They were articulate, charming and exceptionally gifted.
But not everyone was immediately enchanted by the dark-haired foreigners in single-breasted suits and skinny ties.
Many Americans, especially the older adults accustomed to pushing their staid preferences onto the masses, reacted with blatant hostility, seething over the frenzied adoration that followed the newcomers wherever they went.
An acclaimed TV host called the foursome “the most repulsive group of men I’ve ever seen.”
A few years later, a legendary icon who no longer excited the youth went to the Oval Office to warn the president that these men “promoted an anti-American spirit.”
The Beatles are no longer the enemy for the pearl-clutching peanut gallery.
They’ve been replaced by young goateed American Muslim men who are challenging and subverting political norms.
And like the past-his-prime Elvis running to Richard Nixon to rebuke the Liverpudlians and “Communist brainwashing,” the usual right-wing suspects and many centrist Democrats are ringing the alarm bells over the Brown men while the orange man in the White House sets the country on fire.
“Every single Muslim holding public office in America is a Trojan horse, and a threat to both national security and our republic,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C, posted on X after Abdul El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary less than two weeks ago.
It didn’t take long for the president to weigh in.
“Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social last weekend next to a picture of himself and Melania Trump and another photo of El-Sayed, and his wife, Sarah Jukaku, wearing a hijab.
Who knew Trump could multitask so seamlessly, flexing his xenophobic talents with his ineptitude for proper grammar?
I don’t want to diminish the rampant Islamophobia and death threats that have hounded Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and other Muslim politicians.
I’m also well aware that it is open season for all progressive candidates of any race or religion who champion affordability and denounce corporations, the billionaire class and military aid to Israel.
But there’s no denying the uncs and Karens across the United States have been spiraling ever since Zohran Mamdani was elected New York City mayor last year.
The $40 million Wall Street CEOs, super PACs and business leaders put up in an effort to keep the democratic socialist from ascending didn’t pay off.
Neither did the $60 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other special-interest groups intended to sink El-Sayed.
To paraphrase Paul McCartney, money can’t buy you love. Authenticity does. So does the ability to instill hope for economic equity and global justice.
Messages strike a chord
Mamdani and El-Sayed’s intelligence and eloquence resonate with voters who are barely making ends meet while watching Congress cut checks for bombs used to kill mostly Middle Eastern Muslims overseas.
The stereotypes of the dour, sexist and violent Muslim man don’t fit, threatening some of the same Americans who freaked out nearly 20 years ago when a dynamic Black man walked into the White House.
As El-Sayed campaigns against his Republican opponent Mike Rogers, he has been and will continually be urged to condemn Hasan Piker, the brash, popular Muslim left-wing Twitch streamer who stumped for El-Sayed at previous events.
The scenario should sound familiar. In 2008, Barack Obama, then in a presidential primary battle with Hillary Clinton, was pressured to cut ties with his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, after video recordings of Wright’s years-old sermons surfaced.
Wright berated U.S. foreign policy and systemic racism in the clips.
“You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you,” Wright later said, defending a particular sermon where he said the 9/11 attacks were a consequence of America’s past actions halfway around the world.
Seven years ago, Piker made a similar Sept. 11-related comment, which he has since apologized for, along with some of his other incendiary takes.
“It was a dumb statement,” El-Sayed said during a recent appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
“And, of course, I think Hasan, himself, would say that was a dumb statement. He disavowed it.”
I doubt that will satisfy the crowd that is quick to slap the “antisemitic” label on El-Sayed, Mamdani and Piker for their Palestinian rights advocacy.
Mind you, many of these same critics barely raise an eyebrow when elected officials openly denigrate Muslims or hobnob with right-wing influencers.
Double standards still exist.
The green-eyed monster also remains a constant.
Throwing it back to 2008 again, when Clinton wept on the campaign trail, the Rev. Michael Pfleger joked that she was distraught by Obama upstaging her.
“I’m white! I’m entitled! There’s a Black man stealing my show!” the longtime pastor of St. Sabina Church exclaimed, imitating a fictitious Clinton.
Pfleger was playing for laughs. But he perfectly captures some Americans’ meltdowns watching the rise of charismatic Muslim politicians.
I guess if they can’t get their way, they’ll cry instead.
Rummana Hussain is a columnist and leads the opinion coverage at the Sun-Times.