Frank Gaffney and his anti-Muslim cohorts laid the groundwork for Trump’s rise.

[spanone]

In the past couple of years, the political influence of Frank Gaffney, who the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as “one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes,” appeared to be on the wane. In 2011, he was banned from the Conservative Political Action Conference after claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the group organizing the event. The next year, Gaffney, who was advising Michele Bachmann on foreign policy, concocted a theory that thThese relationships work reciprocally. Trump and Cruz may give anti-Islam conspiracy theories new prominence, but the anti-Islam lobby prepared the ground for the rise of both politicians. According to the Center for American Progress, this lobby—which also includes ACT! for America, the Middle East Forum, and Stop Islamization of America, among others—spent $42.6 million between 2001 and 2009 to support the spread of anti-Muslim ideas and rhetoric. “The efforts of a small cadre of funders and misinformation experts were amplified by an echo chamber of the religious right, conservative media, grassroots organizations, and politicians who sought to introduce a fringe perspective on American Muslims into the public discourse,” CAP reported.e Muslim Brotherhood had penetrated the State Department via Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s aide. When five members of Congress, including Bachmann, asked for an investigation of the conspiracy, leaders of the Republican Party, including then–House Speaker John Boehner, forcefully rebuked them. (Soon Bachmann would leave Congress, depriving Gaffney of an important political collaborator.) The most recent Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney, largely refused to countenance Gaffney-style anti-Sharia conspiracy theories. Chris Christie smacked them down as well.

Despite the efforts of Gaffney and his allies, “Islamophobia was the dog that didn’t bark in the 2012 election,” says Matthew Duss, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and Slate contributor. “But the rise of ISIS and all these spectacular, graphic attacks did what they’re designed to do, which is to provoke fear and to provoke hysteria and create fertile ground for these kind of wild claims about the Islamic threat.” It has given Gaffney, and the network of anti-Islam groups of which he is a central part, a new level of power and relevance.

The most tangible example of that is Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslim immigration, which he justified by citing figures from Gaffney’s think tank, the Center for Security Policy, about the supposed jihadist sympathies of American Muslims. (Gaffney called for a “moratorium on refugees and Muslim colonization” in September.) But Trump isn’t the only Republican candidate parroting Gaffney’s views. Ted Cruz has also been close to Gaffney; both Trump and Cruz spoke at an August rally against Obama’s Iran deal that was co-sponsored by Gaffney’s group.

These relationships work reciprocally. Trump and Cruz may give anti-Islam conspiracy theories new prominence, but the anti-Islam lobby prepared the ground for the rise of both politicians. According to the Center for American Progress, this lobby—which also includes ACT! for America, the Middle East Forum, and Stop Islamization of America, among others—spent $42.6 million between 2001 and 2009 to support the spread of anti-Muslim ideas and rhetoric. “The efforts of a small cadre of funders and misinformation experts were amplified by an echo chamber of the religious right, conservative media, grassroots organizations, and politicians who sought to introduce a fringe perspective on American Muslims into the public discourse,” CAP reported.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/12/frank_gaffney_the_wind_beneath_donald_trump_s_islamophobia.html

[KamaAina]

1. “Islamophobia was the dog that didn’t bark in the 2012 election”

But will it in 2016?

[spanone]

2. i think the dog is on the loose in the form of trump!

[KamaAina]

3. And he's rabid.

[KamaAina]

4. "after claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the group organizing the event."

In other words, Grover Norquist was on the organizing committee.

[JI7]

5. most people don't know who he is. the fact is bigotry has always existed in the US

[spanone]

6. he used to appear regularly as a pundit on m$nbc...here's some of his crazy

On March 12, 2009, Gaffney appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and accused former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of being involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing, "There is also circumstantial evidence, not proven by any means, but nonetheless some pretty compelling circumstantial evidence of Saddam Hussein's Iraq being involved with the people who perpetrated both the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and even the Oklahoma City bombing."[39]

In 2003, Gaffney called on the United States military to "take out" Al Jazeera news network for inciting violence against the Western world by showcasing Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein's "calls-to-arms."[31] Along with a number of figures who later assumed leading positions in the George W. Bush administration, Gaffney was one of 25 signatories[40] of the June 3, 1997 "Statement of Principles" from the controversial Project for the New American Century,[41] an educational and political advocacy organization whose stated goal was "to promote American global leadership."[42] In an article appearing in the January 2007 edition of Vanity Fair about neoconservatives who pushed for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Gaffney said of Bush, "He doesn't in fact seem to be a man of principle who's steadfastly pursuing what he thinks is the right course. He talks about it, but the policy doesn't track with the rhetoric, and that's what creates the incoherence that causes us problems around the world and at home."[43]

He has also accused Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin of acting as a secret agent of the Muslim Brotherhood.[44] After the allegation was repeated by Michele Bachmann, U.S. senators John McCain, Scott Brown, and Marco Rubio joined in dismissing it, and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner said "accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous."[45]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gaffney

[JI7]

8. i know who he is and what he has done but the bigotry is of most people ,especially those that

support trump is not because of him .

many of those people hate blacks hispanics and other minorities also.

[spanone]

9. true, just pointing out that trump used gaffney's think tanks numbers for his 'justification'

of his call for a ban on muslim immigration

The most tangible example of that is Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslim immigration, which he justified by citing figures from Gaffney’s think tank, the Center for Security Policy, about the supposed jihadist sympathies of American Muslims. (Gaffney called for a “moratorium on refugees and Muslim colonization” in September.) But Trump isn’t the only Republican candidate parroting Gaffney’s views. Ted Cruz has also been close to Gaffney; both Trump and Cruz spoke at an August rally against Obama’s Iran deal that was co-sponsored by Gaffney’s group.

[malaise]

7. He's among the worst of the warmongers

and Muslim haters. Wasn't he part of that video that started the entire Benghazi mess?

Rec

[spanone]

10. he's a real shit sandwich....

Panelist Frank Gaffney revived allegations that former Clinton aide Huma Abedin has “deep personal” ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and said she may have advocated for laws against “Sharia blasphemy.” Gaffney also said the president’s view that “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” is “a statement you could have found on al-Qaeda’s Web site.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-heritages-ugly-benghazi-panel/2014/06/16/b8bd423c-f5a3-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html