From H.A. Hellyer, Atlantic Council: "The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) at its origin in 1928 Egypt was the politicisation of a certain type of Muslim modernism, “Modernist Salafism,” which strongly influenced Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. Both the movement of ‘Modernist Salafism,’ and al-Banna himself, were deeply controversial within the wider Muslim religious establishments of their day. To blithely describe either as simply ‘political Islam’ is to reduce all expressions of Islam in the public arena to this Brotherhood type of Islamism, and also imbues both ‘Modernist Salafism’ and the Brotherhood with a religious authenticity that was disputed by the religious establishment of their day."
William McCants and Benjamin Wittes writes: Here’s a dirty little secret: the U.S. government hasn’t been wildly under-designating foreign terrorist groups over the past two administrations. If a group isn’t designated, it’s probably not because the last president, and the one before that, were surrounded cabals of Brotherhood sympathizers. The simpler explanation is closer to the truth: the law won’t support the action Trump and his supporters are itching to take. – Brookings Institution