WATCH: Zohran Mamdani says anti-Muslim rhetoric is ‘endemic' to our politics

While rhetoric disparaging Islam and Muslims is not new, “there's an unabashed nature to it” right now, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani told PBS News in an interview airing Friday.

“It is being echoed from the highest offices in this country,” he said in an exclusive interview with PBS News Hour co-anchor Amna Nawaz. “They do so without any sense of shame.”

Mamdani reacted to comments from Republican members of Congress in the aftermath of the U.S-Israel war in Iran and recent attacks at a Detroit-area synagogue and a Virginia university. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said earlier this month that “Muslims don't belong in American society” and “pluralism is a lie.” Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., called for “more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational,” while Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., has also proposed “no more Islamic immigration.”

Mamdani, the first Muslim to serve as New York City’s chief executive, noted that “there are very few who speak up in opposition to” the Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry that is prevalent in the nation.

“It is not exclusive to any one political party,” he said. “It is endemic, frankly, to our politics.”

The mayor noted that he has “incredible” NYPD officers who keep him safe.

“My fear, frankly, is for those whose names we do not know, whose professions we do not know, who are seen and understood to be Muslim and will be attacked for it,” Mamdani said. “And, they will not have the protections that I do.”

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