Journalist blasts Mike Pompeo and exposes the media's refusal to cover his Islamophobic bigotry

Mehdi Hasan is not afraid to speak his mind, and the British journalist takes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to task for his anti-Islam views in a blistering piece for The Intercept.

Pompeo, Hasan stresses, has shown a “well documented bigotry toward Islam and Muslims.” And Hasan (who moved to Washington, D.C. in 2015) cites some examples.

Pompeo, Hasan writes, has been quick to “boost” ACT for America and its organizer, Brigitte Gabriel, even though she has said that a practicing Muslim “cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America” — and even though the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has described ACT for America as “the largest grassroots anti-Muslim organization in the country.”

According to Hasan, Pompeo has also had a friendly relationship with the far-right Center for Security Policy (CSP) and appeared on its program, “Secure Freedom Radio,” 18 times between 2014 and 2016. CSP, Hasan notes, has been described as a hate group by the SPLC — and its leader, Frank Gaffney, Hasan adds, “has suggested that former President Barack Obama is a secret Muslim.”

Hasan says of Pompeo, “Should we be surprised? Islamophobia was rampant in the Republican Party even before the election of (President Donald) Trump. Anti-Muslim bigotry, in fact, is what unites far-right parties across the West.”

But even though Pompeo has a history of associating with extremists, Hasan stresses, the mainstream media give him a pass.

“Despite his own shocking track record,” Hasan writes, “(Pompeo) has ascended to one of the most powerful jobs in the U.S. government. Despite his bigoted statements and Islamophobic associations, he continues to be the subject of profiles in the liberal press that make no mention of said bigotry or Islamophobia.”