Trump Shames America and Puts Us All in Greater Danger

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Coward-in-Chief Donald Trump has shamed America and made all of us less safe with his probably unconstitutional ban on certain refugees:

Mr. Trump’s order, enacted with the stroke of a pen on Friday afternoon, suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The September 11 terrorist attacks were mentioned several times in the order; note that none of the September 11 perpetrators were from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen. They were nearly all from Saudi Arabia; one guy was from the United Arab Emirates.

Oh, wait — Trump’s ban on Muslim immigrants excludes countries with ties to his businesses. Never mind.

Now, let’s look at the immediate effect of this ban:

President Trump’s executive order on immigration quickly reverberated through the United States and across the globe on Saturday, slamming the border shut for an Iranian scientist headed to a lab in Boston, an Iraqi who had worked as an interpreter for the United States Army, and a Syrian refugee family headed to a new life in Ohio, among countless others.

Around the nation, security officers at major international gateways had new rules to follow. Humanitarian organizations scrambled to cancel long-planned programs, delivering the bad news to families who were about to travel. Refugees who were airborne on flights when the order was signed were detained at airports.

At least one case quickly prompted a legal challenge as lawyers representing two Iraqi refugees held at Kennedy International Airport in New York filed a motion early Saturday seeking to have their clients released. They also filed a motion for class certification, in an effort to represent all refugees and other immigrants who they said were being unlawfully detained at ports of entry.

The  order bans people about to travel here who had already been vetted every which way from Sunday. The order bans people who already had been living in the U.S. on legal green cards who happened to be traveling out of the country when the ban went into effect:

A homeland security spokesman also said on Saturday that green card holders who effectively hold permanent US residency from the seven countries, will be included in the temporary ban.

Ali Abdi, an Iranian with permanent residency in the US, said the measure means he is now in limbo in Dubai. He says he can’t go to Iran because he has been outspoken about human rights violations there, can’t return to the US because of the visa bans, and can’t stay longer in Dubai as his visa will run out.

“I am an Iranian PhD student of anthropology in the US. Doing fieldwork is the defining method of our discipline,” he said. “I left New York on 22 January, two days after he was sworn in.

“Now in Dubai, I’m waiting for the issuance of my visa to enter Afghanistan to carry out the ethnographic research. The language of the racist executive order he just signed is ambiguous, but it is likely to prevent permanent residents like me from returning to the country where I am a student, where I have to defend my thesis.

“Meanwhile, it’s not yet clear whether the consulate of Afghanistan in Dubai would issue the visa I need in order to stay in Kabul for a year, and I cannot stay in Dubai for long or my UAE visa would expire. It’s not wise to go to Iran either,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “This is just one story among thousands.”

This ban was nothing but chest-thumping on Trump’s part. He was even stupid enough to say, out loud, in public, for the record,, that Christian refugees would be prioritized over Muslim refugees.

This was met from an immediate backlash — from Christians.

The announcement was met with immediate backlash from leaders of nearly every Christian denomination, along with those of other faiths. They argue that Trump’s actions do not reflect the teachings of the Bible, nor the traditions of the United States, and they have urged the president to let them get back to work—many of the country’s most prominent refugee resettlement organizations are faith-based.

The extremist right wing of American Christianity supports the ban, and the discrimination, of course, but they’ve already thrown Jesus and the Gospels under the bus to gain political power.

I also predict Trump’s chest-thumping will lead to an increase in violence aimed at Americans, including those serving in our military overseas.

Across the Muslim world, the refrain was resounding: President Trump’s freeze on refugee arrivals and visa requests from seven predominantly Muslim countries will have major diplomatic repercussions, worsen perceptions of Americans and offer a propaganda boost to the terrorist groups Mr. Trump says he is targeting. …

…“We don’t want them here,” Mr. Trump said as he signed the order at the Pentagon. “We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas.”

We don’t want who here? All Muslims? Is this s putting a big, fat “shoot me” sign on all Americans.

But in interviews with dozens of officials, analysts and ordinary citizens across Muslim-majority countries, there was overwhelming agreement that the order issued Friday signaled a provocation: a sign that the American president sees Islam itself as the problem.

“I think this is going to alienate the whole Muslim world,” said Mouwafak al-Rubaie, a lawmaker and former Iraqi national security adviser in Iraq.

“Terrorists can say, ‘See, their aim is not terror but Muslims,’ ” said Ilter Turan, a professor of international relations at Bilgi University in Istanbul.

Even George W. Bush wasn’t this stupid. He was careful to put out all kinds of signals that the U.S. had no enmity toward Islam, just terrorism.

Now, according to some of America’s most experienced veterans of Arab diplomacy, that important distinction has been compromised — and along with it America’s relationship with the very people it is seeking to befriend.

“The Islamic State says it is leading the war against the U.S.,” said Ryan C. Crocker, who served as the United States ambassador to five Muslim countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, between 1990 and 2012. “Now it only has to pump out our press releases to prove that.”

Mr. Trump’s executive order will alienate the pro-Western elites that Americans turn to for help in Muslim countries, Mr. Crocker said. And it broke promises to people who have risked their lives to help American soldiers or diplomats.

“You know, we can be cynical about these things, but values count,” Mr. Crocker said. “This is a core identity of ours that we are repudiating in a very callous fashion. What do we do — get a new inscription on the Statue of Liberty?”

It’s cowardly, I tell you, and it will make us less safe, not more safe.

Speaking of which — I’d heard the Coward-in-Chief had released a statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day that forgot to mention Jews.  So I went to the Whitehouse.gov website, following a google link, because I wanted to read the statement for myself. OMG — have you been there lately? He’s turned it into a campaign site for his movement/ego.

I was greeted by a popup asking me to join Trump’s movement and make America great again. Clicking past that, I was confronted by a video of Trump’s inauguration. He’s turned the White House website into some ghastly campaign site.

I finally did find the statement on the Holocaust, which did indeed fail to mention Jews. The last paragraph was just odd:

“In the name of the perished, I pledge to do everything in my power throughout my Presidency, and my life, to ensure that the forces of evil never again defeat the powers of good. Together, we will make love and tolerance prevalent throughout the world.”

And then the creep goes and signs an order banning Muslim refugees? Christians fleeing persecution must be given priority over Muslims fleeing persecution? This is a degree of self-obliviousness rarely seen on this planet.

Update: The Boston Marathon bombers were from Chechnya. One of the San Bernadino terrorists was from Pakistan, although the other was born in the U.S. of Pakistani parents. Am I missing something? Apparently not:

President Trump’s freeze on immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries cites the potential threat of terrorism. But here’s the twist — it doesn’t include any countries from which radicalized Muslims have actually killed Americans in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001.

The president’s executive action, which he signed Friday at the Pentagon, applies to these countries: Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Sudan.

Yet no Muslim extremist from any of these places has carried out a fatal attack in the U.S. in more than two decades.

In contrast, here are the countries of origin of radicalized Muslims who carried out deadly attacks in the U.S., beginning on Sept. 11, 2001: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Russia and Pakistan.

The two lists are completely distinct, raising all sorts of questions about the reasoning behind the White House plan.

I doubt “reasoning” was involved at all.

19 thoughts on “Trump Shames America and Puts Us All in Greater Danger”

  2. I told you he was mentally ill. “In the name of the perished”?

    He’s sick.. He’s out in orbit.

  3. It has been pointed out that many, I think it the most at present, refugees to the USA are coming from the Congo, which is majority Christian. But the order, to try to sound reasonable, says minority religions will be prioritized. This means non-Christians.

    These guys (after all, Trump didn’t write this himself; he’s too lazy and stupid to do that) are so incompetent they can’t even do bigotry well.

    This would be amusing, if we were immortal and invulnerable, and perhaps of an alien species, but really bad for an immense number of people. It also makes terrorist attacked more likely for a couple of reasons at least:

    1) a major goal of Islamic terrorist attacks has been to elicit a disproportionate response, which is likely with a Republican government, especially with Trump at the head of it.

    2) getting recruits from people who just got screwed over, whose whole families just got screwed over, is far easier.

  4. If Jesus was available for an interview, and was asked what he might have done to intervene for these poor Muslims, he might have said the following:
    “I called-up my Ol’ Dad, and I said, ‘Father, forgive t-RUMP what he does, for he is a stupid and ignorant douche-canoe, and deserves….
    AH, FUCK THIS ‘CHRISTIAN’ SHIT, POP’S!
    You were right all along!
    GO OLD-SCHOOL, MAN!
    AND SMITE HIM AND HIS MENTALLY/EMOTIONALLY/COGNITIVELY DEFICIENT-BACKWARDS LEMMINGS LIKE YOU’VE WANTED TO DO TO OTHER GROUPS OVER THE LAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS!!!

    Those, Chuck?
    No. They’re not Hellfire missiles.
    Those are Dad’s missiles firing from Hell!
    Call me for a statement tomorrow, when… well, you know… Dad’s ‘carnage’ is done.

    Ya missed one over there, Pop’s!
    It’s one of t-RUMP’s kids!
    Waddaya, gettin’ old, Dad?’

  5. I expect those with existing visas and green cards will be straightened out in a few days when a Federal judge somewhere issues a stay*. But people stuck in limbo escaping bad places? Lives are at risk.

    Trump is not only a horrible businessman, a pig, and dumber than a brick– he’s mentally ill. Caligula.

    *there will be hell to pay when this gets to court. It is reported some of the detained were not allowed access to their lawyers. Illegal detention right there.

  6. I think I’m starting to feel the effects of gaslighting..Only because I’m going to ask a stupid question that really isn’t stupid but with all the bullshit and lies that Trump has been tossing around I can’t determine whether my question is stupid or not.
    I just read that Trump has signed a directive giving the Pentagon 60 days to come up with a plan to defeat ISIS. So my question is: Didn’t Trump say during the primary that he had a plan to defeat ISIS, but wouldn’t divulge it to the American public because he didn’t want ISIS to know what his plan was? If he had a plan, then why would he need to ask the Pentagon to come up with a plan?

  10. It’s cowardly, I tell you, and it will make us less safe, not more safe.

    But the wingnuts love it.

    What I’m struck by are the photos of Trump sitting at his desk, holding the executive order in some sort of leatherette binder, showing it to the camera. Bill Maher talked about it in his monologue. This is what dictators look like. They sign edicts and proclamations and it’s a big deal and you are expected to follow. All Trump has to do is get the Congress out of the way, and all that’s needed for that is some major crisis, which Trump himself will likely create.

  11. It is amazing how historically challenged Republicans are…

    I’ve maintained for quite a while now that it is definitionally impossible to be both a Christian and a Republican.

    The only thing differentiating Trump from the Republican leadership is Trump does not hide behind politics to soften the blow of obviously stupid policies.

  12. “WASHINGTON — So now we’re getting the crazy straight up.
    The Doomsday Clock is ticking faster, the resistance is growing, and teetotaler Donald Trump already seems drunk with power.” Maureen Dowd, NYT

    Now that is a tough lead.  Animal farm is reported as topping best seller lists.  An acquaintance visiting Australia reported distress, with news reports internationally severe and critical of the United States.  Although tempted, he claims he has not yet identified as Canadian. 

    We will see how Christianity responds.  Some Christian groups will be tempted to support a priority position in governmental decisions.  It is fairly obvious that a deal is on the table for Christian priority with the exclusion of Muslims and Jews from the religious “elite”.  Ah, the old divide and conquer trick.  Just remember, the deal you get today is just step one.  The surviving groups or groups in this game is much smaller than this initial division.  When you go for the deal you go for the thirty pieces of silver.  Any group who does needs to be identified doing so must receive “moral guidance” from all.      

  13. “But the wingnuts love it.”

    I don’t think so. The wingnuts are, well, nuts but everybody knows someone with a green card. It’s one thing for Trump to be a monster in the abstract; it’s another when people in your neighborhood might start disappearing. I’m friends with an Iranian family. They are citizens, but right now family members from Iran who might want to come visit would be stopped at the airport. WTF? Are we Soviet Russia now?

  14. I think its safe to say that this had little if anything to do with national security, and everything to do with bigotry.

    I haven’t seen whitehouse.gov — I’m afraid to look at it; but it reads like a reflection of Trump’s approach to the Presidency, just a platform for settling scores, indulging the fears and hatreds of his ignorant supporters, and self enrichment.

    Its less than two weeks in. I don’t see how we make it a year with this administration.

  15. The coup d’etat is here. Bannon on NSC, head of jt chiefs and DNI are not. Obviously DT listens to garbage….

  16. I was an adult when Nixon claimed to have a secret plan to end the Vietnam war. I didn’t believe it then. And Nixon, amazingly, was far more trustworthy than Trump is.

  17. But the wingnuts love it.

    Sadly they do. All you have to do is read the comments on various news boards. These are people who by and large don’t travel anywhere, and so they don’t have foreign friends.

  18. let me see if I understand this — so, its safe to bring Islamic immigrants into the U.S. , but if we don’t let them in they’ll get pissed off and kill us…. that about it?

    • Karl — No, dear. Muslim (not “Islamic”) immigrants who have already been vetted up one side and down the other under regulations that existed at the end of the Obama Administration have not included any terrorists from the seven blocked nations. There’s no proof there’s a clear and present danger. (Try to grasp that most Muslims are not terrorists.) However, by apparently targeting Muslims for discrimination, Trump is handing ISIS and other terrorist organizations great recruiting talking points and inflaming anti-American sentiment in Muslim countries, thereby increasing the likelihood of retaliation, especially targeting Americans overseas. I trust that didn’t go over your head.

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