If you thought the hateful rhetoric from the United States Republican Party candidates could get no worse, Tuesday’s Belgium attacks are sure to up the ante.

The horrific acts in Brussels claimed the lives of 34 innocents, and left hundreds more injured, reigniting fear of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) radicalisation, only five months after the terror network claimed responsibility of the Paris attacks.

However, what the world saw as an immeasurable tragedy, leading Republican candidates pounced on as an invaluable opportunity – namely, an opportunity to not only advance the Islamophobic slander that drives up ratings and delivers voters.

But, more dangerously, intensifying such rhetoric only emboldens extremists in their camps and arms ISIL militants with the propaganda needed to advance their apocalyptic vision – in Belgium, the United States, and beyond.