What is it with Republicans in Tennessee? Lou Ann Zelenik, who is standing as a Republican candidate for Congress in Tennessee’s 6th District, has just denounced the plan to build a new Islamic centre in Murfreesboro as part of “a political movement designed to fracture the moral and political foundation of Middle Tennessee”. Another Republican candidate, Vijay Kumar, who has in the past been boosted by David Horowitz’s FrontPage Magazine, is standing in Tennessee’s 5th District – under the slogan “Defeat Universal Jihad Now!”.

In a recent interview, Kumar explained:

“My position is clear and unequivocal: Islam’s Universal Jihad and Sharia law pose a clear and present existential threat to the very existence of the United States, and to every liberty, freedom, and human right that this nation was founded upon.

“… if the American people do not awake to the nature and seriousness of this threat, if we do not take swift and effective action to protect our republic from it, if we do not openly and candidly name the enemies of freedom and human liberty – in short, if Islam is allowed to realize its goals – then one day there will be no 5th District of Tennessee, nor will there be any Tennessee, nor will there be a United States of America, and the Quran will be the only constitution ruling this land that we cherish.”