Your points are well-expressed and well-taken.

I think we can agree that Roseanna and Amy are probably uninformed about Islam (compared to you, perhaps not compared to the typical voter). They have never heard of Robert Crane or Hergé. They would be aghast at the suggestion that Arabic numerals be taught in public school. There's a good chance they have never voyaged outside the country.

So it is indeed unfair of them to smear a world religion based on the single point that some adherents support Sharia law, without even asking if Ilhan Omar has a driver's license. I think they (and we) should ask whether Rep. Omar in her role as a lawmaker advocates policies that would make us say "that's not America."

I'd say that when person A narrows the culture, religion, and physical characteristics of person B down to the basest caricature, and then rejects person B based on that caricature, that's as good a definition of racism as one might need.

That works for me. Do Roseanna and Amy reject Ilhan Omar? They declined to chant "send her back" but only because Trump "apologized for that." Perhaps I am splitting hairs when I see a difference between the offensively rude "I don’t want her stinkin’ Muslim crap in my country" and "I don’t want her in my country." I offered Dr. Oz as an example of a Muslim I can imagine Roseanna and Amy fully embracing.

Appearances probably explain some of his success. I'm not comfortable trying to peer into Roseanna's mind to estimate how much the lack of melanin on Dr. Oz versus the lack of a hijab on Lisa Oz factors into Roseanna's opinion.

“I’m sick to death of it. I have 13 grandchildren⁠—13,” she continued. “Four of them are biracial, black and white; another two of them are black and white; and another two of them are Singapore and white. You think I’m a racist? I go and I give them kids kisses like nobody’s business.”

It is undeniable that the word "racist" riles people up. I was astonished to hear Roseanna say Trump apologized. I had to read news again to get the story. It seems clear to me that Trump is using the issue to great advantage. He doesn't have to hint at any connection between being black and rats in the city you represent; the outrage machine connects the dots for him, and reverse outrage redounds in his favor.

“He didn’t say nothing about the color of somebody’s skin,” Roseanna said.

This is a lot of analysis of some low-value comments from Roseanna and Amy. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, take their words at face value, and entertain the possibility that their primary motivation is to protect what they perceive as valuable cultural norms, because when another Amy speaks eloquently, without crude language, carefully pointing out the difficulty and awkwardness of speaking in favor of a culture when most people outside that culture happen to be "non-white," the response is even more hostile.