Both Sides

That there are some racists (yes, everywhere, in all parties) is not surprising. I'm sure even on Team D women and minorities find certain "inexplicable" barriers to obtaining positions in leadership. What you won't find are multiple people in concert who think it's a perfectly acceptable reason to state publicly (and, I think, in most cases, even to themselves, though that kind of denial isn't exactly admirable either).

“The only reason she had was because he was a Muslim,” Easton told The Washington Post. “That was the only reason she gave.”

Since then, that precinct chairwoman, Dorrie O’Brien, and a small group of her supporters have put forth a formal motion to remove Shafi as vice chairman because of his religion, a motion that is slated for a vote Jan. 10. To Easton, who opposes the measure, the move is an embarrassment to the Republican Party. And to Shafi, it amounts to exactly what he believed did not exist in the United States when he arrived here 28 years ago: a religious test.