Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was challenged on Thursday to explain why she posted an image of the Statue of Liberty in a burqa following New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s apparent victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary.
The far-right lawmaker, who has a history of anti-Islam remarks, captioned the picture: “This hits hard.”
The post was widely condemned as Islamophobic and interpreted as a dig at Mamdani, who will become New York City’s first Muslim mayor if elected in November. Mamdani has been the subject of multiple Islamophobic attacks from the right since his win.
On The Hill’s “RISING” show, co-host Niall Stanage brought up the image of the Statue of Liberty (which, ironically, was initially conceived of as being a Muslim woman in traditional Islamic dress) with Greene and asked: “What did you mean by that?”
Greene responded: “Well, I’m an American woman and I have all the freedoms in the world to never have to bow to a religion that would force me to cover my body up and only see my eyes and my fingertips and that is a major threat to all American women, and I think that’s something that hits hard for all women.”
