While Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have taken to shrugging off President Donald Trump’s tweeting as background noise, political leaders in other countries don’t have that luxury. Trump’s words, coming from the commander-in-chief of the world’s largest power, necessarily carry the force of official pronouncements. Thus, when Trump on Wednesday shared three Islamophobic tweets from the fascist group Britain First, he ignited a diplomatic row with one of America’s closest allies. “I’m very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do,” said Prime Minister Theresa May, denouncing Britain First as a “hateful organization.” Trump responded late Wednesday by insinuating that May is weak on terrorism:

.@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017

The imbroglio provoked the shadow foreign secretary, of the opposition Labour Party, to complain that Trump was “trying to humiliate and belittle” May. London Mayor Sadiq Khan and other notable public officials have called on May to rescind her invitation of a state visit to Trump.



But Trump’s recent tweets aren’t just damaging relations with the United Kingdom. They’re also harbingers of an intensification of Islamophobia as a foreign policy agenda, one that parallels his increasing attacks on prominent African Americans in the United States. With his presidency floundering, Trump may be trying to shore up his base with the issues that he thinks—rightly, perhaps—won him the election.

A potential shakeup of the foreign policy team would make Trump’s Islamophobia even more virulent and dangerous. Trump is reportedly planning on firing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and replacing him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, whose job, in turn, would go to Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. Though he’s gutted the State Department in an ill-conceived reform effort, Tillerson is also one of the most dovish members of Trump’s foreign policy team. He’s opposed to tearing up the Iran nuclear deal and has been an advocate for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with North Korea. By contrast, both Cotton and Pompeo are extreme hawks, especially on the Middle East.

As The Intercept’s Lee Fang has reported, Pompeo subscribes to the view that the war on terror is a holy war. Speaking at a church meeting in Wichita in 2014, Pompeo said that radical Muslims “abhor Christians and will continue to press against us until we make sure that we pray and stand and fight and make sure that we know that Jesus Christ is our savior is truly the only solution for our world.” At a 2015 event, Pompeo said that the Obama administration “concluded that America is better off with greater Iranian influence certainly in the Middle East, but I think around—certainly it’s tolerated around the world.” Pompeo has also aligned himself with prominent anti-Muslim activists, notably Frank Gaffney, a conspiracy theorist who believes the American government is riddled with Islamist sympathizers.