However, Tarrant did not have to look to the very top of the geopolitical food chain, and the United States, for inspiration. At home in Australia, right-winged conservative senator Fraser Anning placed the blame for the act of terror on Islam, the faith of the victims. “The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place,” Anning said to media only hours after the massacres. Anning then finished his absurd statement by adding untimely insult to unimaginable injury: “The truth is that Islam is not like any other faith. It is the religious equivalent of fascism. And just because the followers of this savage belief were not the killers in this instance, does not make them blameless.”

XREF: Connects to the broader interplay between far-right ideology and mainstream political discourse, echoing patterns in the 'great replacement' theories discussed throughout the book. DEFINE: Anning's 'religious equivalent of fascism' framing exemplifies how political rhetoric conflates an entire faith with ideological extremism.

Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamopho…, loc. 919