Meet Asra Nomani: The Muslim immigrant and lifelong liberal who secretly voted for Donald Trump. Picture: CNN.
MEET Asra Nomani: The Muslim immigrant and lifelong liberal who secretly voted for Donald Trump.
“He’s indelicate. We got that. But he expresses a truth that people speak,” she said in an interview with CNN on Friday.
The former Wall Street Journal reporter has been getting blasted on social media after she wrote a column for the Washington Post on Thursday outlining why she supported the billionaire, reports the New York Post.
“This is my confession — and explanation: I — a 51-year-old, a Muslim, an immigrant woman “of colour” — am one of those silent voters for Donald Trump. And I’m not a “bigot,” “racist,” “chauvinist” or “white supremacist,” as Trump voters are being called, nor part of some ‘whitewash,” Nomani explained in her column.
.@AsraNomani is an immigrant, a Muslim and a life-long liberal. She also voted for Trump. https://t.co/Y8kRQ0ROiI pic.twitter.com/TJpY6LMABi
— CNN (@CNN) November 11, 2016
“I most certainly reject the trifecta of hatred/division/ignorance. I support the Democratic Party’s position on abortion, same-sex marriage and climate change. But I am a single mother who can’t afford health insurance under Obamacare … Finally, as a liberal Muslim who has experienced, first-hand, Islamic extremism in this world, I have been opposed to the decision by President Obama and the Democratic Party to tap dance around the Islam in Islamic State.”
While Nomani did note that “Trump’s rhetoric has been far more than indelicate and folks can have policy differences with his recommendations,” she said she felt his beliefs had “been exaggerated and demonised by the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, their media channels.”
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally in New York. Picture: AP.Source:AP
“The issue that most worries me as a human being on this earth: extremist Islam of the kind that has spilt blood from the hallways of the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai to the dance floor of the Pulse nightclub in Orlando,” Nomani wrote. “We have to stand up with moral courage against not just hate against Muslims, but hate by Muslims, so that everyone can live with sukhun, or peace of mind.”
Nomani, who is co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement, told CNN that her words ultimately sparked outrage among her own peers — whom she dubbed the “liberal honour brigade.”
“You know, I felt like this entire election year, we have just silenced so many people,” Nomani said. “Even now the idea of speaking out as somebody who voted for Trump is earning me all sorts of lovely labels like idiot and f***** and all these other ideas that I think violate liberal values of free speech and self-determination. So I spoke out because I also believe we have to stand up for the dignity of all people and Trump voters are human beings, too.”
In this Nov. 10, 2016, photo, President-elect Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Picture: AP.Source:AP
Nomani doubled down on her beliefs Friday, saying the “very real and serious threat by extremist Muslims” was something Americans shouldn’t ignore.
“This is a reality that we haven’t confronted directly for the sake of political correctness,” she said. “If people would hear out the concerns and fears that others have about the issues to refugees and extremists, I think we could find a path that’s in the middle. But unfortunately, what happens is that this liberal honour brigade shuts down all conversation, calls you bigot or racist or Islamophobe if you dare to speak your own concerns.”
When asked about Trump’s threats to impose a ban on Muslims, Nomani claimed she felt the country needed to find a “middle path.”
“I believe that the left must move to the middle, the right must move to the middle,” she said. “Then we are going to come up with actually healthy solutions that protect national security as well as human rights.”
This story first appeared in the New York Post.