It’s hard to focus on just one story these days, but I’m going to ask you to do it because the executive branch of your government did you a grave disservice and increased the dangers presented by terrorism. And they didn’t even need Russia’s help to pull it off.
Trump’s Muslim ban, like many of his policies, comments, tweets, and slogans, was always based on a lie. As the court your president derided made clear: The Government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the Order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States.
That’s worth reading a few times. The whole ban was based on a fictional threat.
We also know that the ban dismayed our allies and buoyed our enemies. If that’s the art of the deal, count me out.
That’s all bad. But it gets worse.
On Thursday night, Rachel Maddow shared a leaked document from the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis (two words you already know will conflict with Donald Trump’s version of reality).
The report can be read online, but there are two key takeaways. Here’s the first:
We assess that most foreign-born, U.S.-based violent extremists likely radicalized several years after their entry to the United States … limiting the ability of screening and vetting officials to prevent their entry because of National Security concerns
In other words, all the heavy vetting Trump has been preaching doesn’t provide an extra layer of security after all. This fact can be added to what we already knew: There have been zero fatal terror attacks on U.S. soil since 1975 by immigrants from the seven Muslim-majority countries President Donald Trump targeted with immigration bans on Friday.” It turns out American toddlers present more of a threat to America.
But wait. Like always with Donald Trump, there’s more.
We assess nearly all parents who entered the country with minor-age children likely did not espouse a violent extremist ideology at the time they entered or at any time since, suggesting these foreign-born individuals were likely not radicalized by their parents before or after their arrival in the Homeland…We assess that the integration and mentoring services provided by federal, state and private sector entities to refugees and asylees offer an opportunity to help foreign-born US residents adjust to their new communities and raise their awareness of and resisistance to violent extremist narratives and recruiters.
Welcome to Donald Trump’s opposite world. Hate speech, lies, and faux-tough guy talk (coming right from the top) directed at young Muslim citizens is precisely the opposite of what a smart, informed president would do in an effort to make us safer. Trump’s ban provides no additional protection at the border, fuels the effectiveness of the messaging of terrorist groups abroad, and increases the danger within our borders by making young Muslims feel excluded at best, and like they are the enemy at worst.
Donald Trump loves to put his name on everything. It is now permanently associated with an extremely effective terrorist recruitment plan.
