I have done this before. I began my first vigil in 2008, appearing occasionally outside the White House. (See the image above this article.) I ended it in 2016, largely because Donald Trump’s attacks on Muslims during his presidential campaign gave me reason to be afraid. Those were followed, of course, by many anti-Muslim executive orders during his first term as president, and still more during his second term.

Nearly two months ago, Trump joined with Israel in launching devastating bombing attacks on Iran, a major Muslim country. More recently, over Easter weekend, Trump finally crossed my personal red line: He attacked Islam itself. Related Trump continues the “war on terror”: First Baghdad, now Tehran Many Arab and Muslim rulers are clearly afraid to criticize Trump, and apparently afraid to defend their own faith.

I may be a humble, elderly journalist, but I am not afraid. I plan to return to stand in front of the White House, alone and silent. I will raise above my head a banner that reads, “What is Islam?” and “What is Terrorism?” In smaller print, it will say: “I Will Be Here Until I Die!” Trump’s words and actions are no surprise.

Throughout his political career, he has frequently used inflammatory rhetoric toward Islam. During his first campaign, he issued an infamous press release that remains a cornerstone of this discussion: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” In a CNN interview early in the 2016 campaign, Trump said: “I think Islam hates us.

There’s something there — there’s a tremendous hatred there. We have to get to the bottom of it. There is an unbelievable hatred of us.” Throughout his first term, he criticized his predecessors for not using the specific terminology “radical Islamic terrorism.” That language is favored by many American conservatives who argue that the religion itself is inseparable from terrorism.

I plan to return to stand before the White House, alone and silent. I will raise above my head a banner that reads, “What is Islam?” and “What is Terrorism?” In smaller print, it will say: “I Will Be Here Until I Die!” Addressing a joint session of Congress during his first year as president, Trump declared: “We cannot let this evil continue. … We are going to defeat radical Islamic terrorism, just as we have defeated every threat we have faced in every age.” His remarks over Easter weekend arguably went much further. He criticized those he believes do not share “Western values,” explicitly linking religious identity to civilizational conflict: Happy Easter to all, except those who want to destroy our Country with their radical religions and ideologies.

We are a Christian nation, and we will not let Islam or any other force replace our heritage. It’s a Crusade for survival! As readers of Salon will no doubt remember, he went on to threaten Iran with both profanity and deeply offensive religious mockery: “Open the F**kin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH!

Praise be to Allah.” Muslim leaders in the U.S. were outraged, and condemned this attempt to weaponize the sacred phrase “Praise be to Allah” (Alhamdulillah, in Arabic) in a vulgar and threatening context. Many Christian leaders, to be fair, were also outraged that the president would stoop so low on the holiest day of the Christian year. We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon’s original commentary and analysis Then the floodgates opened, and inflammatory statements followed from other leading Republicans, starting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the public face of the devastating attacks on Iran.

While ending a Pentagon press briefing, Hegseth appealed directly to the public to pray for American troops in explicitly Christian terms: “To the American people, please pray for them every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.” Only days later, during the monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon — the first such service since the war with Iran began — Hegseth went further in attaching religious significance to the conflict. He recited a prayer that he said had been offered by a chaplain to U.S. troops before this year’s raid in Venezuela: “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation.” He concluded with an explicit invocation for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” Other Republicans have apparently felt liberated to express their bigotry.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., posted a split-screen photo on X juxtaposing the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center with an image of New York’s recently-elected mayo