On Donald Trump: A Message to the Apathetic
Like many “serious” people, I’ve been hesitant to say much publicly about Donald Trump. Not because I support him, but because he has long seemed like too much of a clown to be taken seriously. I’ve posted articles about him on Twitter, made jokes on Facebook, and lamented his candidacy with my friends. And when my sister and father objected to Mr. Trump hosting Saturday Night Live, I just shrugged my shoulders: he was the Republican frontrunner, after all.
But now the Iowa caucuses are fast approaching and Mr. Trump is still the Republican frontrunner. And, after today’s call for a “total and complete” ban on Muslims entering the US, we have real reasons to be afraid. I don’t love using the word “fascism,” which rings of political invective more than analysis, but it appears today that the spectre of fascism is rising over our country. Before our society descends into a full-on orgy of Islamophobia, I would like to ask a few questions about Mr. Trump’s proposed “Muslim ban.”
For the sake of argument, let’s take a moment to separate Mr. Trump’s plan from any standards of moral right and wrong. Let’s assume banning all Muslims is justifiable (bear with me, please), and look at the plan purely as policy. Even on this more or less objective level, it raises serious questions:
1) How? What does “ban all Muslims” even mean? Does it include nominal or secular Muslims? Cultural Muslims? Muslims who drink and/or eat pork? Muslims who convert to other religions? People born into Muslim families who consider themselves atheists? In that case, it’s a ban applied to entire ethnic groups or nationalities that traditionally practice Islam.
2) How would the ban deal with Middle Eastern Christians, who often have “Muslim-sounding” names? For that matter, how would the ban deal with people who don’t look “stereotypically Muslim” from an American point of view? Muslims come in all colors, appearances, and manners of dress. The US Embassies that handle visa applications and Customs and Border Protection would have to become very adept a religious profiling. I mean, truly quite masterful. They would have to be able to recognize Tatar, Bosnian, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Nigerian, and Indonesian surnames. They would need to learn about all different kinds of cultures, know the demographics of different countries, understand naming conventions in different Muslim countries. These embassies and customs points would have to be staffed almost exclusively by anthropologists!
3) Suppose a person in a Muslim-majority country wants to come to America, but is Muslim. What’s to keep them from saying they aren’t? And how could our embassies and customs agents figure out whether or not it’s a lie. As part of the visa application process, should a man have to show his penis to prove he’s not circumcised? Should everyone have to spit on a copy of the Quran before exiting customs in the airport? Or maybe draw a portrait of the Prophet Muhammad and carry it inside their passport? And what if this theoretical Muslim visitor is willing to do all these things? Is that an “acceptable Muslim” by Mr. Trump’s standard?
4) What about the Muslims who already live in America? Should the ones with work visas and green cards be deported? And, if so, how will it affect our country? Millions of Muslims in America contribute to our society in countless ways everyday. What would this do to families in which some members are US citizens and others aren’t? And how would our economy be affected if all Muslim non-citizens had to leave? What about if Muslim residents of America go on vacation abroad? Should they not be allowed back into the country?
5) And what about American citizens who are Muslim? By law, they are no different than Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or Buddhist citizens of the United States. What should we do about them? Is this where the database comes in? But can we even identify them? The US has difficulty estimating the number of Muslims in the country because the Census Bureau does not regularly collect information about religious affiliation.
6) Is any of this constitutional? (Spoiler alert: All signs point to no.)
Donald Trump’s supposed plan to ban Muslims from entering the US is extremely offensive. But it is also not real policy. It cannot be implemented and it will not be implemented. It is demagoguery, plain and simple. It would be more difficult, less effective, and more invasive than any current policy we have to prevent terrorists from entering the United States.
If you believe Donald Trump will actually carry this policy out, you have been bamboozled. It’s a lie! The candidate who says he is not a politician like the others is lying to you just like a politician. It is also unconstitutional, impractical, unworkable, and, of course, inhuman. Most of all, it is un-American.
But even if you have no love for Muslim people, you should be against this plan for other reasons. It is ideological ammunition for ISIS. It is an engine to drive radicalization at home and abroad. It will provoke violence within America. And it will empower every enemy or rival that we have as a country. Every dictator, authoritarian leader, military junta, kleptocrat, or president-for-life will be jumping for joy should Mr. Trump be elected. They will be thrilled that the country that lectures them about human rights and democracy is now ready to merrily and unabashedly trample upon human rights and demolish the fundamental rights that undergird its democracy. Everyone who has ever wanted to take a shot at America will now have a golden opportunity. It will be Christmas for every pro-regime propagandist in every non-democracy on Earth.
Make no mistake about this, folks: a vote for Trump is a vote for ISIS. It’s a vote for the Taliban, the Iranian Ayatollah, Kim Jong-Un, Vladimir Putin, the Front Nationale, the American extreme right and fringe left. It is a vote for anyone who hates America and wants us to fail. It is a vote against prosperity. It is a vote for unrest at home, for war abroad, for caskets draped in American flags.
A vote for Trump is a vote for terrorism. Plain and simple.
The time for apathy is over. We need Americans of all political stripes, faiths, and ethnic or racial backgrounds to speak out against Donald Trump. Ideally, do it in solidarity with America’s embattled Muslims. But, if you can’t bring yourself to empathize with Muslims, do it for yourself, your country, and your future. Above all, we need to derail this campaign of demagoguery before it is too late.
