Frank Gaffney, notorious figurehead of the organized Islamophobia movement, will be hosting another one of his “National Security Action Summits” in Iowa on May 16 where he will bring together a variety of far-Right activists, elected officials, and 2016 presidential hopefuls.
The summit, scheduled to take place at Point of Grace Church in Waukee, is being co-sponsored by Gaffney’s organization the Center for Security Policy in collaboration with High Frontier and The Family Leadership Foundation.
Gaffney is a former assistant Secretary of Defense for the Reagan Administration. Although nowadays, he and his organization are committed to spreading an anti-Muslim agenda based on uncorroborated conspiracy theories.
According to the summit’s webpage, it will focus on several “topics of interest to both our nation and the state of Iowa.” Among those topics are “the threat from Iran, Shariah, and the global jihad movement” and “Border insecurity and illegal immigration.” Such topics, of course, are representative of Gaffney’s greater goal to cultivate fear and suspicion of Muslims and immigrants.
In fact, Gaffney’s group co-sponsored a similar summit last month in South Carolina which addressed almost the exact same topics and also featured a couple of presidential candidates. As predicted, egregious rhetoric directed toward Muslims was also prevalent.
But Gaffney’s history and agenda hasn’t deterred those seeking the Republican presidential nomination from attending his Iowa event. Presidential candidate Rick Santorum is one of those scheduled to speak at the summit. Santorum was one of the speakers during Gaffney’s South Carolina event and clearly shows no remorse for attaching his name to these events.
Others still expected to put in their 2016 presidential candidacies are also scheduled to attend the summit. Dr. Ben Carson and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal are advertised to make an appearance. Jindal, like Santorum, is also no stranger to appearing alongside Gaffney and his ilk.
This event is taking place in Iowa, so it comes as no surprise that anti-immigrant Rep. Steve King is scheduled to turn up. Aside from taking place in his home state, it should be expected that King would participate in such an event given his ongoing ties to groups making up both the organized Islamophobia and anti-immigrant movements.
It seems no coincidence that Gaffney’s Iowa destination is one of the key Republican primary states. Hosting “National Security Action Summits” in these states seemingly helps all parties involved. Gaffney can inject his anti-Muslim agenda into the greater national security debate while the presidential hopefuls can court his followers and solicit their vote.
It’s just a shame those already holding office and POTUS hopefuls continue to ignore Gaffney’s anti-Muslim fearmongering and continue to take him up on his invitations.