WASHINGTON — Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) said Monday that Muslims shouldn’t be in the United States.
“Muslims don’t belong in American society,” Ogles wrote on social media. “Pluralism is a lie.”
The Republican member of Congress, a far-right conservative with a record of being brazenly Islamophobic, seemed to be reacting to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s condemnation of an anti-Islam rally organized outside his home on Saturday by pardoned Jan. 6 insurrectionist Jake Lang.
Violence broke out at the protest, and on Monday, two men were in custody as law enforcement officials probed whether they brought explosives to the event. The men are also being investigated for potentially being inspired by an Islamic State extremist group.
Mamdani, who is Muslim, condemned “white supremacist Jake Lang” for organizing a rally rooted in “bigotry and racism.” He also called it “reprehensible” that people brought an explosive device, which did not go off at the event.
