Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
A man near the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July 2016 holds a pack of chewing gum called '"Islamophobin." The packaging attempts to bring attention to the issue of anti-Muslim attitudes in the United States. (CNS photo/Justin Lane, EPA) 

(RNS) — It may be a law of nature: President Trump tweets something about Islam. Anti-Muslim hate crimes follow.

That’s according to a working paper by University of Warwick researchers Karsten Müller and Carlo Schwarz.

Their conclusions correspond with anecdotal reports collected by Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups, too.

“Whether it’s a tweet or whether it’s in a policy (Trump is) introducing, or if it’s in a policy someone in his administration is introducing, I think it all comes together to create this kind of environment where targeting Muslims is acceptable or has become acceptable,” said Madihha Ahussain, special counsel for anti-Muslim bigotry at Muslim Advocates.

Müller and Schwarz examined publicly accessible data such as the weekly number of anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded by the FBI in their paper, “Making America Hate Again? Twitter and Hate Crime Under Trump.”

The data showed a rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes since the start of Trump’s presidential campaign, concentrated in counties with high Twitter usage. It also showed a correlation between the number of Trump’s tweets in a given week that used keywords related to Islam and the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes that followed. 

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Edwin Hess
6 years 11 months ago

Why is it that there are no comments about this article that was posted several days ago? Maybe the answer is right there in the title which suggests that they were looking for a link, No matter how weak.

The latest from america

In his video message at White Sox stadium, Pope Leo encouraged young people to look inside themselves, recognize God’s presence in their own hearts and “recognize that God is present and that, perhaps in many different ways, God is reaching out to you,
Pope Leo XIVJune 14, 2025
The June 14 celebration featured the first-ever airing of Pope Leo XIV’s video message to the world’s youth at the White Sox stadium in Chicago’s Southside.
Pope Leo XIV prays at the conclusion of an audience with pilgrims in Rome for the Holy Year 2025 in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 14, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Pope Leo called for a “commitment to build a world that is safer and free from the nuclear threat.”
Gerard O’ConnellJune 14, 2025
A Reflection for Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time, by Tim Reidy