As a Muslim immigrant from Pakistan, I’ve always been more of a Republican, especially since my father involved me in conservative politics from a young age. When I was first elected as a Republican precinct committeeman in Central Florida, no one really cared about my background.
I would describe myself as a “Joe Rogan Republican,” not accepting the liberal narrative and talking to everyone. I did this to the extent that I even befriended actual white supremacists to witness extreme identity politics up close for myself.
White supremacists purporting to align with former President Donald Trump or the conservative movement have long bolstered false media narratives about the Republican Party being fascist and racist. Unsurprisingly, the media has seldom highlighted contrary evidence, such as Trump’s iftar dinners during Ramadan and other efforts to help minority communities.
We must ask to what level these extremist organizations are actually aligned with conservative America, which openly rejects their ideas. The surprising answer to many liberals is that they are not aligned, Trump is not racist, and the media has simply weaponized identity politics against conservatives.
Based on my interactions with actual white supremacists and my training in security studies, I found an odd reality. First, although there are a lot of racists in these groups, there are also many federal agent infiltrators working against them. In fact, the running joke among white supremacists was that there are more federal agents propping up membership in these groups than actual racists. I actually came to know some of these undercover agents.
Recent court records further show us that the leaders of these organizations, such as the Proud Boys, are actively working with law enforcement, who have long played a role not just in monitoring but influencing these groups. Based on my observations, it seemed as if actual white supremacists were always quickly jailed or entrapped in schemes, and those left were largely federal agents or people cooperating under threat of imprisonment.
More surprisingly, I have come to observe that these groups would not be assembling to the extent that they are if not for immense government facilitation. This is similar to how federal law enforcement finds some troubled kid and facilitates their participation in extremism.
So why am I against all of this? Am I, a Muslim American, a supporter of racism and white nationalism? No. Instead, I believe that not only does such government action artificially and irresponsibly create the illusion of a connection between conservative America and white supremacy, but it also inflates white nationalist activity and suppresses the free expression of ideas. The latter is so important because free expression is necessary to defeat poor ideas such as racism in the first place.
The national security apparatus wants to go even further and create new “domestic terrorism” mechanisms. I believe this is being done to target older, whiter, and poorer conservatives after the actions of only some people during the recent Capitol riot, much like Muslims were targeted after 9/11.
What we’re doing wrong in our country is focusing too much on fear of the other, victim groups, hurt feelings, and dividing lines. The solution to protect all people is to not create new domestic terrorism laws but to overhaul civil rights protections. We should alter civil rights legislation to be based no longer just on group membership but instead be entrenched in universal liberties that apply to all. Special victim group classification only perpetuates identity politics and reinforces dividing lines.
As Kenji Yoshino, a law professor at New York University, argues, our society is getting fatigued from adding more protected groups into the civil rights conversation. We should instead foster an open, libertarian society in which everyone, including poor, straight, white males, has the right to full self-expression.
Allowing everyone to openly express themselves without fear would also lead to any racist philosophies dying more quickly as ideas are debated freely and publicly. As a young Republican, I can only hope we are sensible enough to move in this direction, which leads to domestic peace. I, for one, will be working toward that version of America.
Sabtain Ali works in U.S. and Pakistani politics, and he is a former precinct committeeman for the Seminole County, Florida, GOP and a supporter of the Pakistani Muslim League (Noon). He is a contributor at the Washington Examiner.
