Radio host Dean Obeidallah told MSNBC on Monday said that he was not surprised that President Donald Trump has refused to condemn an attack on a mosque in Minnesota.
On Sunday, FBI experts blamed an improvised explosive device for an explosion that rocked Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Gov. Mark Dayton (D) called the attack an act of terrorism on Monday.
"Does it surprise you and does it matter that the president hasn't chimed in?" MSNBC host Ali Velshi asked Obeidallah, who is Muslim, during an interview on Monday.
"I don't expect Donald Trump to stand up for the American Muslim community," Obeidallah concede. "This is a man who campaigned in ways we never saw -- demonizing our community, saying, 'Islam hates us.'"
"He demonized our community where what we're seeing today, the climate we live in, is thanks to a man named Donald J. Trump who is president of the United States," he continued. "I don't expect him to stand up for us. Our community feels very alone. And not only alone. We feel like we have a president who demonizes us to win votes, doesn't care about us."
Obeidallah pointed out that Trump's presidency was a "time of fear" for American Muslims.
"Just a week ago, another Muslim cemetery in the Minneapolis suburbs was vandalized with swastikas, graffiti," Obeidallah noted. "Since January, we've had five mosques burned down by arson."
"We've had swastikas written on mosques. We've had the word Trump painted on mosques in New Jersey, Iowa and New York," he added. "For some, the word 'Trump' is becoming a modern day swastika. I'm not saying Donald Trump wants that."
Watch the video below from MSNBC.
