Just like clockwork, following Tuesday’s ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New York City, the liberal media quickly painted American Muslims as the real victims. In a story published on NBCNews.com just hours after a jihadist used a rental truck to kill eight people and injure twelve others in lower Manhattan, reporter Chris Fuchs warned: “In the wake of Tuesday’s attack, some Muslim Americans and community leaders expressed concerns over how their religion would be perceived and whether Muslims would become targets of violence.”

The report quoted New Jersey doctor Umer Ahmad fretting: “My initial reaction was, obviously, concern and shock over what happened. And then, basically, I was wondering if it was a Muslim who did it....My biggest concern is that he's readily identified as a Muslim and then that is extrapolated out to my own faith.”

Muslim Democratic Club of New York board member Ali Najmi voiced similar concerns to NBC: “There has been a history of, sort of, blowback, and that’s obviously going to be something that people think about.”

The piece went on: “Ahmad, the physician, said he worried about backlash every time an attack like Tuesday's happens. But ‘I feel I'm more worried about what the response from political leadership would be,’ he said.”

Wrapping up the article, Fuchs again turned to Ahmad, who declared: “Get to know a Muslim in your community, and maybe then you might have a different opinion.” The assumption being that Americans have an anti-Muslim prejudice.

Before even knowing the identities of the actual victims of the attack, NBC was already sympathizing with the Muslim community about an imagined “backlash” that they may or may not encounter. Perhaps the suffering families of the dead and wounded should be the focus on a day of such brutal violence.