Why the right turned on Indians
Today, Explained
This episode examines the surge of anti-Indian racism moving from online right-wing influencers into mainstream Republican politics. Writer Zed Jelani traces the phenomenon to viral
Key takeaways
- Beau French's viral tweet about UT Austin graduation photos sparked right-wing backlash against Indian American students.
- Online influencers like Nick Fuentes and Jack Posobiec have normalized anti-Indian rhetoric, pressuring establishment Republicans to soften their stance.
Main topics
- Anti-Indian racism on the right
- H-1B visa policy shifts
Notable quotes
I see no problem with this tweet because Indians have not found Texas.
Conclusion
The episode underscores how digital nativism is rapidly translating into tangible
Transcript preview
Speaker 3 (0:00) At a campaign event in Ohio over the weekend, Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor, tried to pick up a child who was standing next to him on stage, and he fumbled him. He almost dropped the kid. There you go. Big guy. Speaker 3 (0:15) For me, watching at home, this was hilarious. For a politician, a passing embarrassment easy enough to explain. Speaker 1 (0:21) I think anyone who's a parent has had that experience. I mean, the kid, not to fat shame the kid, but he was a little chunky. Speaker 3 (0:27) Afterward, Ramaswamy posted a cute picture of himself holding one of his own kids. And the response online was swift and deranged. Posters questioned Ramaswamy's manhood, his American-ness. They said ugly things about his Indian heritage. The Speaker 1 (0:41) people who had negative stereotypes about Indians in their minds said, hey, look, the guy can't even pick up a kid. Look how much of a weakling he is. He can't even act like a normal American family man. On Speaker 3 (0:51) Today Explained from Vox, there's a growing strain of anti-Indian racism coming from the online right, and now it's moving offline. Support for Today Explained comes from BetterHelp. If you thought about trying therapy with BetterHelp, insurance options may now be available nationwide with an average copay for eligible members of $23 per session. If you've been waiting to start therapy, BetterHelp works with more than 125 health plan networks and eligible members have an average copay of just $23 per session with insurance. Don't have insurance or don't live in the United States, you can still get 10 % off your first month. Visit betterhelp.com slash explain to explore. or payment options. That's betterhelp.com slash explained. Speaker 1 (1:34) This is Today Explained. Speaker 1 (1:39) I'm Zed Jelani, and I'm a freelance journalist based outside Atlanta, Georgia. You Speaker 3 (1:43) have got a piece coming out on Vox.com about... increasing racism toward Indian Americans and Indian immigrants in the U.S. The piece starts with Beau French, a gentleman who's running for Texas Railroad Commissioner. Speaker 4 (1:57) I have been the tip of the spear in fighting woke DEI and the radical communist ideology that has infiltrated our universities. Speaker 3 (2:04) And a tweet that he did a few weeks ago. Why did you start there? Tell me about that. Speaker 1 (2:10) Yeah, look, anyone who follows college football can tell you that that was supposed to be an amazing Saturday for the Texas Longhorns, who were the team from UT Austin, which is kind of the flagship school in Texas, flagship public university. They had a come-from-behind victory against Ohio State. In Speaker 2 (2:27) the I formation. He's got it. Dives! Speaker 1 (2:33) Their fan base, not only in Texas, but around the country was cheering. They were exuberant, right? And so the Longhorns' social media account actually posted a few different reaction images from folks in the stadium. Everyone, of course, was just cheering their team on. They were just so happy to see the Longhorns have that come from behind victory. They posted a video of a section of the crowd that included a lot of Asian Americans, particularly South Asians, right? People from India. Pakistan-Bangladesh, right? Now, Beau French, who I think in many ways is a very obscure politician, right? He's running for railroad commissioner in Texas. That's a position that's generally down ballot, down ticket, although it's fairly powerful. It regulates the energy sector, oil and gas in Texas. You know, Beau French posted a response to that video, basically exclaiming that this was a nightmare, you know, a calamity for the University of Texas. It has so many Indian students now, right? I Speaker 4 (3:32) heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn't believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined. Speaker 1 (3:46) Now, French has been someone who over the years has targeted all kinds of minority groups, right? He's very anti-Muslim, for instance. He's always talking about immigration. In fact, if you go through his social media, he barely talks about the actual position he's running for. But this tweet actually went viral. And what you found was that it was actually quite polarizing in right-wing social media space, right? He did get some backlash from some Republicans who found it inappropriate, but actually a lot of right-wing influencers. took his side and started talking about how there's too many Indian Americans at the universities in Texas and just too many Indian Americans in total. I see no problem with this tweet because Indians have not found Texas. Texas culture has a right to exist as well. Why Speaker 4 (4:29) shouldn't he bring up these issues that are affecting Texans? Why shouldn't the people of Texas have the ability to put this on the ballot and have their voices heard over who is coming into their university system? For Speaker 1 (4:40) a lot of people, this was the first time that a lot of this rising prejudice actually came into view. Speaker 3 (4:45) As you point out, there is a certain type of Republican that was quite upset by what Beau French did. And I'm thinking of Karl Rove, who came out and said after the tweet, I'm going to vote Democrat. Speaker 2 (4:55) My party is being infiltrated by people like Beau French. But Speaker 3 (5:00) Karl Rove is not the online right, right? So who are the bold-faced names in the online right who are sort of spreading this anti-Indian messaging and hatred? Speaker 1 (5:10) Grover was a Bush Republican, right? And under George W. Bush, the right certainly had their animus about illegal immigration, unauthorized and documented immigration. But they generally speaking believe that if you did things the right way, you should be allowed to take a shot at the American dream. That's something that Ronald Reagan believed in, something that George H.W. Bush believed in. But it's starting to change now, right? And so a lot of what we're seeing is people on sort of the younger online right. I'm talking about Turning Point USA. Speaker 4 (5:34) So this is one of the ways that the culture is changing up here. You have multiple Hindu temples all over the DFW area. Speaker 1 (5:40) The late Charlie Kirk, you know, Blaze TV. Speaker 4 (5:43) If you Speaker 3 (5:43) thought Somalian daycare fraud was a problem, it turns out that's just the tip of the iceberg. The Speaker 1 (5:48) influencers like Jack Posobiec, some of the more extreme influencers like Jake Lang. The Speaker 2 (5:53) Hindus and the Muslims are teaming up to take over Texas. Speaker 1 (5:57) Certainly Nick Fuentes, who is a kind of extreme podcaster who has long given Vice President J.D. Vance grief for marrying the daughter of Indian American immigrants, right? J Speaker 4 (6:07) .D. Vance is fat and ugly and has an Indian wife who is the daughter of immigrants and his kids are all brown. Speaker 1