Who is Clare Lopez?
Clare Lopez is an anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist. Her Newsmax biography describes her as, “…the Founder/President of Lopez Liberty LLC, with a mission to alert Americans to national security threats, both international & from the Islamic Movement/Muslim Brotherhood & their Marxist/communist collaborators in this country.” Republican Presidential candidate E.W. Jackson listed her as his “National Security Advisor” in a press release. She is the former Vice President of Research at the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a D.C.-based anti-Muslim propaganda and think tank founded by Frank Gaffney.
The Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University asserts that Lopez “promotes falsified claims about Muslims in America, particularly the notion of a Muslim Brotherhood infiltration under President Obama.”
Anti-Muslim Activities
As a key figure in Center for Security Policy’s “Team B,” Lopez co-authored the Center’s “Shariah: The Threat To America.” The report asserts that the U.S. legal system is being infiltrated by those seeking to ‘establish sharia law,’ deems Islam as “totalitarian in character, incompatible with our Constitution, and a threat to freedom here and around the world.” The report alleges that “Muslims are obligated to conquer the West and replace its governments with an Islamic theocracy.”
Lopez has gone on record to allege that “80% of all American mosques promote extremism” and makes the unfounded claim of “no-go zones” for non-Muslims in Minneapolis. She spreads the baseless notion that female genital mutilation is obligatory for Muslims and asserts that the Quran is “replete with antisemitism.”
Lopez supported Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare, a 1950’s anti-communist witch hunt, calling it “absolutely… spot-on”, and has called for a similar campaign to investigate an alleged ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ infiltration of the U.S. government.
Lopez has made numerous hateful statements about the Islam and Muslims.
Lopez said President George W. Bush was “obviously confused and mistaken” when he referred to Islam as a religion of peace in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. She further alleged that Bush’s statement was due to the President’s alleged association with “Muslim Brotherhood agents of influence.”
Lopez claimed “ISIS is the purest expression of Islamic doctrine, law and scripture” and believes an attack on Christianity is the ultimate expression of Islam.
In 2013, Lopez told an audience, “When people in other bona fide religions follow their doctrines they become better people — Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Jews. When Muslims follow their doctrine, they become jihadists.”
Influence
Lopez collaborates closely with notorious anti-Muslim activist Frank Gaffney, the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy.
Lopez co-founded and served as executive director of the Iran Policy Committee, where she advocated for strip searches of Muslim men aged 18 to 28. Additionally, Lopez holds a senior fellowship at the Clarion Project, recognized for its production of anti-Muslim propaganda films.
Lopez writes for far-right publications like Breitbart, a site the has platformed anti-Muslim conspiracies. She is featured frequently on WorldNetDaily, an online outlet also known for platforming Islamophobes.
Lopez exerts significant influence within American politics and policy circles. Lopez advised Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign. Later that year, then President-elect Donald Trump shortlisted Lopez to assume a role in the White House as a national security advisor, with a former Trump advisor citing her repute as an “intellectual thought leader.”
