The politics of Islamophobia in the U.S. is inextricably linked with the “war on terror,” and yet, in the last few weeks, the world saw a rather strange constellation of events that may bewilder the uninformed observer. An immigrant-born Muslim who is a self-described Democratic Socialist was not supposed to win a mayoral election in New York under a Trump presidency. Neither is the emir of what was once considered the largest offshoot of Al Qaeda supposed to visit the White House under the same administration. Yet here we are, in 2025. Both of these previously inconceivable things have happened