I would love to tell you a joke or try to make you laugh, but it has heen hard for me to laugh since Friday. There’s always time for a joke, but not tonight.
Trump’s order from Friday states that, “in order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country” don’t bear “hostile attitudes” to our nation’s “founding principles.”
The order also says,
“The United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including…other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation.”
Although Trump now insists this is not a Muslim ban, I remember as my family watched him proclaim a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States. How can this be viewed as anything other than “persecution of a religion different than their own?”
The poetic irony is that his order would preclude Trump himself from stepping foot on our soil. He is the very definition of a “hostile attitude” toward America’s “founding principles” of religious freedom.
The disgrace is that Trump, who has spread so much hate, fear, bigotry and sexism, is the one attempting to define our “American values” for the purposes of determining who may live here.
Using the same words from his own order, would Trump himself pass the vetting of these questions?
- Hostile attitude?
- Acts of bigotry or hatred?
- Violence against women?
- Persecution of those who practice religions different from their own?
- Oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation?