Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: “The presidency is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership. All our great presidents were leaders of thought at times when certain historic ideas in the life of the nation had to be clarified.”
None of that describes President Donald Trump, a man who has proven to be every bit as thoughtless and addled in the White House as he was on the campaign trail. By signing Friday’s ban on entry visas for people from seven Muslim-majority nations, Trump created chaos at airports throughout the world and deep distress among Americans with ties to Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Sudan and Syria. And how did the new American president respond yesterday morning to the unrest and confusion he created? On Twitter, of course, and with a non sequitur: “Where was all the outrage from Democrats and the opposition party (the media) when our jobs were fleeing our country?”
Trump is skilled at inane diversions, but he can’t mask the incompetence and haste of his administration in these early days, nor can he credibly deny the real intent of the ban.
The executive order, the brainchild of strategist Stephen Bannon, is a Muslim ban in spirit, and Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani said as much over the weekend. Giuliani told Fox News that when Trump “first announced it, he said ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up, he said, ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.’ ”
Trump even allowed Bannon to write the order without crucial input from the Department of Homeland Security, among others. The New York Times reported that Gen. John F. Kelly, secretary of Homeland Security, was receiving his first briefing on the major policy change while Trump was on television – ever the reality TV star – signing the order.
Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham addressed the shockingly poor vetting in a joint statement over the weekend. “This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country,” McCain and Graham said. “That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security.” In response, Trump took to Twitter to accuse the two of “always looking to start World War III.” He continues to find new ways to be unpresidential.
We were happy to see New Hampshire Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan join in the widespread condemnation, with Shaheen saying, “Refugees, from Syria in particular, are fleeing unspeakable terror and hunger, and it’s unconscionable that the United States will no longer provide any of these refugees a safe haven.” Hassan, who during her Senate campaign against Kelly Ayotte supported a halt to the acceptance of Syrian refugees, was more restrained in her criticism, saying, “We must always be working to strengthen the vetting process for all entryways into the United States, but discriminating against individuals on the basis of their religion will only harm our national security interests.”
We hope that over these next weeks, months and years, Shaheen and Hassan, as well as Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Annie Kuster, will bravely stand up not only to Trump but against long-standing American military policies that undervalue innocent human lives and add to the global refugee crisis.
Trump’s never-ending assault on the “better angels of our nature” is disturbing, but so is the tendency of Republicans and Democrats alike to ignore the human “collateral damage” piling up under the banner of American national security.