Tag: muslim

Trump Suggests That Obama Doesn’t Want to Get Rid of Terrorism

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Michael Savage

Trump told radio host Michael Savage that Obama refuses to say the magic words “radical Islamic terrorism” because maybe he doesn’t want to stop the terrorists.

We have a president that won’t even use the words and if you don’t use the words, you’re never going to get rid of the problem. We have a — maybe he doesn’t want to get rid of the problem. I don’t know exactly what’s going on.

Savage seemed to know exactly what Trump meant.

“Ah ha. Now you’re going as close to the board as a hockey player can go without hitting the puck into the stands. I get it,” he said.

(h/t Right Wing Watch)

Reality

Sending a dog whistle to the GOP’s anti-Obama base, Donald Trump has taken to saying that “there’s something we don’t know about” the president when it comes to issues like terrorism and the resettlement of Syrian refugees.

While Trump has never come out and said what that he thinks that “something” is, the GOP presidential frontrunner told conservative radio host Michael Savage that he believes Obama may actually be a terrorist sympathizer.

Donald Trump continues to propagate an old baseless conservative political smear from 2007 that Obama is a covert Muslim extremist hellbent on destroying democracy.

For those who may be too young or have forgotten, Fox News was famous for their political smears against the then-Senator Obama saying things like:

Media

Trump asks if Obama would have attended Scalia’s funeral were it held at a mosque

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Twitter

Donald Trump on Saturday suggested President Barack Obama would have attended the funeral of Antonin Scalia had the late Supreme Court justice’s service been held in a mosque.

“I wonder if President Obama would have attended the funeral of Justice Scalia if it were held in a Mosque? Very sad that he did not go.”

(h/t CNN)

Reality

Trump inferred an old baseless conservative political smear from 2007 that Obama is a covert Muslim extremist hellbent on destroying democracy.

For those who may be too young or have forgotten, Fox News was famous for their political smears against the then-Senator Obama saying things like:

  • Obama had attended a radical Islamic madrassa when he was a child in Indonesia.
  • Obama supported the release of the “Lockerbie Bomber” Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.
  • When Obama was a community organizer he was training for a radical overthrow of the government.

None of these hand any kernel of truth.

Trump Security Removed Veterans’ Group From South Carolina Event

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"Mr. Trump, Veterans Are Not Props for Hate"

Ten veterans from Veterans Challenge Islamophobia unfurled a 10-foot banner during Trump’s speech in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina today. The banner read:

“Mr. Trump: Veterans are not props for hate. We stand with our Muslim sisters and brothers.”

The U.S. veterans who launched the effort have served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam. Many were also decorated for their valor. The veterans, some of whom hail from the organization Iraq Veterans Against the War, were forcibly escorted outside after Trump supporters waved signs while chanting Trump’s name. But the group’s actions will not be deterred.

Veterans Challenge Islamophobia plans to take its campaign to other primary states and will fly a similar banner in Las Vegas on Monday evening at Trump’s event there. They say they will continue until Trump and other Republican candidates cease their discriminatory attacks on Muslims.

“Mr. Trump’s hateful rhetoric insults both my Islamic faith and my military service. As a U.S. Marine who served in Iraq, I find it shameful that a major presidential candidate would impugn my patriotism, or that of other Muslims, because of our faith,” said Ramon Mejia, who served with the U.S. Marines in Iraq (2001-04).

“As an Army veteran, I deeply resent being used as a prop for intolerance by Mr. Trump. I enlisted in order to serve everyone in my country, including my Muslim sisters and brothers, and to protect constitutional freedoms like religious liberty,” said Maggie Martin, who served three tours in Iraq and Kuwait with the U.S. Army (2001-06).

“As a medic in Afghanistan, I worked closely with Muslim interpreters who risked their lives to support our mission. I’m disgusted when I see candidates like Mr. Trump — who never served in the military — try to demonize Muslims for his own political gain. We need to make it very clear: Islam is not a national security threat,” said Perry O’Brien, who served with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan (2001-04).

During his speech, Donald Trump did not respond directly to the protesters, but did make note of people who challenge him as security folded up the group’s banner.

“We’re going to make the wall 10 feet taller,” Trump said. “And every time they protest, it’s going to go up a little bit higher.”

(h/t Alternet)

Reality

Donald Trump has made many comments discriminating Muslims. Let’s let Veterans For Peace explain why that is bad:

Bigotry and racism violate all of the values we believed we were defending during our military service. The ideals contained in the Constitution, to the degree they have been manifested in America, have been a beacon to much of the world because of the diversity, openness, and respect for people of all faiths that most Americans live by. It will be a great calamity if we let fear give rise to hatred.

Fear-mongering endangers our national security and gives rise to hatred and racism that play into the hands of an enemy that wants to convince Muslims around the world that the West, led by the U.S., hates them, and that joining ISIL or similar organizations is the only way to truly observe and defend their religion. We can never defend ourselves effectively by playing into our adversary’s strategy, giving credibility to their recruitment propaganda. We endanger ourselves whenever we make that mistake.

Media

Links

San Francisco Chronicle

Veterans For Peace

Trump Ejects Muslim Couple In Silent Protest

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Silent protest by Muslim couple at Trump rally

A Muslim woman wearing a hijab was escorted out of Donald Trump’s campaign event on Friday by police after she stood up in silent protest during Trump’s speech.

Rose Hamid, a 56-year-old flight attendant sitting in the stands directly behind Trump, stood up Friday during Trump’s speech when the Republican front-runner suggested that Syrian refugees fleeing war in Syria were affiliated with ISIS.

Trump has previously called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S.

Despite her silence, Trump supporters around her began chanting Trump’s name — as instructed by Trump campaign staff before the event in case of protests — and pointed at Hamid and Marty Rosenbluth, the man alongside her who stood up as well.

As they were escorted out, Trump supporters roared — booing the pair and shouting at them to “get out.” One person shouted, “You have a bomb, you have a bomb,” according to Hamid.

“The ugliness really came out fast and that’s really scary,” Hamid told CNN in a phone interview after she was ejected.

(h/t CNN)

Reality

That was one of the most bravest things I have ever seen. You cannot disagree that, even though it was a silent and peaceful protest, as a Muslim woman in that environment comes with a large amount of risk.

Media

Protesters Disrupt Donald Trump Speech at NYC Luncheon

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Hundreds of activists rallied on Thursday in front of Donald Trump’s hotel in midtown New York City to condemn the Republican 2016 presidential candidate’s call to bar Muslims temporarily from entering the United States.

Chanting “Dump Trump” and “refugees welcome,” the protesters castigated Trump’s comments.

“We are not asking for any favors,” Linda Sarsour of the Arab American Association of New York told the crowd. “We are asking for the basic respect and dignity that we all deserve here in the United States of America.”

Four protesters chanting “Trump is trying to bring us down, targeting people black and brown,” tried to storm a side entrance into the speech at Manhattan’s The Plaza Hotel as security staff pushed them away.

The protesters were affiliated with various Arab-American and Muslim-American groups, as well as groups for racial equality.

One of those protesters, Jorge Gonzalez, fell down a flight of stairs after a hotel security worker pushed him. He said he was uninjured. Another was thrown to the ground in the hotel lobby.

Two reporters from The Associated Press, Jake Pearson and Warren Levinson, were also forcibly removed from the lobby by hotel security. The event, sponsored by the Commonwealth Club, a Pennsylvania Republican group, was closed to the press.

Later in Trump’s speech, about nine other protesters from various advocacy groups stood up to denounce his recent comments to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the U.S., protesters said.

“I’m really frightened by that kind of rhetoric,” said Martha Acklesberg, 69, a member of the group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, who along with Judith Plaskow, 68, paid to hear Trump speech and then disrupted it in protest.

Trump, said Acklesberg, briefly stopped his speech during their protests and quipped, “when you’re the front runner you get a lot of attention.”

(h/t Associated Press, Reuters)

Reality

Violence has no place in our political process and should be condemned from all sides.

Donald Trump says a lot of divisive and hateful statements, escalation of tensions may only seem natural. However as a protester, engaging in violence only plays into the hands of Donald Trump and his supporters. It gives them justification for their false sense of being victimized and allows them to paint the opposition as “thugs” and side-step our real and valid arguments.

Media

http://bcove.me/hqzadmzh

Donald Trump Tweets the UK is Hiding a Muslim Problem

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In a tweet, Donald Trump claimed, “The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem.”

Reality

This is just insane and bigoted to claim an entire religion is a problem and the facts show that in the UK situation is quite the opposite. Between 2011 and 2014 there were 746 terrorist attacks and only 8 were religiously inspired. (http://www.vocativ.com/news/251821/muslims-terrorist-attacks/)

While violence against Muslims is on the rise. (http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/23/hate-crimes-against-muslims-in-the-u-k-on-the-rise/)

Links

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/674934005725331456

http://www.vocativ.com/news/251821/muslims-terrorist-attacks/

Hate Crimes Against Muslims in the U.K. on the Rise

Trump Gets Love From Most Hated Woman in the UK

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Katie Hopkins and Trump

Donald Trump has praised Katie Hopkins, the Ann Coulter of the UK, after she backed his claims that parts of London have become so radicalized people were scared to go there.

Reality

Mr Trump received condemnation from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson after he claimed police officers are “afraid for their lives” due to areas of “radicalization” in the capital.
The Metropolitan Police then made a rare intervention, telling the Republican frontrunner he “could not be more wrong”. Despite this, Hopkins, who writes for the Mail Online – the largest English language news website in the world –  claimed in her column “there is fear among the police and the public”. Lauding Mr Trump for “speaking for millions of Americans” she claims Britain is, in part, “a radicalised nation and it does nobody any favours to deny the obvious”.

However the best response came to people who walked around at night and recorded themlselves getting totally not being jihaded.

Links

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/674936832010887168

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/trump-london-no-go-zones-radicalised-woolwich-reddit-video-a6766511.html

Donald Trump repeats myth that London and Paris contain ‘Muslim no-go areas’

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Trump repeats ban on Muslims

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has defended his controversial comments proposing a ban on all Muslims from entering the US as there are places in London where police officers “are scared for their lives” because of radicalisation.

The billionaire tycoon has been criticised from both sides of the presidential election campaign as well 10 Downing Street for his comments calling for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US, including tourists and US citizens returning to their own country, in the wake of the Paris terror attacks and San Bernardino shootings in California.

Trump repeated the comments at a rally in South Carolina to a rousing applause, adding: “We have no choice.” Despite being condemned by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, David Cameron and rival Republican candidates Jeb Bush and Ben Carson, the 69-year-old refused to back down from his proposal if he was elected president.

Speaking to MSNBC, Trump said that people attacking his comments were “afraid of the other side, not my side”. “Look at what happened in Paris and the horrible carnage,” he said. “If you look at Paris [it’s] no longer the same city it was They have sections in Paris which are radicalised where they police refuse to go there because they’re petrified. We have places in London and other places that are so radicalised the police are afraid for their own lives. We have to be very smart and very vigilant.”

Trump appeared to defend his stance by repeating a much ridiculed claim by Fox News pundit Steven Emerson in January 2015, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, that Birmingham, the second-biggest city in the UK, was a “totally Muslim” city where “non-Muslims simply don’t go in”.

Reality

This is, by far, one of the most bigoted statements Trump, or any other politician, has made in my lifetime. The lies used to push a nationalistic agenda places him in history among the likes of France’s National Front.

And about those no-go zones Fox News reported on:

Hell, even Fox News apologized for their lie about the no-go zones in Paris.

Links

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/donald-trump-repeats-myth-that-london-paris-contain-muslim-no-go-areas-1532385

Trump Brushes Off Horrified Reaction To His Muslim Ban

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Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says he doesn’t care about critics of his new proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from coming into the country until the country’s representatives can “figure out what is going on.”

“I wrote something today that was very salient, very important,” the candidate said, adding that it was “probably not politically correct”. Then, as the crowd hung on his every word, he lowered his voice to an intimate whisper, leant into the microphone, and said: “But. I. Don’t. Care.”

 

“We are out of control,” he went on. “We have no idea who’s coming into this country. We have no idea if they love us or hate us. We have no idea if they want to bomb us.

“By the way, I have friends who are Muslims. They are great people. But they know we have a problem because something is going on, and we can’t put up with it, folks, we can’t put up with it.”

Reality

The “I’m not racist because I have black friends” fallacy is the fastest way to know someone is a racist. The same applies to claiming to not be homophobic because you have gay friends, and not surprisingly, the friend argument also applies to Trump’s claim.

Media

Links

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/08/i-dont-care-donald-trump-brushes-off-horrified-reaction-to-his-muslim-ban

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/8/donald-trump-i-dont-care-about-critics-proposed-mu/

Donald Trump Calls for ‘Total and Complete Shutdown of Muslims Entering the United States’

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Trump calls to ban all Muslims

On December 7th, 2015, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump released a statement calling for the ban on an entire religion from entering the United States of America.

Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing “25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad” and 51% of those polled, “agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.” Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won’t convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.

 

Mr. Trump stated, “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again.” – Donald J. Trump

Reality

This is, by far, one of the most bigoted statements Trump, or any other politician, has made in my lifetime. The lies used to push a nationalistic agenda places him in history among the likes of France’s National Front.

Does a President have this authority?

Trump has asserted that U.S. immigration law would grant him the authority to institute
the ban. Although he has not cited any particular provision, it appears he is invoking 8 US Code § 1182(f) the authority vested in the president to suspend entry of “any class of aliens.”

But Congress cannot grant, and a president cannot exercise, authority that would violate the Constitution.  In light of the constitutional flaws in Trump’s proposed ban, § 1182(f ) either must be read narrowly not to authorize such unconstitutional conduct, or it should be struck down as unconstitutional insofar as it authorizes such a ban.

Is Trump’s proposal constitutional?

A ban on Muslim U.S. citizens from entering the United States would be a blatant violation of due process and equal protection under the Fifth Amendment and the basic principle that the government may not banish its citizens or deny them entry to the United States.

In addition, any religion-based bar on the readmission of lawful permanent residents — who have a lawful right to readmission (particularly after a brief trip abroad) unless and until the government can prove they should lose that right — should fail under the Due Process Clause.

What about Trump’s evidence he used for justification of a ban?

While the study Trump cited does exist, it’s not at all clear that it supports his argument that “there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population.” There are several important problems with the survey that call into question whether the results are representative of the entire U.S. Muslim population. It was an online, opt-in survey, which tend to produce less reliable samples because respondents choose to participate. In traditional polling methods, everyone in a population has a chance of being selected for the survey, meaning the results generally reflect the country’s demographics.

Media

Links

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-statement-on-preventing-muslim-immigration

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/dec/09/donald-trump/trump-cites-shaky-survey-call-ban-muslims-entering/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/07/donald-trumps-call-to-ban-muslims-from-coming-to-the-u-s-has-a-very-bad-poll-at-its-center/

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