Trump's New State Department Spokesperson Is a Fox News Vet and a Virulent Islamophobe

On Monday, the Trump administration announced that former Fox News reporter Heather Nauert would become the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, essentially becoming one of the key voices with which the United States speaks to—and about—the rest of the world.

“Nauert comes to the Department with more than 15 years of experience as an anchor and correspondent covering both foreign and domestic news and events, including the 9-11 terror attacks, the war in Iraq, and the genocide in Darfur, Sudan,” a State Department press release said. “Heather’s media experience and long interest in international affairs will be invaluable as she conveys the Administration’s foreign policy priorities to the American people and the world.”

Nauert does have more than a decade of broadcast experience under her belt. It also probably didn’t hurt her job prospects that much of that experience contains instances of Islamophobia, racial blindness, and the kind of cheerleading for Trump himself that the president adores.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane.

In 2013, the St. Paul, MN, YMCA began hosting swim lessons for Muslim girls to spend time in the pool in ways that would accommodate their religious principles. Seems fine, right? For Nauert, the whole episode was a terrifying example of creeping Muslim extremism set to take over America any day now.

Proclaiming that “sharia law is now changing everything,” Nauret hosted a Fox news segment on the YMCA’s efforts at inclusion, ominously warning that “similar classes are now starting at towns across the Midwest.”