(RNS) By Sumayyah Waheed — At a Staten Island dinner party in September, Rep. Lauren Boebert looked more like an insult comic than a member of Congress. Speaking to a laughing crowd, Boebert told a made-up story about running into Rep. Ilhan Omar in an elevator and smirking, “Well, looky there, it’s the Jihad Squad,” before telling a fellow staffer in mock reassurance, “she doesn’t have a backpack … so we’re good.” This wasn’t the only time Boebert told an audience a version of this bigoted fairy tale. Similar comments surfaced from an event over the Thanksgiving holiday. Now, Congress and the Republican Party have been thrust into a debate about anti-Muslim hate in politics that has been decades in the making. It should be shocking for a member of Congress to imply that a Muslim colleague is a suicide bomber, but this shameful episode fits into a long history of anti-Muslim hate in our politics. Both anti-Muslim bigotry and antisemitism are weapons aimed at minorities to generate division and fear for political gain. This is a tactic used by those who derive their power by dividing us, which is Boebert’s strategy here. CONTINUE READING