s reprehensible that she would tweet out something that is defamatory to an entire religion.”
Oz showcased the warm fuzzy side of a well-documented bigot for the daytime television audience.
To Oz, a handful of her tweets were “disqualifying” to be a senator, whereas a tsunami of anti-Muslim hate from Trump was apparently not.
It feels painfully transparent that Oz only criticized Barnette’s comments because she was gaining on him in the polls. That same motivation — political gain — is the likely reason why Oz welcomed Trump on his show in 2016, and why he pursued Trump for an endorsement in his current Senate run despite Trump’s hateful history.
In the 2016 presidential election, only about 13 percent of Muslim Americans supported Trump. He didn't fare much better in 2020, with approximately 17 percent of Muslim Americans casting a ballot for him while nearly 70 percent voted for President Joe Biden.
Every minority community has highly visible people who do not represent the mainstream views of that community. We can debate why they have made that choice. But in the case of Oz, we know why: It’s because it helped him politically.
If Oz does end up securing the GOP Senate nomination in Pennsylvania, my hope is that the Muslim community in the Keystone State will lead the charge in defeating him. We need the first Muslim American United States Senator to be one we can be proud of — not one who turned his back on our community in our time of need because it helped his bottom line.
