It cannot be a considered a win that Republicans in Texas rejected an attempt to oust one of their own officials simply because he’s a Muslim. Dr. Shahid Shafi, a trauma surgeon and vice chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, survived a bid by a faction of precinct chairs who wanted to remove him because of his religion.
The motion to oust him failed Thursday night in a 49-139 vote. But no one gets applause for rejecting outright bigotry. Upholding our country’s foundational principles of religious freedom and equality is the starting point for any public official — not a high bar. The larger question for the Republican Party is: How did it get this far?
Shafi was appointed to his position by the party’s chairman. He had to defend himself against baseless smears that he preferred Islamic law over U.S. law, and accusations questioning his loyalty to his country.
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Dorrie O’Brien, one of the precinct chairs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area leading the charge to recall Shafi, wrote in a Facebook post: “We don’t think he’s suitable as a practicing Muslim to be vice chair because he’d be the representative for ALL Republicans in Tarrant County, and not ALL Republicans in Tarrant County think Islam is safe or acceptable in the U.S., in Tarrant County, and in the TCGOP.”
Many Republican leaders across the state, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, denounced the bigoted attacks targeting Shafi. Cruz urged his fellow party members in Tarrant County to think twice about the message Thursday’s vote would send.
The timing was particularly precarious, coming on the same day Cruz joined President Donald Trump on a visit to the Texas border city of McAllen to defend the government shutdown over Trump’s insistence on funding for a border wall. It left Cruz arguing, on one hand, against religious bigotry while, on the other, defending a wall that symbolizes ethnic bigotry.
Cruz wrote online, “The Party of Lincoln should welcome everybody & celebrate Liberty.” Saying those words and putting them into practice are two different things. Words are cheap. Actions carry value.
This should be a moment of soul searching for the Republican Party. Every Republican leader needs to take a hard look at the party’s direction and the type of people rising through its leadership.
Rank-and-file Republicans aren’t getting anti-immigrant or anti-Islamic ideas from nowhere. They pay attention to the speeches and policy pronouncements of the president. They take note when prominent politicians like Cruz stand in support rather than challenge Trump when they know he’s wrong.
When bigoted attitudes translate into party actions that defy this country’s most basic principles of freedom and equality, there’s a problem. And it’s a problem bigger than a single county in Texas.