Tarrant County, Texas, GOP Chair Bo French asks if Jews or Muslims are America's 'bigger threat'

Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Jun 27, 2025

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Religious leaders and advocates were calling for the removal of Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French in response to a social media post they described as divisive and inflammatory.

French posted a poll Wednesday for his 28,000 followers on X to vote on whether they believed “Jews” or “Muslims” were the “bigger threat to America.”

In a statement published Friday, the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called French’s post “dangerous rhetoric that stigmatizes entire communities based on their faith and promotes hatred and religious intolerance.”

French said in a statement sent after publication of this article that “there is no greater threat than Islamic radicals.”

After blaming former President Joe Biden for letting “20 million illegal aliens” and questioning how many of them were “jihadists,” he criticized people who accused him of antisemitism and said they need to “wake up and look at the real threat.”

“While I appreciate CAIR denouncing me, America won’t rest until we rid our communities of an ideology that wants to conquer us,” he said.

In another post, French wrote: “It’s just a poll. But I get accused of being on different sides ... . My take is that radical islam wants to conquer us. You may not like jews, but to suggest they are a bigger threat to Americans is Jew Derangement Syndrome.”

Brian Zimmerman, a rabbi at Beth-El Congregation in Fort Worth, condemned French’s language, saying he hopes “any decent person of any faith, including Christians” would do the same.

“People are divided and in a great deal of pain and afraid for their safety, and we know we’ve seen it proven now that these words lead to violence,” he said in a phone interview Friday.

Zimmerman called for French to be removed from the head of the Tarrant County Republican Party if he does not take the post down and issue a public apology.

“If he believes that the many hard-working Jews and Muslims who have helped build this state are a threat, then he is not fit to serve,” he said, and also called on the Texas GOP to speak out against the rhetoric in the post.

The Republican Party of Texas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘It fuels suspicion and division’

The language used in French’s poll is “not only offensive — it’s dangerous,” said CAIR-Texas board member John Floyd.

“It fuels suspicion and division during a time when both Jewish and Muslim communities are facing heightened threats across the country,” he said. “We categorically reject this hate and fearmongering and call on elected leaders to cease normalizing bigotry.”

Shaimaa Zayan, an operations manager with the organization, said that framing the two groups as potential threats increases antisemitism and Islamophobia at a time when both are on the rise in the county.

“This shameful and irresponsible poll is a blatant act of antisemitic and Islamophobic bigotry,” she said. “We expect elected officials and politicians to foster unity and lead with wisdom, not to promote suspicion and division.”

French’s post also garnered condemnation from other users on X.

“As a Jew who has spent his entire adult life in Texas, GOP politics, and conservative activism, I’ve been blessed to know SO many faithful walkers on the path of Jesus who would be nauseated by this bigotry,” said a person with the handle @WacoYid. “I hope someone like them can lead you to repent.”

Another user going by the handle @evan7257 said, “I remember when explicit antisemitism like this was frowned upon in Texas politics.”

Others expressed their criticism by proposing additional candidates they felt should have been options in the poll, groups like “Christian nationalists,” “evangelicals” and “MAGA.”

Some commenters did not take umbrage with French’s language, preferring instead to make a case for which of the two options they supported.

French used a slur for people with intellectual disability at least twice in responding to comments on his poll.

As of Friday afternoon, the poll had garnered just under 900 votes and had been viewed almost 19,000 times.

In October 2024, French posted a poll on X asking: “If you believe Kamala’s policies are better for Americans than Trump’s policies, you are: Ignorant; a liar; retarded; gay.”

He took down the poll after several area Republicans criticized him for it.

French was elected chairman by the county’s Republican Party in October 2023.

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