There is a hatred in America that still dares to speak its name — loudly, publicly, and without fear of consequence. It doesn’t hide behind euphemisms or coded language. It mocks, it smears and it flourishes in the open. That hatred is Islamophobia. Today, it remains one of the last socially and publicly acceptable forms of bigotry.

Muslims are a community that leading political figures can still slander on air, that journalists can frame as suspect by default, and that candidates can use as props in their culture-war campaigns without major consequences or jeopardizing their careers.

Recently, Andrew Cuomo, New York City mayoral candidate and the former governor of New York, went on conservative radio, and remarked, “God forbid, another 9/11, can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” referring to assemblymember and fellow New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. His host Sid Rosenberg responded, “He’d be cheering.” Cuomo chuckled and added, “That’s another problem.”

Two grown men, both long-time fixtures in New York’s media and political ecosystem, casually and publicly imagined a Muslim lawmaker “cheering” during a mass-casualty terror attack, simply because of his faith, and they treated it like small talk. The insinuation is vile and dehumanizing — that an elected official would celebrate the slaughter of his fellow New Yorkers just because........

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