The St. Louis Council on American-Islamic Relations is blaming Donald Trump for what they say is a rise of Islamophobia around the country.
The group’s St. Louis Director Faizan Syed is making the connection, after last week’s case of an Affton man accused of threatening a Muslim family with a gun.
“We live in a nation today where people like Trump, where people like the Republican GOP have mainstreamed Islamophobia,” Syed says. "(They) have made it O.K. It’s O.K. to take out a gun and threaten somebody.”
Syed says most Muslims have abandoned the Republican party. He says, generally, those under 30-years-old show an interest in Bernie Sanders, those over 30-year-old support Hilary Cliniton.
The group is hoping St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch will issue charges this week against that Affton man accused of threatening a Muslim family last week.