President Trump's Islamophobia and the Muslims: A Case Study in Crisis Communication

Abstract

During his highly controversial presidential election campaign, President Trump successfully but bizarrely exploited anti-Muslim rhetoric, among other factors, to capture the White House. His post-election policy actions, particularly the executive order to ban Muslim entry into the US, first issued on January 27 and followed by a watered-down version on March 6, has also officially exposed his anti-Muslim biases creating a crisis in Muslim - US relations. This article presents President Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies in historical perspectives, comparing them to other great American narratives of the post-World War II period. It ends up making two important conclusions: first off, Trump's anti-Muslim stand galvanized, and now keeps alive, his political support base of the white underclass Americans; and, secondly, although motivated by political needs, his anti-Muslim rhetoric contributes to an increasing divide between the Muslims worldwide and the non-Muslim racist and Islamophobic white Americans.