Islamic terrorism has been a problem for ages. Going back centuries, Islamic factions have engaged in behavior that fits the modern-day definition of terrorism. This predates the founding of America, and shortly after American independence, the Barbary States (Tripoli, Algiers, Tunis, Morocco) attacked and seized American ships. Envoy Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman. In a report to Secretary of State John Jay, Jefferson and Adams said, "The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise."
So this is a problem with Islam, not America. But guess who Abdul El-Sayed blamed for current-day Islamic terrorism?
That's right: the U.S.
Abdul El-Sayed blamed the U.S. for "creating" terrorism.
— Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) August 23, 2026
"There is a level of pain and frustration and a level of lack of agency that they have to feel to do something so insane and absurd." pic.twitter.com/g7rqNWR0X2
"I think the approach that we've often taken with terrorism is to figure out how to leverage the might of the U.S. military. To go in and root out certain terrorist organizations, etc. And where that's necessary, that's necessary, but I also think we need to be curious about why those things happen in the first place. What drives somebody to commit such a heinous act?" El-Sayed said.
"I have to be a student of people's pain," he continued. "What happens when people are in pain. And I think that part of what we have to understand is that sometimes when we move, we create so much collateral damage because too often we have been on the wrong side of our own policies."
"But I think we have to make sure that when we say there's a rules-based international order, that we are the principal follower of the rules, not just the principal enforcer," El-Sayed added. "There is a level of pain and frustration and a level of lack of agency that they have to feel to do something so insane and absurd. I've often tried to ask what moves somebody into that and how it is that we're behaving that may get somebody to think that we don't see them, and that's creating pain."
America is 250 years old. Our first war was fighting against Islamic terrorism. Which had an 1150 year history by then. America is not the cause of Islamic terrorism. Islam is the cause. pic.twitter.com/57w5MfLoeu
— The Cunning Linguist (@TafkaTrap) August 24, 2026
Exactly this.
This is a lie. The reason ideological terror is conducted is due to spiritual commitment. Studies from 2003 on show this.
— 💥heymikey80💥 (@heymikey80) August 24, 2026
9/11 terrorists werent repressed, nor even poor. They were ideologues.
Sounds like all communists, really.
We are now at the point where they are blaming Islamic terrorism on America with a full chest.
— Angela Van Der Pluym (@anjewla90) August 23, 2026
Islamic terrorism has been around for 1400 years In many forms. America has been a country for 250 years. https://t.co/zgtdT3nlhM
The blame is the point. Speaking of lack of agency.
Gaza Playbook. https://t.co/g5FEKzLYMa
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 23, 2026
That's exactly what this is.
Islamic terrorism predates America, and if America disappeared tomorrow, Islamic terrorism would still exist. Who would El-Sayed blame then?
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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