On Tuesday, January 24, 2017, Donald Trump expressed his vague plans ahead concerning our national security – including the construction of “the wall.” It wouldn’t be until the next day, that we would learn what Trump’s plans consisted of – a Muslim travel ban. Following Tuesday, Trump passed an executive bill calling for the “extreme vetting” of Muslims entering the United States from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan. Syria and Yemen. In the Executive Bill, Section 1, Trump states that this vetting would benefit the American people by ensuring a decreased amount of terrorist attacks, noting the tragic events of September 11, 2001 all while simultaneously ignoring the actual ethnicities of those very terrorists. The terrorists are not from the banned countries listed above but actually from Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Throughout the Executive Bill, Trump reiterates that his goal is to protect the “American people” from terrorism which leaves one question unanswered:
Why was Saudi Arabia – the country with the highest number of terrorists from the 9/11 attacks – left unscathed by this new policy?
Trump, being the businessman that he is, has decided appeal to the rampant Islamophobia that flows through the veins of the American people all while ensuring a grand capital profit for himself. During his presidential campaign, Trump registered eight companies linked to a hotel project in Saudi Arabia, the “oil-rich Arab kingdom that Trump has said he ‘would want to protect.’” The companies including THC Jeddah Hotel and DT Jeddah Technical Services named Trump president or director remain active despite his presidency. Hot on the presidential campaign, Trump spoke to a rally in Alabama speaking on his relations with Saudi Arabia: “Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”
Here lies another one of Trump’s many conflicts of interests. During his campaign and his current presidency, he’s consistently proclaimed his “fight against terrorism” and that in turn, he will “make America great again.” America’s executive in chief not only maintains several conflicts of interests but deceives the American people – the same people he exclaims to protect. He ignores the factual evidence against the terrorists of the 9/11 attack, including their ethnicity while upholding a front to care about “terrorism” – he cares about “terrorism” when and only when it benefits him. Mr. Trump, when you fight against terrorism, you fight against all of it.
Syrian refugees are “terrorists”; Corrupt businessmen are “Americans.”
“There are so many diplomatic, political, even national security risks in having the president own a whole bunch of properties all over the world,” said Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush.
“If we’ve got to talk to a foreign government about their behavior, or negotiate a treaty, or some country asks us to send our troops in to defend someone else, we’ve got to make a decision. And the question becomes: Are we going in out of our national interest or because there’s a Trump casino around?” Painter added.
The fight against terrorism starts at home – in the land of the “free.” According to a study by the New America Foundation, White Americans are the biggest terror threat in the United States. With an influx of racially, religiously and hate-filled crimes, White Americans take the lead in terrorism. It would do Trump well not to forget the Charleston Shooting, the Chapel Hill Shooting, and the endless cases of police brutality.
Time and time again, politicians reveal one agenda to the public and keep another one hidden. Trump is no exception to that. As we are all aware of, Trump has resorted to using divisive and hateful rhetoric while maintaining the front of upholding and uniting the American people. He asserts and perpetuates stereotypes that not only affect Muslims, but women and people of color. Trump reiterates that his goal is to protect the “American people” and unsurprisingly fails to mention one crucial part: we are Americans too. He furthers the perpetuation of Islamic stereotypes by strengthening the belief that Muslims are terrorists – it is no coincidence that the banned countries also have high populations of Muslims.
To everyone reading this article: I hope you remember who the real terrorists are.
