The Trump administration is reportedly pushing to issue an order that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a “foreign terrorist organization,” which would bring the weight of U.S. sanctions against a diverse political movement with millions of members — despite the group publicly disavowing violence nearly 50 years ago.
That’s been a goal of many anti-Muslim activists and professional Islamophobes for years. The government has never gone along with the push to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, largely because intelligence officials and outside analysts agree that the group simply isn’t one. But the difference now is that Donald Trump is in the White House, and bashing Muslims without regard for the possible consequences fits perfectly with his politics.