Ted Cruz Is Right About the ‘Islamism’ Threat

By Noah Rothman

Friday, September 11, 2026

 

I got into a quarrel on the set of CNN’s NewsNight on Thursday over Senator Ted Cruz’s remarks at the GOP’s midterm convention. On this one, I’m on Team Cruz:

 

 

Here’s the controversial passage in Cruz’s speech, which one left-wing outlet branded a “bizarre bigoted rant”:

 

And on 9/11, could anyone have imagined that Comrade Mamdani would be the mayor of New York? The hate that killed Charlie Kirk, that knocked down the Twin Towers, that led to two assassination attempts on President Trump. It just keeps getting worse and worse.

 

We are witnessing a new and dangerous red-green alliance: communists and Islamists coming together and sweeping over the Democrat Party. They are united because they share the same enemies. They hate Christians. They hate Jews. They hate capitalism. They hate the Constitution, and they hate America.

 

“Islamism likewise produces murder and oppression,” Cruz continued, “from the forced wearing of hijabs to the stoning of rape victims. From the systematic murder of homosexuals to honor killings and the barbarism of October 7 and 9/11.”

 

He’s right, of course. There is a “red-green alliance” overtaking the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party’s DSA-adjacent figures do seem to despise America as it’s presently constituted. They’re not exactly shy about advertising their “hatred of the United States Constitution” — they certainly have unveiled contempt for its fundamentals, like the separation of powers.

 

It doesn’t do us any good to pretend that none of this is true, even if that risks offending the delicate sensibilities of those who find themselves attracted to socialism. My job isn’t to flatter their pretensions and assure them that their intentions are noble, even if those intentions might lead them astray. Rather, it’s to be blunt about the nature of the threat that the progressive left is incubating.

 

God bless Ted Cruz for doing just that.