72%
of North Carolina
GOP voters think
a Muslim shouldn’t
be president
40%
Bogus Statistics for a Bogus Plan
Meanwhile, in announcing his proposal, Trump
cited data from a poll by the Center for Security
Policy supposedly showing that “25% of those polled
agreed that violence against Americans here in the
United States is justified as a part of the global jihad”
and that 51% “agreed that Muslims in America
should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.” The statistics came from an “optin” poll that was unscientific and contradicted by
others with starkly different results.
This reference also provided powerful evidence
that Trump had not come up with these anti-Muslim ideas all by himself. Instead, he apparently was
relying on the baseless claims of Center
for Security Policy founder Frank
Gaffney, an anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist who believes that the
34 splc intelligence report
Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the highest
levels of government, once called for the revival of
HUAC-like panels to grill American Muslims about
their loyalties, and thinks the Oklahoma City bombing may have been the work of Saddam Hussein.
That Gaffney is so extreme that he’s been banned
from the Conservative Political Action Conference,
the conservative movement’s premiere yearly gathering, probably earns him points with Trump, who
takes obvious pleasure in insulting establishment
politicians on both sides of the aisle.
What may be most disheartening is that Trump’s
rhetoric is only keeping pace with the worst instincts
of a large portion of the population that, frightened
by world events and goaded by many media outlets
that encourage “debate” about the basic humanity
of Muslims, has embraced a xenophobic and nationalistic world view.
In his comments on Dec. 6, Obama reiterated that
Americans forget our values at our peril. “[J]ust as
it is the responsibility of Muslims around the world
to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all Americans — of
every faith — to reject discrimination,” the president
said. “It is our responsibility to reject religious tests
on who we admit into this country. It’s our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim Americans
should somehow be treated differently. Because
when we travel down that road, we lose.” s
AP IMAGES/RAINIER EHRHARDT (CRUZ); AP IMAGES/CHUCK BURTON (CHRISTIE); AP PHOTO/CHUCK BURTON (HUCKABEE); AP IMAGES/J PAT CARTER (TRUMP);
AP IMAGES/ALAN DIAZ (CARSON); AP IMAGES/PATRICK SEMANSKY (RUBIO); AP IMAGES/DAVID GOLDMAN (BUSH)
of North Carolina
GOP voters think
Islam should be
illegal in the U.S.
And Paul Ryan, speaker of the House of
Representatives, added: “This is not conservatism.
What was proposed yesterday is not what this party
stands for, and more importantly, it’s not what this
country stands for. Not only are there many Muslims
serving in our armed forces dying for this country, there are Muslims serving right here in the
House, working every day to uphold and defend the
Constitution. Some of our best and biggest allies in
thi s struggle and fight against radical Islamic terror
are Muslims. The vast, vast, vast, vast majority of
whom are peaceful who believe in pluralism, freedom, democracy, individual rights.”
Even so, Ryan and many other Republican leaders have pledged to support whoever gets the party’s nomination, and polling suggests that 25% of
American voters, and 42% of Republicans, approve
of Trump’s plan to temporarily halt Muslim immigration to 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.”