By Paul Mulholland
I realized later than most that Trumpanzees have no standards whatsoever.
After the Iowa Caucuses, after Donald Trump lost to Ted Cruz (he wasn’t “Lyin’ Ted” yet) many insisted he had, in fact, won because nobody expected the real estate mogul to come this far at all, and more importantly, it was the first time people had come out to vote for him.
About a year later, we are confronted with the same problem on a larger scale: Could Trump lose his supporters under any circumstances?
Don’t count on it. They do not seem discouraged that Trump’s recent executive order is not the total ban on Muslims that they were promised during the campaign. Trump cut the number of refugees the U.S. is to accept this year in half — more refugees come from Congo than any other country, according to Pew Research— and banned all Syrian refugees indefinitely.
He also banned all citizens of Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Syria from entering the U.S. for 90 days, according to a White House release.
According to The Gudardian, he has prevented several professors, Yazidi refugees — non-Muslim polytheists that ISIS tried and failed to exterminate — and about 500 Iraqis that were granted U.S. visas for assisting the U.S. military. He has inconvenienced foreign workers of Google and Microsoft far more than any jihadist outfit.
Trump’s recent executive order is not the total ban on Muslims that they were promised during the campaign (envato elements).
Meanwhile, not one terrorist attack has been committed by a citizen of the seven countries in the last 10 years, according to The Economist. And the order only discriminates against less than 10 percent of the world’s terrorists-to-be. Trump has fallen short of his own stupid policy.
The order reads, “The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law.” Now that is a proposition worth considering, especially its second half, however, the order applies this to every last national of seven countries.
Although Trump’s Muslim ban is crude, discriminatory and ineffective, it is not terribly unpopular. Despite protests across America’s airports, only 53 percent of Americans oppose the order, according to a CNN poll.
I witnessed one such protest that took place at Philadelphia International Airport. The number of cars pouring into the airport, as well as a few intentionally blocking the road, definitely caused some to miss their flights — our shuttle driver drove on the shoulder for about half of the way. But the most noteworthy part was that many of the protesters were new to the experience.
One of them, a 55-year-old named Ben, told me that he had been to three protests in his entire life, and they have all happened since Trump was elected. He did not want to feel powerless, as if things would happen without him having something to say about it.
I also saw a middle-aged woman awkwardly, but successfully, start a “Build a fence around Mike Pence” chant.
Although poll numbers are disappointingly low, they may not capture the momentum involved with newcomers becoming politically aware for the first time.
The courts stayed the order on due process and equal protection grounds. and it does not seem like Trump will appeal to the Supreme Court. He is more likely to try to rewrite the order, according to the Washington Post.
His clownish and sinister attempt to ban a religion and explicit contempt for the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution make Americans less safe and reaffirm, again, one of Trump’s few honest statements: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
