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Second Nexus © 2019
[DIGEST: Washington Post, Associated Press, MSNBC, Huffington Post]
In what is likely Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s most incendiary statement to date, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Trump cited support for his position, aired in a December 7th campaign </span><a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-statement-on-preventing-muslim-immigration" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">press release</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, from unnamed Pew Research data and a poll from the Center for Security Policy, an organization run by </span><a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/frank-gaffney-jr" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">anti-Muslim extremist</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Frank Gaffney. But </span><a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-statement-on-preventing-muslim-immigration" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Trump urged Americans</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to look beyond the questionable poll itself, playing to generalizations: “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine…[O]ur country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.”</span></p><p><div id="insticator-container" class="embedid-ee1b1245-7f34-4d5c-8a70-c8be74fe7696"><div id="div-insticator-ad-1"></div><div id="insticator-embed"></div><div id="div-insticator-ad-2"></div><script data-cfasync="false" type="text/javascript">Insticator.ad.loadAd("div-insticator-ad-1");Insticator.ad.loadAd("div-insticator-ad-2");Insticator.load("em",{id : "ee1b1245-7f34-4d5c-8a70-c8be74fe7696"})</script></div></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While further-reaching than previous statements, the spirit of this statement remained consistent with others from Trump, who has successfully built his campaign on a foundation of </span><a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/11/25/donald_trump_race_shocker_polls_prove_his_success_really_is_based_on_racists/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">xenophobia</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, beginning with his earlier </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-connecting-mexican-immigrants-and-crime/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">attack on Mexicans</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (“They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists”) and calls for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. This newest statement emerged even as </span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trumps-muslim-ban-shouldnt-be-a-surprise" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">his poll numbers drop</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, coming just hours after a new poll showed Trump </span><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/262306-poll-cruz-surges-ahead-of-trump-carson-in-iowa" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">lost the lead</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in Iowa to Senator Ted Cruz.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After the statement, Trump took to </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-muslim-immigration-us_5665f75de4b072e9d1c7252b?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Twitter</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to extend his drumbeat of Muslim hatred for the U.S.:</span></p><p></p><div id="8a302" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1Y5LUS1574878944"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="673982228163072000" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Just put out a very important policy statement on the extraordinary influx of hatred & danger coming into our country. We must be vigilant!</div> — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/statuses/673982228163072000">1449524859.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The rhetoric is proving effective. At a South Carolina rally yesterday evening, Trump’s </span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b0f4f54bad2843898b8b3b67559588aa/trump-calls-complete-shutdown-muslims-entering-us" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">supporters cheered in support</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> as he read his statement, which warned that without drastic action, the threat of attacks is “going to get worse and worse.” Said one supporter interviewed by the </span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b0f4f54bad2843898b8b3b67559588aa/trump-calls-complete-shutdown-muslims-entering-us" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Associated Press</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, “Like he said, they are going to kill us and we’ve got to stop it.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Although other Republican candidates and politicians have proposed tighter U.S. surveillance and a curtailing or banning on Syrian refugees, none have gone so far as Trump’s proposed plan. In the aftermath </span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">of the statement, other candidates sought to separate themselves from it. </span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b0f4f54bad2843898b8b3b67559588aa/trump-calls-complete-shutdown-muslims-entering-us" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">John Kasich</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> called out Trump’s “outrageous divisiveness,” while </span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b0f4f54bad2843898b8b3b67559588aa/trump-calls-complete-shutdown-muslims-entering-us" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jeb Bush</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> tweeted that Trump “is unhinged. His ‘policy’ proposals are not serious.”</span></p><p><a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-anti-muslim-proposal-probably-illegal" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nor are they legal</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, say a number of well-respected scholars who have denounced the constitutionality of Trump’s plan. They note that the only legal support for Trump’s approach stems from the largely discredited (though not explicitly overruled) Supreme Court case </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Korematsu v. United States</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. </span></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA0NTY4Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MTA5MDQxMn0.eTI8KUCKvx64R82vmG_qr21A7cblFuTM74L1lSVOkHo/img.jpg?width=980" id="56485" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b5d59750e2d95bc93b5ba08d844fa749" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..."><a href="https://assets.rbl.ms/22045682/origin.jpg"></a> Credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans" target="_blank">Source</a>.</small></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Said </span><a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-anti-muslim-proposal-probably-illegal" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jerry Martinez</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a Stanford Law professor and expert in international law, to MSNBC: “To the extent there are precedents for this kind of blanket discrimination, they are ones, like the Japanese internment camps . . . which all reasonable constitutional experts consider tragic mistakes that we should not repeat.”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some worry that, with each of Trump’s escalations, the return of internment camps grows one step closer. If Trump is willing to ban </span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b0f4f54bad2843898b8b3b67559588aa/trump-calls-complete-shutdown-muslims-entering-us" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">all Muslims</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> from entry, how long until the sequestering of Muslim-Americans already here? His </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-muslim-immigration-us_5665f75de4b072e9d1c7252b?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">anti-Islamic sentiments</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> include closing down certain mosques located in the country and a national ID database of Muslims.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Trump’s plans, and the sentiment behind it, contrast sharply with </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-muslim-immigration-us_5665f75de4b072e9d1c7252b?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">President Obama’s words</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to the nation earlier this week in response to the shooting in San Bernardino, California: “[I]t is the responsibility of all Americans – of every faith – to reject discrimination. It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It’s our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim-Americans should somehow be treated differently.” </span></p>
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