Civil Candor

political cynicism for turbulent times

Copyright © 2023 CivilCandor.com

Home » National Security and Foreign Affairs » Trump’s Anti-Muslim Comments are Smart, Stupid

Trump’s Anti-Muslim Comments are Smart, Stupid

Last update May 17, 2016Leave a Comment

It took Donald Trump to show how doubters, cowards, and appeasers control the dialogue of our war on terror. Even conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron took a turn throwing a few potshots at Trump’s supposedly anti-Muslim comments.

We can cut Cameron a little slack. His Islamic problem is a lot bigger than ours and the UK is much closer to the action.

Anti-Muslim comments or smart thinking?

Some of the loudest voices denouncing Trump are politicians who should understand that the suggestion we restrict Muslim travelers was a smart, attention-getting ploy. It succeeded, but instead of yanking us out of our complacency the denial got worse.

Anyone who prefers realism to fantasy knows that the U.S. is not going to ban Muslim travel any more than we are going to build a wall at Mexico’s expense or hold mass cattle car deportations. A president doesn’t have the power to do these things and Congress doesn’t have the courage even if it wanted to.

Whether intentional or not, what is so clever about Trump’s alleged anti-Muslim plans is how they reveal the cowardice of politicians when they are forced to choose between security and appeasement. Even Republicans haven’t shown the intestinal fortitude to loudly denounce our tolerance for Islamic outrages that have altered our lives and turned air travel into a TSA-moderated nightmare.

Is this about derailing Trump’s quest for the presidency or fear of causing offense?

Yes, it really is Islam’s fault

Too few public voices are willing to admit that Islam, not the TSA is responsible for the missed flights and endless lines at our airports, the untold sums spent on national and homeland security, and the wanton killing we are trying to prevent. Instead, we skirt around the big, smelly elephant leering in the corner and try to blame extremism on anything but the religion it comes from.

No, that doesn’t mean all Muslims are terrorists.

Yes, it means that most terrorists are Muslims.

No, it doesn’t mean we should restrict travel to the U.S.

Yes, it means we should take another look at who gets screened and why.

The sad part of all this isn’t that our front running GOP candidate favors religious discrimination. It’s that liberalism has made us eager to attack anyone who touches on the truth even when it should be obvious that what we are hearing is just another attention-getter.

Anti-Muslim or not, divisiveness can be a good thing

We worry a lot about rhetoric spawning divisiveness. Apparently the British PM does, too.

Being divisive is not inherently bad. Sometimes it makes people think. Sometimes it backfires. Like these remarks from Florida Congresswoman Lois Frankel, the voices charging “anti-Muslim” prefer falling back on knee-jerk recitations to deal with Trump’s style of rhetoric:

His [Trump’s] remarks reinforce the narrative that pits the United States against Muslims and fuels terrorist recruitment efforts. Trump’s message promotes scapegoating and stereotyping that alienates our friends and bolsters our adversaries. History has taught us the dangers of singling out the ‘other’ for unequal treatment.1

ISIS doesn’t seem to have a lot of problems recruiting with or without our help, but history has warnings aplenty for those who appease at the expense of security. Cameron should remember that one of these lessons came from his country.

We are trying too hard to shield Islam from insult while people are being blown up, tortured, beheaded, raped, and kidnapped by extremists. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on our own soil on 9/11, a crime that still hasn’t been answered. Despite the common thread running through all of these atrocities we are still afraid to admit that if there is going to be a terror attack, it is almost certainly going to come from a Muslim.

The next time a nuclear weapon is used that moment in history will likely come from a Muslim, too. If we can buy into Obama’s words about his Iran deal even our president sees this as a threat.

The problem is that Trump is a lot closer to the truth than public figures have the courage to admit. A little courage might go a long way to putting the brakes on extremism instead of reassuring terrorists that we will make sure not to profile or restrict their movements if we can help it.

Should we ban Muslim travel to the U.S.? Absolutely not and besides, campaign trail theater is not policy. It does not have the force of law or in this case even a nod to reality.

What Trump did was smart, not stupid. We know we can’t and won’t enact a travel ban any more than we will deport every last illegal. The question his comments should raise is what we can do short of these things, because what we are doing now isn’t working very well. Just ask the travelers who slept at O’Hare on Sunday night because they didn’t make it through the screening line in time.

Updated May 17, 2016: text revisions for clarity.

Sources

1. Frankel, Lois. “Frankel Denounces Trump’s Anti-Muslim Rhetoric.” frankel.house.gov. December 9, 2015. http://frankel.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=435, retrieved May 16, 2015.

Filed Under: National Security and Foreign Affairs Tagged With: Donald Trump

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Apotheosis of Washington. Architect of the Capitol.

Apotheosis of Washington
Architect of the Capitol

BROWSE

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Read More

In case of sale of your personal information, you may opt out by using the link Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Accept Decline Cookie Settings
I consent to the use of following cookies:
Cookie Declaration About Cookies
Necessary (1) Marketing (0) Analytics (1) Preferences (0) Unclassified (1)
Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
NameDomainPurposeExpiryType
wpl_user_preference civilcandor.com WP GDPR Cookie Consent Preferences 1 year HTTP
Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Analytics cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
NameDomainPurposeExpiryType
_ga civilcandor.com Google Universal Analytics long-time unique user tracking identifier. 2 years HTTP
Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.
NameDomainPurposeExpiryType
_ga_R6V41C7WZK civilcandor.com --- 2 years ---
Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient. The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission. This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.
Cookie Settings

Do you really wish to opt-out?