Ahead of the Republican presidential nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2016, Donald Trump was looking to solidify his position as the likely GOP nominee. To that end, the future president came up with a stunning proposal: As 2015 neared its end, Trump declared his support for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” until such time that he was satisfied that U.S. officials understood “what the hell is going on.”
As regular readers know, it was a bigoted applause line — which his base eagerly embraced. It also turned into a campaign promise the Republican was eager to keep. On only his seventh day in the White House, Trump signed a policy that became known as the “travel ban,” sparking outrage, bureaucratic chaos, family hardships and a series of messy legal fights.
On the first day of Joe Biden’s term, the then-Democratic president undid his predecessor’s policy, signing a proclamation titled “Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to The United States.” More than four years later, Trump is not only restoring his old policy, he’s also adding to it. NBC News reported:
In a return of one of the most controversial policies of his first term, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday banning nationals from a dozen countries. … Nationals of 12 countries will be barred from entering the United States: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
It’s difficult to summarize all of the granular details of the White House’s latest move in a blog post — Team Trump published relatively detailed overviews online overnight, and NBC News’ report is thorough — but in addition to the aforementioned 12 countries, seven other countries (Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela) will face partial travel restrictions.
There will apparently be some exceptions for athletes competing in international events, as well as those who’ve qualified for Afghan special immigrant visas. The administration’s policy is scheduled to take effect shortly after midnight on Monday, but whether the White House will change, overhaul or worsen the strategy between now and then remains to be seen.
As the world begins assessing the practical, geopolitical and moral implications of Trump’s new — but not improved — policy, let no one say this is surprising.
On the campaign trail ahead of the 2024 election, the Republican boasted about blocking Muslims from entering the country during his first term, telling voters, “We didn’t want people coming into our country who really love the idea of blowing our country up.” Months later, Trump assured the electorate that he intended to restore and expand his original policy. (He vowed this would happen on the first day of his second term, though he missed his own deadline by 135 days.)
But the fact that the incumbent president is following through on a misguided promise does not make a bad idea good.
Indeed, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons described the White House’s gambit as “new Muslim ban” in a written statement. “President Trump’s own statement makes it clear exactly what this new executive order is: the latest attempt to institute his unpopular and immoral Muslim ban which was thrown out time and again by the courts in his first term,” the Delaware senator said. “Improving our national security should be a bipartisan goal, but fear and bigotry do not keep Americans safe. What this will do instead is cause chaos, inflict pain, and break apart families, just as his prior attempts did. This order should be reversed, and Congress needs to reassert our role by passing laws that make our immigration system secure, effective and humane.” To be sure, some of the countries affected by the president’s directive have Muslim populations, but some do not. That said, the White House’s official “fact sheet” on the policy specifically included this quote from Trump: “We will restore the travel ban, some people call it the Trump travel ban, and keep the radical Islamic terrorists out of our country that was upheld by the Supreme Court.” There were already some indications that some Muslim-American voters were feeling buyers’ remorse after having backed Trump last fall. The Republican’s latest move probably won’t help on this front.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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