GOP Rep. Andy Ogles Sparks Backlash After Saying Muslims ‘Don’t Belong’ in America

A Republican congressman from Tennessee declared on social media Monday that “Muslims don’t belong in American society,” prompting backlash largely from Democrats.

“Pluralism is a lie,” Rep. Andy Ogles continued in the bigoted post on X.

Democratic politicians swiftly condemned Ogles and his post, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York calling Ogles a “malignant clown.”

“Disgusting Islamophobes like you do not belong in Congress or in civilized society,” Jeffries wrote on X.

{snip}

One prominent Republican who criticized Ogles’ post was Richard Grenell, a special envoy for President Donald Trump and the interim president of the Kennedy Center.

“Stop attacking the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Grenell wrote on X.

{snip} Ogles did not back down online, posting on X about “the high-ranking Democrats flooding X to condemn me” in one post and in another about the dozens of “Islamic countries in the world.”

“If muslims want to practice their law and exemplify Muhammadan culture, that is where they belong,” he wrote.

The posts came after an attempted terrorist attack in New York City, where federal prosecutors have said the two suspects are aligned with ISIS, a common name for the Islamic State terrorist group.

Another Republican congressman with a history of bashing Muslims online, Rep. Randy Fine of Florida, posted about that incident over the weekend, saying, “We don’t need to live like this. Deport them ALL.”

Fine faced calls to resign from Democrats last month when he posted on social media, “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

Ogles, meanwhile, made headlines last year when he called for Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim and a naturalized U.S. citizen, to be deported after he won the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York.

{snip}