From Our Future
Economically, culturally, strategically, and morally, Donald Trump's obsessive efforts to ban Muslim immigrants and refugees from the United States have impoverished us all. His most recent attempt proves it.
Premeditated HateOn Tuesday, a federal judge in Hawaii partially blocked Trump's third attempt at a Muslim ban, saying that it failed to provide "sufficient findings" to support the argument that allowing immigration from six Muslim-majority nations would harm the United States.
The judge, Derrick K. Watson, cited a Trump campaign document that said, "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
On Wednesday a judge in Maryland issued a similar ruling, calling the Administration's actions "an inextricable re-animation of the twice-enjoined Muslim ban."
Trump's record is unambiguous. He has issued a long-running stream of ignorant and bigoted comments against Muslims, including:
"I think Islam hates us." (It does not.)
"We have a problem in this country; it's called Muslims. We know our current president (Obama) is one." (We do not. He is not.)
"I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down." (They did not.)
Candidate Trump said that he would not rule out creating a database of all Muslims in the country. He said he would expel all Syrian refugees, despite the fact that it was American military policy that made them refugees in the first place.
He said, "They could be ISIS, I don't know. This could be one of the great tactical ploys of all time. "Later he said, "This could make the Trojan horse look like peanuts."
If you say you're going to discriminate against all members of a certain religion, and then keep issuing travel bans that almost exclusively affect only members of that religion, it turns out that judges remember what you said, take you at your word, and conclude that's what you meant to do.
A Threat to SecurityTrump argues that his ban makes us safer, but a bipartisan group of national security officials filed an affidavit in response to his first attempt at a Muslim ban that said, in part...
"We view the Order as one that ultimately undermines the national security of the United States, rather than making us safer ... It could do long-term damage to our national security and foreign policy interests, endangering U.S. troops in the field and disrupting counterterrorism and national security partnerships. It will aid ISIL's propaganda effort and serve its recruitment message by feeding into the narrative that the United States is at war with Islam ... It will have a damaging humanitarian and economic impact on the lives and jobs of American citizens and residents."
Some of these officials oversaw highly aggressive and ill-advised military actions in the Middle East, as well as substantial intrusions into civil liberties at home. They are not predisposed to "give peace a chance," or to err on the side of privacy and other ideals. They may not be credible on every issue, but if they say Trump's ban makes us less safe, there's every reason to believe them.
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