I guess it was only a matter of time:
BREAKING: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States pic.twitter.com/FJxRSrVE92
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) December 7, 2015
This is wild from start to finish, but a few quick questions:
1. To restate what’s become a frustratingly common question for Republican primary candidates: How, exactly, does one test for Muslim-ness? Is a ban on Muslim immigration, or any other broad-based religious test for entry into the United States, at all enforceable?
2. Trump says his ban will last “until our country’s representatives can figure out what’s going on.” What does that even mean? We have a pretty good idea of “what’s going on”: a small group of Muslims is waging a largely-ideological war on the premise that the West is hostile to Muslims writ-large. Donald Trump’s continued success spouting this kind of hate proves their point.
3. Admittedly a rhetorical questions, but isn’t the Center for Security Policy the opposite of a reliable source to cite? And is that not the same Center for Security Policy that’s run by professional Islamophobe Frank Gaffney, who is best-known for coining the phrase “creeping Sharia law”? And hasn’t that poll been widely discredited?
4. This:
Let's, for the moment, take Trump at his word. Should the NSA fire all Arabic and Urdu translators that are immigrants?
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) December 7, 2015
5. This:
Let's suppose I immigrate to America as a Christian but then convert to Islam. Do I have to go home under President Trump?
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) December 7, 2015
6. Aren’t your unprecedentedly extreme positions on immigration, among other things, the same kind of extreme positions that you declared to be too “inflammatory” and “controversial” to be taken seriously in presidential politics before you decided you wanted in on the two-party game?
From Buzzfeed:
Donald Trump, via lev radin / Shutterstock.com
Trump mentions [Pat] Buchanan more than 30 times in his 1999 campaign book, The America We Deserve.
“Pat Buchanan has been a columnist required to churn out unconventional and newsworthy views on a weekly basis,” wrote Trump. “Only late in his life did he decide to shift to electoral politics and seek the presidency. Simply put, Pat Buchanan has written too many inflammatory, outrageous, and controversial things to ever be elected president.”
…
Buchanan’s platform that year included a number of planks similar to Trump’s today: a trade protectionist attitude, anti-illegal immigration, isolationism, and anti-Washington corruption.
Trump further added that Buchanan’s views were “extremist,” he was a member of the “lunatic fringe” and his own Reform Party flirtation was a direct result of this.
7. Tell us again how you feel about religious freedom?
Update: Bonus question!
Waiting to hear back from the Trump campaign on this. pic.twitter.com/B4DUQgi6s9
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) December 7, 2015
I’m sure his supporters will point to Obama’s use of executive orders as precedent.
Note that Trump wants to stop everything until we figure out what the hell is going on. That’s the whiny pule of the kid who’s fallen behind and doesn’t want to put in the work to catch up with the rest of the class. Everyone stop until Donny can figure this principle out. The other kids just want to say, “Shut the fuck up, Donny,” but that isn’t polite.
Now Donny’s all growed up, a big-shot CEO, and like many another big-shot CEO, doesn’t bother with the details, that’s for the people under him. So, when the proposal comes out in the Big Meeting of what direction to take the company, the big-shot CEO doesn’t understand it, has no basis for understanding, and stops everything while we all take a side trip through “This is what we do” land.
If Donny doesn’t understand, that must mean that nobody understands, because Donny has anointed himself the smartest man in any room. And his fans love that, because they don’t understand a lot of stuff, either, and it’s comforting to know that their choice for leader is every bit as befogged as they are.
Not to mention the absurdity of refusing to permit any foreign politicians, diplomats, businesspeople, scientists, doctors, athletes, artists, actors, authors, journalists, etc to visit the US just because they are Muslim.
Now Trump thinks that he can order Bill Gates to “close up the Internet.” The writer of the article from The Verge states that “The idea is so dumb it almost has us, too, at a loss for words.” Go to the linked article below and watch the MSNBC video. It’s beyond belief.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/7/9869308/donald-trump-close-up-the-internet-bill-gates
Being all ass, he can pull them from anywhere.
Trump says this applies to US citizens also, so does that mean that some members of the Military will be forbidden to return home from war zones?
Does this idiot know that a President can’t just pull laws out of his rear?
Huffpo also seems to have something to say about The Donald:
Huffpo also seems to have taken note this evening:
There is now a petition circulating in Britain to ban Trump from entering the country for his “unrepentant hate speech” (link here). If the petition gets 100,000 signatures, it must be debated in the House of Commons. And below, presenting Trump’s new campaign logo:
Finally, a benefit for being an Atheist! [grin]
Trump knows and understands the law and the U.S. Constitution as well as he knows and understands the Bible. Which is to say not at all. However, the kicker is by now people should realize he truly does not give a flying rat’s ass about truthful statements, the law, or simple human decency or anything but himself.
The fucker wants to kill children and other family members for no sin other than being related to the wrong person.
Also, Trump is basically announcing to terrorists they will be welcome in America as long as they lie about being Christian. Honest, law-abiding Muslims will be turned away.
And yes, his xenophobic and bigoted proposal could not possibly be more unconstitutional and 1st Amendment violating.