Mohamed Hussein walked into the Texas GOP convention hoping to find out whether he had a place in the Republican Party. By the end of the weekend, a former Southern Baptist pastor had told him directly to leave the country. Hussein, a lifelong conservative and registered Republican, broke down crying in the back of the convention hall.
“Convert or Leave”
Hussein attended a panel on Judeo-Christian values led by Dr. Rick Scarborough, a former pastor who runs an organization that engages ministers in politics. Speakers told the room that Muslims could not be trusted regardless of how they presented themselves publicly.
“You’re going to find Muslims that aren’t being antagonistic or mean, at least not publicly,” Scarborough told the crowd. “But I’ll guarantee, if they get power, they’ll cut your head off as believers of Christ.”
Hussein, who prays multiple times a day and describes himself as conservative on economic, social, and religious issues, stood up to object, pointing out that he was peacefully practicing his faith in that exact moment. Afterward, Scarborough approached him directly.
“What do you want me to do, leave?” Hussein asked.
“Yes,” the pastor replied.
Hussein walked away and broke down sobbing alone. Scarborough later clarified to reporters that he meant Hussein should leave the country entirely. “If you’re going to embrace the values and the teachings that you’re advocating for, there’s no place in America for you,” he said. “That’s not assimilation. That’s taking over.”
A Pattern, Not an Incident
Hussein was not the only Muslim attendee treated this way. Samar Halabi, a teacher and registered delegate who wore a hijab, was approached by other attendees and told outright to leave the country. She wept into her husband’s chest.
The party’s outgoing chair, Abraham George, addressed two Muslim delegates directly from the convention stage and told them to get out.
“I would strongly advise you to leave our caucus,” George said. “There is a Democrat convention happening in a couple weeks. Join them.”
State Representative Brent Money, who founded a caucus dedicated to fighting what he calls “Sharia law,” told the crowd the country should be governed by Christians. This was not a fringe moment at the convention. It was the convention’s organizing theme.
The Targets Were Actual Republicans
What makes this especially damning is who the targets were. Hussein’s father founded the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations after 9/11 to encourage Muslim Americans to engage politically rather than drift toward extremism born of exclusion. He is a registered Republican who opposes abortion and supports fiscal conservatism.
Samar Halabi’s husband, Amjad Muhtaseb, made the point plainly: “We believe in Adam and Eve. We don’t believe in this, multiple gender. We don’t drink. We don’t gamble. We are against pornography.” These are not radicals seeking to undermine the party’s platform. They are voters who agree with most of it.
Convention members spent the week trying to strip them of their delegate credentials anyway, citing ties to CAIR, an organization Texas Governor Greg Abbott has designated a terrorist group despite the group’s repeated denials and decades of legal operation. The party concluded it lacked the authority to remove them this year, then changed its rules to remove Muslim delegates with similar ties at the next convention.
Even Some Republicans Knew This Was Wrong
Not everyone embraced the hostility. State Representative Mano DeAyala warned colleagues against alienating non-Christians who want to join the party. Delegate Kevin Jennings said he worried the party had become consumed by anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Their concerns were drowned out. The party’s own chair, D’rinda Randall, defended the broader hostility toward CAIR, insisting Republicans remained “fully united” heading into November. United, apparently, in pushing out the Muslim Republicans who showed up hoping to be part of that unity.
The Stakes Beyond Politics
Hussein’s fear extends past November. Last month, two teenage gunmen opened fire at a San Diego mosque and killed three men, an attack now being investigated as a hate crime. Rhetoric describing an entire religious community as inherently violent and incompatible with America does not stay confined to a convention hall stage.
Hussein left Houston still unsure what his politics look like going forward, but certain of what he witnessed.
“How can I possibly get behind a party that tells me to leave, that says convert or leave?” he asked.
A party that told loyal Republican voters, who pray daily and have voted GOP for decades, that there is no place for them in America is not building unity. It is choosing exclusion over its own members.
Ha ha! These Muslim Republicans are so dumb, they drank the Kool-Aid. And they have not figured out how the U.S. works even after the Thug Party threw them out. Maybe they really ARE too stupid to live here.